• by Ray Schultz , Columnist, April 26, 2026

Nobody should be under any illusion that Stars and Stripes and other military periodicals are truly independent.

Jacqueline Smith was let go from her role as ombudsman, a position created in 1991 to ensure editorial freedom for Stars and Stripes. She was the thirteenth person to hold the title.

“Pete Hegseth doesn’t want you to see cartoons in this newspaper anymore,” Smith wrote.

That appears to be accurate. 

The secretary of defense/war, through a March 9 memorandum and interim policy by Deputy Stephen Feinberg, “prohibited” Stars and Stripes from using “news stories, features, syndicated columns, comic strips and editorial cartoons from commercial news media,” Smith added. “The word ‘prohibited’ was put in boldface for emphasis by the Pentagon, not by me."

Smith continued: “Apparently the Pentagon also doesn’t want you to hear from me anymore about threats to the editorial independence of Stars and Stripes. They fired me.” 

When informed of her sacking, Smith was told that the action was “not grievable.” 

Smith considers herself a professional journalist. 

Congress mandated that Stars and Stripes be editorially independent and created the position of ombudsman in 1991 to report to Congress at least once a year.

Stars and Stripes had its origins during World War II. But it is part of a tradition that goes back at least to the Spanish American War. 

A U.S. Navy Yeoman named Fred Buenzle created a publication to keep sailors informed.

Convinced that the enlisted men should be given some word of the events, Buenzle established a daily log, “The Squadron Bulletin,” and printed out 1,000 copies a day on a primitive duplicating machine. 

In his memoirs written decades later, Buenzle recounted that he served as clerk to Captain William Thomas Sampson. Sampson was the president of the Court of Inquiry that investigated the sinking of the battleship Maine in Havana harbor, and Buenzle was the stenographer. When war was declared, Sampson was promoted to Rear Admiral and given command of the North Atlantic Fleet. Buenzle accompanied him to the flagship New York. 

The. events made a deep impression on the career sailor.

“I never wanted to hear the word 'war' again; and I determined, on that day, while the air was yet filled with the sour tang of smokeless powder and the crash of exploding shells, that I would be glad to exchange my naval billet for the humblest calling on shore if there was any more murdering to be done on the sea.”