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Marines decide, "Better safe than sorry."


The U.S. Marine Corps has just announced a service-wide ban on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter. In a statement released monday, the top brass explained their decision:

“These internet sites in general are a proven haven for malicious actors and content and are particularly high risk due to information exposure, user generated content and targeting by adversaries,”

This is going to get interesting, especially since the Army just ordered all bases to provide access to facebook and military generals have been whole-heartedly embracing web 2.0 and social media to communicate more effectively with their troops and with the general public.

There are two competing needs in today's military. The first is to take and hold ground in the media battlespace (after all, the Taliban fights very well in the media) and to preserve operational security. Both are important, and they don't necessarily have to be mutually exclusive. But for now, the Marines have decided that discretion is the better part of valor - until they have time to make sure the enemy can't exploit the web to do harm to military computer networks.

We'll see how long the generals can stand to be unwired. As for your average Marine slugging it out with the Taliban in southern Afghanistan, I'm not sure today's announcement will be that big a deal - they have more important things to worry about.
 
 

Print     Email to a Friend    posted on Tuesday, August 04, 2009 5:39 PM



Comments on this post

# RE: Marines decide, "Better safe than sorry."

The success of any prohibition depends on enforcement capability. Facebook and Twitter can be blocked, and the marines posting can be easily identified through their profile. But what of these sites that seem to be made expressly for this purpose - the *anti*-social networking ones? hehe. Like www.coolersoup.com, in which no one owns their content, so it can't be traced. Basically, anyone can post about anyone else on their Open Bulletin Board, all anonymously.
Now what havoc will that cause to the chain of command if everyone is openly ****** about the decisions made behind this wall of anonymity?
I was reading this hilarious set of posts that totally trashed this rental company who in the process of suing their tenant for complaining about mold in her apartment. Now that's trash talk that can do real harm!
http://www.coolersoup.com/Comment.seam?nameId=1813&type=G
Left by prayerthings on Aug 04, 2009 6:25 PM

# RE: Marines decide, "Better safe than sorry."

Regarding OPSEC, the military can take a lesson from chess and go players. All the pieces and all their moves are in the open for everyone to see, yet they manage to surprise their opponents and win games.
Left by Leroy Hurt on Aug 10, 2009 4:10 PM