WASHINGTON — Troops overseas shouldn’t notice any big changes in how they receive service news reports now that the new Defense Media Activity has begun operations, Pentagon officials said.

The DMA, mandated as part of the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure Commission’s decisions, consolidates the Defense Department’s internal information programs into one agency, headquartered at Fort Meade in Maryland.

Robert Hastings, acting director of the DMA, said eventually he expects closer coordination between groups like the American Forces Network, the American Forces Information Service and the individual branch media centers to provide "notably improved service" to the military audiences.

"The military response to Hurricane Ike is a good example," he said. "Under the coordination of DMA’s joint assignment desk, the internal news teams of the services, as well as those of Combat Camera, were centrally managed to ensure maximum coverage of the story without redundancy."

But for now, all of the normal publishing schedules for magazines and newspapers and all the production schedules for television and radio shows will remain unaffected by the consolidation, he said.

"Ensuring the continued free flow of timely and accurate news and information to our military personnel is the mission of DMA," he said. "Anything else we do is secondary."

The changes do not affect Stars and Stripes editorial independence from the Defense Department, an arrangement that is mandated by Congress. Stripes headquarters will remain in Washington.

Stars and Stripes operates as a First Amendment newspaper, free of control and censorship from DOD leaders.