CNN Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr is leaving the network after more than two decades

Barbara Starr, the Pentagon correspondent who has covered some of the most consequential stories with a signature style and steady hand, is leaving CNN after more than two decades with the network.

Starr announced her departure in a memo sent to her CNN colleagues on Friday.

“With the expiration of my contract in the coming days I have made the decision to move on,” Starr wrote. “Let me say this…you never say goodbye to your friends, so I won’t.”

Starr’s exit from CNN follows that of several notable personalities at the network. She declined to comment beyond her memo.

Starr arrived at CNN in 2001 after working as a producer for ABC News.

She has had an illustrious career at CNN, becoming one of the most recognized faces on the network and reporting from conflict zones around the world, including Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria. Viewers have turned to Starr for her deep well of knowledge during some of the most tumultuous moments in modern history, including the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

Starr has also served for years on the board of the Pentagon Press Association and is regarded by colleagues and competitors as a mentor.

“Barb has been a coworker, a mentor, and a role model since I came to the Pentagon,” CNN Pentagon correspondent Oren Liebermann wrote on Twitter. “A step ahead of everyone else, and many more steps ahead of me. When Barb offers her thoughts or advice on a story — always with humility — it is the wisdom and knowledge of experience speaking, and it is always worth listening carefully.”

In 2021, it was revealed that Starr was one of the reporters whom the Trump administration secretly obtained phone records for, a move that was strongly condemned by the network at the time. The Justice Department later announced it would no longer secretly obtain records from reporters during leak investigations.