Former Stars and Stripes ombudsman sues Pentagon over firing

Jacqueline Smith, the ombudsman of outlet Stars and Stripes who was ousted in April after she criticized the Pentagon’s new restrictions on the newspaper, is suing the Defense Department. 

In a complaint filed Thursday in federal court in Washington, D.C., Smith alleges that her firing  was retaliatory and violated her First Amendment rights as it happened 10 days after she penned an opinion column criticizing DOD officials for seeking to undermine Stars and Stripes’ editorial independence.”

Defense officials “were working to undermine Stripes’ editorial independence as part of a broader effort to control and neuter the mainstream media’s ability to report on matters of national security and public interest,” according to the complaint.

Smith was near the end of her three-year term as ombudsman – the person responsible for monitoring the outlet’s editorial independence and reporting concerns to Congress – but was removed before she was set to leave in December. 

The ombudsman role was created by........

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