Ombudsman column: The Pentagon is trying to silence me
Ombudsman column: The Pentagon is trying to silence me
监察员专栏：五角大楼正试图让我噤声
Jacqueline Smith • April 23, 2026 杰奎琳·史密斯（Jacqueline Smith） • 2026年4月23日
Stars and Stripes ombudsman Jacqueline Smith was recently notified her last day in the role would be April 28, 2026. (Defense Department) 《星条旗报》监察员杰奎琳·史密斯近日收到通知，她担任该职位的最后一天将是2026年4月28日。（国防部）
A recent opinion column I wrote as the Stars and Stripes ombudsman began with this: “Pete Hegseth doesn’t want you to see cartoons in this newspaper anymore.” 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. 我作为《星条旗报》监察员撰写的一篇近期评论文章开头是这样写的：“皮特·赫格塞斯（Pete Hegseth）不想让你再在这份报纸上看到漫画了。”显然，五角大楼也不想让你再从我这里听到关于《星条旗报》编辑独立性所受威胁的消息。他们解雇了我。
This happened in the coldest way possible: DA Form 3434 stated that my last day as ombudsman for Stars and Stripes is April 28. (They have to give five days’ notice.) No reason is given. But: “This action is not grievable.” 这件事发生得极其冷酷：陆军部（DA）3434号表格声明，我担任《星条旗报》监察员的最后一天是4月28日。（他们必须提前五天通知。）表格中没有给出任何理由，但写着：“此决定不可申诉。”
No one should be surprised that they’re kicking out the one person charged by Congress with protecting Stars and Stripes’ editorial independence. For nearly a year, Pentagon leadership has placed more and more restrictions on the mainstream media. The New York Times sued and when the Defense/War Department lost in court, instead of following the judge’s ruling Secretary Hegseth and company pivoted, finding another way to restrict journalists. The judge rejected that attempt, too. 没有人会对此感到惊讶，因为他们正在驱逐唯一一个受国会委托保护《星条旗报》编辑独立性的人。近一年来，五角大楼领导层对主流媒体施加了越来越多的限制。《纽约时报》提起了诉讼，当国防部（战争部）在法庭上败诉后，赫格塞斯部长及其团队并没有遵守法官的裁决，而是转向寻找其他方式来限制记者。法官也驳回了那次尝试。
The laser beam turned to Stars and Stripes on Jan. 15 when Sean Parnell posted on X four paragraphs announcing a “refocus” of the newspaper. Parnell is Assistant to the Secretary of Defense/War (Public Affairs); my firing notice came from his office. 1月15日，当肖恩·帕内尔（Sean Parnell）在X平台上发布四段文字宣布对报纸进行“重新定位”时，焦点转向了《星条旗报》。帕内尔是国防部（战争部）部长助理（公共事务）；我的解雇通知正是来自他的办公室。
Since his “refocus” post, I’ve been outspoken in my columns, media interviews, talks with national free press groups and communications with Congress about the Pentagon’s moves to take control of Stripes’ content. This administration reveals policy through social media so Parnell’s post had to be taken seriously. 自他发布“重新定位”的帖子以来，我在专栏、媒体采访、与全国新闻自由团体的对话以及与国会的沟通中，一直直言不讳地批评五角大楼控制《星条旗报》内容的举动。本届政府通过社交媒体披露政策，因此帕内尔的帖子必须被严肃对待。
On the same day as the X post, the Pentagon rescinded the process in the Code of Federal Regulations that would have given Stripes legal protection from interference. Their move is illegal because there was no opportunity for public comment as required through the Administrative Procedures Act, among other violations. This sounds dry, but it’s important. 在发布X帖子的同一天，五角大楼废除了《联邦法规》中本可为《星条旗报》提供法律保护、使其免受干预的程序。他们的做法是非法的，因为根据《行政程序法》等规定，此举未提供公众评论的机会。这听起来很枯燥，但至关重要。
Without codifying Stripes’ operation in the Federal Register, the operating policy reverted to an outdated, decades-old directive that could be changed on a whim by the DOD. And that’s exactly what they did in an interim policy issued March 9 by Deputy Secretary of Defense/War Steve Feinberg. 由于未在《联邦公报》中对《星条旗报》的运作进行法规化，其运营政策退回到了几十年前过时的指令，国防部可以随心所欲地更改这些指令。而这正是国防部（战争部）副部长史蒂夫·范伯格（Steve Feinberg）在3月9日发布的临时政策中所做的。
Some in Congress objected. The House and Senate Armed Services committees have long had an interest in ensuring that unfiltered news went to the troops who are fighting for our country and deserved to read the truth, not propaganda. In the late 1980s Congress was alarmed at attempts of military personnel to “suppress unfavorable news” of the Iran-Contra affair and other issues. Congress mandated that Stars and Stripes be editorially independent and created the position of ombudsman in 1991 to monitor the situation and report to Congress at least once a year. 国会中的一些人对此表示反对。众议院和参议院军事委员会长期以来一直致力于确保为国奋战的官兵能够获得未经审查的新闻，他们理应阅读真相，而非宣传。20世纪80年代末，国会对军方试图“压制有关伊朗门事件及其他问题的不利新闻”的行为感到震惊。国会随后规定《星条旗报》必须保持编辑独立，并于1991年设立了监察员职位，以监督局势并至少每年向国会报告一次。
