The Pentagon changed the rules for Stars and Stripes in early 2026, when it moved to tighten oversight and remove the old regulation that governed the publication’s internal procedures.

What changed

  • The Pentagon announced a modernization plan for Stars and Stripes and said it wanted the paper to focus more on military topics.
  • A federal rule governing the publication’s internal procedures was removed in January 2026.
  • Reporting said the new controls would affect what kinds of content the paper could run, while raising concerns about editorial independence.

Why it matters

Stars and Stripes has long been treated as an independent military publication, so changes to its rules drew pushback from lawmakers and journalists. The main dispute is over whether the Pentagon is simply modernizing the paper or effectively taking away its editorial autonomy.

In one line

So, the answer is: the Defense Department/Pentagon changed the rules, not the newspaper itself.