  The forward physics program of the CMS experiment at the LHC spans a broad
range of diverse physics topics including studies of low-x QCD and diffractive
scattering, multi-parton interactions and underlying event structure,
gamma-mediated processes and luminosity determination, Monte Carlo tuning and
even MSSM Higgs discovery in central exclusive production. In this article, the
forward detector instrumentation around the CMS interaction point is described
and the prospects for diffractive and forward physics using the CMS forward
detectors are summarized. In addition, first observation of forward jets as
well as early measurements of the forward energy flow in the pseudorapidity
range 3.15<|\eta|<4.9 at \sqrt{s}=0.9 TeV, 2.36 TeV and 7 TeV are presented.
