Army monitors soldiers' blogs, Web sites

Yahoo News ^ | 10/29/06 | MICHAEL FELBERBAUM

[World_Events]

RICHMOND, Va. - From the front lines of Iraq and Afghanistan to here at home, soldiers blogging about military life are under the watchful eye of some of their own.

A Virginia-based operation, the Army Web Risk Assessment Cell, monitors official and unofficial blogs and other Web sites for anything that may compromise security. The team scans for official documents, personal contact information and pictures of weapons or entrances to camps.

In some cases, that information can be detrimental, said Lt. Col. Stephen Warnock, team leader and battalion commander of a Manassas-based Virginia National Guard unit working on the operation.

In one incident, a blogger was describing his duties as a guard, providing pictures of his post and discussing how to exploit its vulnerabilities. Other soldiers posted photos of an Army weapons system that was damaged by enemy attack, and another showed personal information that could have endangered his family.

"We are a nation at war," Warnock said by e-mail. "The less the enemy knows, the better it is for our soldiers."

In the early years of operations in the Middle East, no official oversight governed Web sites that sprung up to keep the families of those deployed informed about their daily lives.

The oversight mission, made up of active-duty soldiers and contractors, as well as Guard and Reserve members from Maryland, Texas and Washington state, began in 2002 and was expanded in August 2005 to include sites in the public domain, including blogs.

The Army will not disclose the methods or tools being used to find and monitor the sites. Nor will it reveal the size of the operation or the contractors involved. The Defense Department has a similar program, the Joint Web Risk Assessment Cell, but the Army program is apparently the only operation that monitors nonmilitary sites.

[World_Events]

Loose lips sink ships

[Perdogg]

and this is news????

[armymarinemom]

Having a team to monitor the milblogs is new.

[operation clinton cleanup]

Didn't FDR personally open and read every letter sent home by the troops in WWII?

[KoRn]

To not monitor such sites would be irresponsible.

"Loose Lips Sink Ships"

[TheDon]

And they even monitor their snail mail too! LOL!

[groanup]

and this is news????

Yeah, kinda like this is news:

[Jaysun]

Not only is this acceptable but to not do so would be irresponsible. Remember that some of the first deaths of the war occurred when a Muslim rolled grenades into the tents of real people. All Muslim soldiers should be monitored around the clock and their duties shouldn't go beyond making biscuits.

[sageb1]

"We are a nation at war," Warnock said by e-mail. "The less the enemy knows, the better it is for our soldiers."

Tell that to the NYT.

[Uriah_lost]

These yutzes are so far behind....it is to laugh...ha ha!
Follow the links to full stories!

In a counterinsurgency, the media battlespace is critical. When it comes to mustering public opinion, rallying support, and forcing opponents to shift tactics and timetables to better suit the home team, our terrorist enemies are destroying us. Al Qaeda's media arm is called al Sahab: the cloud.
http://www.blackfive.net/main/2006/10/yon_and_fumento.html

We simply must wrap our heads around the realities of this new war. And the most prominent of those new realities is this: the media has become more important than entire fleets of warships and divisions of armor.
http://www.mudvillegazette.com/milblogs/2006/10/23/#006807

[mware]

Yeah and my dads V-Mail were monitored and censored so important information was not leaked to the enemy.

[dr_who_2]

If security is their concern, good. If political correctness is also what they're fretting about, there's a problem. Soldiers shouldn't be punished for expressing their personal opinions, although I'm sure there should be specific exceptions.

[camas]

news no, intell (for the other side) yes!!!

[armymarinemom]

REad it. Part of the milblogs.

[familyop]

"Loose lips sink ships"

...agreed. Some here are complaining that it's not news. It's boring.

In other words, civilians won't get to know about everything that our military is doing. Waaaaaaaaaaaa...too bad. It's just not going to happen. Soldiers must know that they had better not blab sensitive information to the Net, and that needs to be repeated often. Nihilist soldiers who don't pay attention need to be kicked out.

[Mr Rogers]

Depends. If they identify themselves as Sgt So-and-so, then attacks on political leadership are unacceptable.

If it is just, 'I'm in the military and I don't like candidate A', then it isn't a problem.

[dr_who_2]

Case in point, yes. But there shouldn't be a "PR" police.

[Mr Rogers]

Let me give you an example. In 98/99, I posted a lot of negative things about Clintoon. That was OK, because on FR I'm 'Mr Rogers' - not Rank/Name. An anonymous complaint posted is OK.

However, if I had posted 'I'm Rank/Name of XXX Squadron, and I think...", then it would have damaged morale in my unit. A lot of enlisted folk are liberals who supported Clinton, and it would have been unacceptable for me to run him down in public.

[Valin]

All Muslim soldiers should be monitored around the clock and their duties shouldn't go beyond making biscuits.

Well why don't you go and tell Cpl. Mohammed N. Rahman
http://freerepublic.com/focus/news/1451921/posts
or
Sgt. Wasim Khan
http://freerepublic.com/focus/news/1569784/posts
that all they should do is bake biscuits.
While you're at it you can tell Colonel Douglas Burpee USMC
http://www.nysun.com/article/31393
That because he's a Muslim you don't trust him to defend you, and that all he's good for is pulling kp.

"Any man who judges by the group is a peawit. You take men one at a time"
Sgt. Killrain "The Killer Angels" by Michael Shaara