Stars and Stripes

Stars and Stripes (stripes.com) is a Department of Defense-authorized news organization that reports on military and defense topics for service members, veterans, DoD civilians, and their families, with particular focus on troops stationed overseas. It is not a logistics system or reference tool; LogTool lists it as an adjacent resource because logisticians and other service members use it as a general news source.

What it is

Stars and Stripes traces its lineage to a Union Army newspaper first printed in 1861 and has operated continuously in various forms since. Today it publishes daily news, features, and multimedia content covering U.S. military operations, defense policy, veterans' issues, and military-community life, with dedicated regional coverage for Europe, the Pacific (including Japan, Korea, Okinawa, and Guam), and the Middle East.

Who operates it

Stars and Stripes is a service of the Defense Media Activity (DMA), a DoD field activity, operating under authorities in 10 U.S.C. §§ 113 and 136. Historically it has been distinguished from other DoD-funded media by a congressionally safeguarded mandate for editorial independence from the military chain of command, with an independent ombudsman reporting on reader interests.

Beginning in January 2026, the Pentagon moved to tighten control over the publication's editorial content, including new hiring screening reported by press outlets, restrictions on wire-service (AP/Reuters) content, and the firing of the paper's ombudsman in April 2026. In January 2026 DoD also removed the longstanding implementing regulation (32 CFR part 246) that had codified the paper's editorial-independence protections. As of this writing, Stars and Stripes continues to publish, but the scope of its editorial independence is in flux and disputed; readers and researchers should treat its current governance status as unsettled rather than assume the pre-2026 arrangement still holds.

Access

Stripes.com is a free, publicly accessible news website with no CAC or account requirement to read articles. The publisher also offers paid print/digital subscriptions for extended access and a newsletter sign-up; these are commercial add-ons, not a gate on the core public site.

How logisticians use it

Military and DoD-civilian logisticians, like other service members, use Stars and Stripes as a general news source for defense policy developments, base and installation news, PCS/relocation-relevant regional coverage, and military-community life — not as an authoritative source for regulations, technical data, or logistics procedures. For authoritative logistics guidance, users should rely on official .mil/.gov program and regulatory sources rather than news coverage.

Related systems

Stars and Stripes is administered by the Defense Media Activity, which also operates other DoD news and information services; it is organizationally distinct from logistics-specific systems and is not a source of logistics regulatory authority.