WASHINGTON — The Defense Department’s Early Bird news service — which drove debates at the Pentagon, and its senior leaders to frustration, with its compilation of articles on military operations, budget politics and weapons programs — was declared dead on Friday.

The three dozen or so news and opinion articles that made the Early Bird’s daily cut became must-reads at first light for Pentagon civilian employees and military personnel, as well as for members of the executive branch, Congress, the defense industry, research groups, academia and the news media.

It had enormous clout, with defense secretaries known to thunder at subordinates after reading an unexpected morning dispatch.

Policy makers on the rise and commanders in the field read it with all the interest of old-school Kremlinologists poring over Pravda for clues to who was up and who was down and what prized weapons programs might face budget cuts or be saved.