Stars and Stripes is funded by the Defense Department.
Posted by The Lawfare Podcast, Checked
- Sources
- 4 support1 context
- Said
- 1 time·
- Confidence
- 90%
The Lawfare PodcastSep 14, 2026
Multiple tier1 and tier2 sources state that Stars and Stripes receives funding from the Defense Department, with reporting that roughly half its budget (about $15 million of $29 million) comes from taxpayer/Pentagon funds as of August 2026, consistent with the claim as of 2026-09-14.
A guest makes this claim. Listeners heard it, so it counts against the post, and on the guest's own record.
This claim is about the present, so it is judged as of the day it was checked.
What was said
… Stars and Stripes is, will continue, but, um, ah, it certainly was, you know, this was a battle over, um, some of the editorial changes that were going on at Stars and Stripes. Stars and Stripes is funded by the Defense Department. It's a publication, um, that is, ah, for members of the military, that is, ah, you know, provide, provides information to members of the military about the military, um, and their, when Trump came into office, there was a regulatory change, um, that Pete …
The Lawfare Podcast · · from the transcriptPost →What we found
Supports. Reuters (Aug 2026) states Stars and Stripes receives funding from the Defense Department but has historically been editorially independent.[1]
Supports. CBS News (Aug 2026) reports about $15 million of the paper's roughly $29 million annual budget comes from tax dollars.[3]
Supports. The Stars and Stripes FAQ says Pentagon funding makes up roughly half the annual budget and that the paper is part of the Pentagon's Defense Media Activity.[5]
Supports. The Washington Post (Jan 2026) reports the paper receives about 35 to 45 percent of its funding from the Pentagon.[4]
Context. Funding was threatened in 2020 when the Pentagon moved to eliminate its $15.5 million allocation, but the directive was rescinded; this shows DoD funding is a long-standing arrangement.[2]
Sources
5 sources: 2 fact-checkers, 2 tier 2, 1 not rated
- 1Pentagon fires US military newspaper leadership - Reutersreuters.com · fact-checker · cited for: supports
- 2Pentagon rescinding order to shutter Stars and Stripes paperapnews.com · fact-checker · cited for: context
- 3Pentagon officials considering firing longtime Stars and ...cbsnews.com · tier 2 · cited for: supports
- 4Inside the effort to shield Stars and Stripes from Pentagon controlwashingtonpost.com · tier 2 · cited for: supports
- 5Miscellaneous FAQ | Stars and Stripesstripes.com · not rated · cited for: supports
Where this claim was made
Said in 1 published post
Related claims
- A judge allowed the Pentagon to fire Stars and Stripes journalists.True
- Judge Trevor McFadden declined to prevent the Department of Defense from firing Stars and Stripes journalists and the publication's publisher.True
- The editor-in-chief and two reporters for Stars and Stripes were terminated after giving comments on CBS News regarding editorial independence.Mixed
- Pete Hegseth made a regulatory change repealing editorial independence that Stars and Stripes previously had.True
- The Department of Defense has a $1 trillion budget.Mixed