As required, I have told the House and Senate Armed Services committees in recent months of my great and growing concern about attempted control of the newspaper by the Pentagon. On April 8, Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., sent a letter signed by four other Democrats on the Senate Armed Services Committee to Feinberg. 按照要求，近几个月来，我已向参众两院军事委员会表达了我对五角大楼试图控制该报纸的日益严重的担忧。4月8日，参议员伊丽莎白·沃伦（民主党，马萨诸塞州）和理查德·布卢门撒尔（民主党，康涅狄格州）连同参议院军事委员会的其他四名民主党人，致信范伯格。
“DoD’s new policy threatens the credibility of Stars and Stripes, and the reliable flow of unbiased news to service members, and contradicts decades of Congressional reforms that guard against censorship at the paper. We urge you to immediately rescind DoD’s new policy and restore editorial independence guaranteed by the First Amendment to Stars and Stripes.” “国防部的新政策威胁到了《星条旗报》的公信力，阻碍了向军人提供可靠、公正的新闻，并违背了国会几十年来为防止报纸受到审查而进行的改革。我们敦促你们立即废除国防部的新政策，并恢复《第一修正案》所保障的《星条旗报》的编辑独立性。”
The five-page letter contains seven questions; to my knowledge, no answers have been provided. The senators underscored the value of Stripes. “The mission of Stars and Stripes to provide ‘independent news and information to the U.S. military community’ is more important now than ever as tens of thousands of service members are deployed in the Middle East. In times of war and limited access to media, Stars and Stripes is distributed freely to deployed troops — serving as a vital, independent link that keeps service members informed about the government and country for which they put their lives on the line,” the letter states. 这封五页的信中包含七个问题；据我所知，目前尚未得到任何答复。参议员们强调了《星条旗报》的价值。信中写道：“《星条旗报》为‘美国军事社区提供独立新闻和信息’的使命，在数万名军人部署在中东的当下显得比以往任何时候都更加重要。在战争时期和媒体获取受限的情况下，《星条旗报》免费分发给部署的部队，作为一条至关重要的独立纽带，让军人们能够了解他们为之献身的政府和国家。”
Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., also on Armed Services, is leading efforts to introduce a bill that would protect Stripes from censorship. I encourage Republicans on the committee to co-sponsor the bill and show that an independent press — protected by the First Amendment — is not a partisan issue. 同样在军事委员会任职的参议员珍妮·沙欣（民主党，新罕布什尔州）正牵头提出一项法案，旨在保护《星条旗报》免受审查。我鼓励委员会中的共和党人共同发起该法案，并表明受《第一修正案》保护的独立媒体并非党派问题。
The House, too, is concerned. Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., sent a strongly worded letter April 15, signed by 38 other House members, to Hegseth expressing “great alarm” about “reports of political interference with the editorial independence of Stars and Stripes and restrictions placed on members of the Pentagon press corps. … 众议院也对此表示关切。众议员杰米·拉斯金（民主党，马里兰州）于4月15日致信赫格塞斯，信中由其他38名众议员联署，措辞严厉地表达了对“有关政治干预《星条旗报》编辑独立性以及对五角大楼记者团成员施加限制的报道”的“极大震惊”。
“The ombudsman is charged with safeguarding the editorial independence of the newspaper and reports directly to Congress, specifically to prevent interference from the Department,” the letter reminds Hegseth. “The current ombudsman has forcefully denounced your Department’s plans for Stars and Stripes in multiple interviews, raising the alarm about your announced changes and their consequences for the news organization. Any effort to censor, influence, control or suppress the paper’s reporting raises profound constitutional and institutional problems.” “监察员负责维护报纸的编辑独立性，并直接向国会报告，其目的正是为了防止来自国防部的干预，”信中提醒赫格塞斯。“现任监察员在多次采访中强烈谴责了贵部门针对《星条旗报》的计划，并对你们宣布的变革及其对该新闻机构的后果发出了警告。任何审查、影响、控制或压制该报报道的企图，都会引发深刻的宪法和制度问题。”
Six days later I was fired. I think that Hegseth and company are trying to get around Congress by not eliminating the position, just getting rid of the outspoken present ombudsman. It took four months from the time I applied and went through a series of three interviews before I was selected from a field of 20 applicants and brought onboard. This is a critical time for the newspaper to be without an ombudsman who can fight again. 六天后，我被解雇了。我认为赫格塞斯及其团队试图绕过国会，他们没有撤销这个职位，只是除掉了现任直言不讳的监察员。当初我从申请到经历三轮面试，历时四个月，才从20名申请者中脱颖而出被录用。对于报纸来说，在这样一个关键时刻失去一位能够再次抗争的监察员，后果不堪设想。