Military news, information, and entertainment now headquartered out of Fort Meade

FORT MEADE, Md. - The new Defense Media Activity Headquarters at Fort Meade officially opened Thursday morning.

Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs, the Honorable Douglas B. Wilson, was on hand for the ribbon cutting along with acting Director for the Defense Media Activity (DMA), Melvin Russell.

The DMA was created as a result of the Defense Base Realignment and Closure Act ( BRAC ). The agency consolidates a number of Department of Defense information, news and entertainment services throughout the military into one agency. The DMA delivers and produces those services through a wide range of platforms including the American Forces Network, Soldiers Media Center, Naval Media Center, Marine Corps News, Air Force News Service, the Pentagon Channel, and American Forces Information Service. They also produce the Stars and Stripes newspaper and the Defense Information School.

The building that houses the DMA was one of three built on the Fort Meade base when BRAC was passed and a number of bases were closed, like Fort Monmouth in New Jersey, and relocated to Maryland.

Ground was broken on the 178,000 square-foot, $63 million headquarters in April of 2009 and completed in May of this year.