A. General. The Stars and Strips (S&S) organizations shall contribute to the overall U.S. joint-defense mission overseas by providing news and information for the Armed Forces internal audiences serving in a Unified Command area of responsibility, or deployed in support of designated joint-Service exercises, contingency operations, or situations of armed conflict. That shall be done through the operation of a daily newspaper and resale activities of commercial publications (primarily through the S&S bookstores).

B. Newspapers. The Stars and Stripes coverage of news and information makes possible the continued exercise of the responsibilities of citizenship by DoD personnel and their families overseas. The Stars and Stripes are to be published overseas during peacetime, contingency operations, and armed conflicts. They shall provide the same range of international, national, and regional news and opinion from commercial sources, as is provided by newspapers in the United States. Additionally, to better serve their readers, the Stars and Stripes shall pay special attention to news of local, host-country conditions relevant to their audiences. They shall provide, through their reporters and bureaus, news of local military communities within the theater and news of the U.S. Government, the Department of Defense, the Military Services, and theater operations not usually available to readers from outside commercial sources. The Stars and Stripes are to serve the interests of their overseas DoD readership as do prominent commercial daily newspapers throughout the United States.

C. S&S Bookstores and Retail Operations. The S&S shall serve readers' needs for contemporary news and information by providing a broad selection of resale commercial publications of interest to their customers at the most reasonable prices, either directly in the S&S bookstores or through other authorized sales outlets at their discretion throughout the Unified Command designated geographic area. The S&S shall have the same authorities and rights for resale commercial publications that the military exchange services have for other nonsubsistence goods and services.

D. S&S Job Shop Printing. The S&S are authorized to operate job shop printing, to include book publishing and/or printing, within the Unified Commands for U.S. military community newspapers, military organizations, nonappropriated fund (NAF) instrumentalities (NAFI), Morale, Welfare, and Recreation (MWR) activities, private organizations of interest and concern to the Department of Defense, as designated by 32 CFR part 212, DoD employees and their immediate families, and others designated by the Unified Command.

E. War-Time Mission and Contingency Operations. The S&S shall provide the Stars and Stripes on a daily basis for transportation to, and distribution in, the designated area of operations, as requested and funded by the responsible Unified Command Commander-in-Chief (CINC), and supported by the respective Unified Command owning the S&S organization. The Unified Commands shall plan for required airlift on a timely basis and intratheater distribution of daily Stars and Stripes newspapers as part of their operational planning documents. Intratheater distribution and required airlift of the Stars and Stripes shall be the responsibility of the supported Unified Command CINC and respective component commands, who shall reimburse the S&S for nonresale issues on a per-issue basis. When deployed to an area of operations, the Stars and Stripes reporters shall operate in the same manner as commercial media representatives. The deployed Stars and Stripes reporters shall be eligible for participation in DoD and command-sponsored regional and local media pools.