A troubling turn of events in Blogland. Anybody surfing around the internet is familiar with the phenomena of military blogs. Members of the Armed Forces, often stationed far from home, are able to communicate with family and friends, in real time, at low cost. They also use blogs as sounding boards to relate their experiences and to voice their opinions on a wide range of issues. Now comes word that the upper reaches of the military establishment is keeping tabs on these instruments, citing concerns of National Security.
It turns out that each of the branches of the service have agencies that monitor blogs. There is also a DOD agency which does this. Service members are now required to register their blogs with their commanding officer. Commanding officers are required to evaluate these blogs quarterly. There are apparently guidelines that the service member must adhere to, facing disciplinary action if these guidelines are violated. Anybody that knows anything about military rules and regs, knows that there is inevitably a catch all rule that translates as, " anything we don't like is prohibited".
There are already complaints from service members that they have been required to remove their blogs from the internet, that they have been disciplined or even reduced in rank, over publication of blogs. Anyone contemplating a career in the military knows how seriously these kinds of actions can effect the recipient.
The fact of the matter is that military bloggers take their responsibility to protect National Security very seriously. I have not seen anything that even approaches the inappropriate on a Milblog. Another sad fact is, that someone who wants to purposefully release sensitive material can all to easily find an effective and anonymous way to do it.
Nitpicky censorship of Milblogs stifles a much needed outlet for personal expression by the troops. It deprives the American public of a valuable source of information about the military. It makes the high command appear petty and mean. It does no good, for anyone.
1 comment:
Once again you hit the bullseye. It's all too common for some CYA centered brass wearing baboon to bend over backwards at the expense of the troops. It's one of the reasons I was glad to retire when I did and still call to mind when I start thinking about "the good old days".
Bottom line, our military needs an outlet to vent their frustrations. Many of the rants "from the troops" go against my personal grain but ain't that too bad. Show me an American military member who doesn't do their job with a certain amount of griping and we'll be looking at a real wuss. And yep, if anyone wants to leak sensitive data there are a lot more anonymous methods than posting on a milblog.
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