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.

The Stars & Stripes is the "hometown" daily newspaper for U.S military and their family members stationed overseas. It is the only military newspaper that has same degree of editorial " First Amendment" freedom as American civilian newspapers. This editorial freedom ensures that service members and their families stationed overseas have the same access to independent news as their fellow citizens.

Stars & Stripes is a daily newspaper with a circulation of approximately 40,000 in the European region and 20,000 in the Pacific region. Its headquarters is in Washington, DC and its major news bureaus are in Darmstadt, Germany and Tokyo, Japan.

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.