The U.S. Military is an institution that is part of the very fabric of American society. Each military service member is first and foremost an American citizen. To fulfill their responsibilities as citizens, the men and woman of the Armed Forces must have access to independent news and information sources.

AFIS produces two information products that provide local, national, and world news directly to military service members, their families, and DoD civilians.

The Early Bird is one of the most widely distributed and most read publications in the Department of Defense. The Early Bird and its sister publications, the Current News Supplement and the Radio-TV Dialog provide daily compilations of defense-related news articles and broadcast transcripts that are published by the national and international media. These compilations, which are distributed over the Internet from the Early Bird web site, provide DoD leaders with a window into what the media, and by extension, the American public, know about DoD's mission performance.

Stars & Stripes delivers daily to military personnel stationed around the globe. It is dedicated to serving our service men and women-and their families. Its mission provides relevant content: in print and online. Stars & Stripes offers readers premier coverage of national and international news, sports, and everything else found in hometown newspapers in the United States, from comics to opinion columns.

Stars and Stripes produces daily editions for Europe, Pacific, and the Middle East. From its central office in Washington, DC., it posts daily editions to the Internet and transmit them to print sites in Germany, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Kuwait, Qatar, Iraq, Bahrain and Afghanistan. With more than 63 years of celebrated history and tradition dating back to the Civil War, Stars & Stripes safeguards the "connection to the world" for U.S. Military and Department of Defense personnel, as well as their dependents living abroad.

AFIS also provides services members stationed overseas with access to major American network television and radio news programs. The news programming is provided over the Armed Forces Radio & Television network.