Army Places New Restrictions on Military Bloggers

By Jeralyn, Section War In Iraq
Posted on Wed May 02, 2007 at 11:05:50 AM EST
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Via Noah Shactman at Wired's Danger Zone:

The U.S. Army has ordered soldiers to stop posting to blogs or sending personal e-mail messages, without first clearing the content with a superior officer, Wired News has learned. The directive, issued April 19, is the sharpest restriction on troops' online activities since the start of the Iraq war. And it could mean the end of military blogs, observers say.

The new regulations are here (pdf).

Noah reports the rules "require a commander be consulted before every blog update."

[The rule] restricts more than just blogs, however. Previous editions of the rules asked Army personnel to "consult with their immediate supervisor" before posting a document "that might contain sensitive and/or critical information in a public forum." The new version, in contrast, requires "an OPSEC review prior to publishing" anything -- from "web log (blog) postings" to comments on internet message boards, from resumes to letters home.

Failure to do so, the document adds, could result in a court-martial, or "administrative, disciplinary, contractual, or criminal action."

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Army Places New Restrictions on Military Bloggers | 7 comments (7 topical)

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The authoritarian state (5.00 / 1) (#1)
by profmarcus on Wed May 02, 2007 at 12:53:09 PM EST

takes another giant leap forward... george bush can display the locations of u.s. military emplacements in baghdad on a powerpoint slide in a public forum in front local and national media in grand rapids, michigan, and our poor, battered, run-into-the-ground troops can't send an email to mom and dad or make a blog post without checking with big brother first... we are SO george orwell and it's coming soon to a computer near you...

And, yes, I DO take it personally

Hopefully it (none / 0) (#2)
by Wile ECoyote on Wed May 02, 2007 at 01:56:25 PM EST

will go better than in previous wars where the officers had to read the enlisteds mail before it was sent off.

no black markers (none / 0) (#3)
by Jen M on Wed May 02, 2007 at 02:22:40 PM EST

in emails

"Death to all modifiers" (none / 0) (#4)
by Alien Abductee on Wed May 02, 2007 at 03:26:29 PM EST

It's not as if we haven't been here before...

They Just Can't Handle The Truth (none / 0) (#5)
by john horse on Wed May 02, 2007 at 08:05:20 PM EST

Here is why the military wants to restrict the posting to blogs and personal email messages. They just can't handle the truth. It embarasses them when soldiers speak up and expose their lies - like what they said about Pat Tillman, and what they said about Jessica Lynch, and what was going on in Abu Ghraib.

Having to clear what you say with your commanding officer if just a way to keep the public from knowing what our troops really think and feel about George Bush and his war.

its time to pull out catch 22 again (none / 0) (#6)
by ltgesq on Thu May 03, 2007 at 12:31:12 AM EST

between awarding medals for mistakes, the Public relations division being given control over military issues, the random censorship, the war profiteering, and the general sense of gloom, it appears that Catch 22 is more current than ever before.

And Journslists (none / 0) (#7)
by squeaky on Thu May 03, 2007 at 05:32:16 PM EST

Talk about censorship:

It looks like it's official: the United States Army thinks that American reporters are a threat to national security. Thanks to some great sleuthing by Wired's "Danger Room" blogger Noah Shachtman, the Army's new operational security guidelines (OPSEC) hit the Web in a big way yesterday, and the implications they have for reporters -- who are grouped in with drug cartels and Al Qaeda as security threats to be beaten back -- are staggering.

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