By Michael Blankenship, PepperDigital
Today is Veterans Day—a day to formally recognize and give thanks to the men and women who have worn and continue to wear the uniform of our Nation as ambassadors of
democracy and in defense of the seemingly simple freedoms and liberties we all
at times take for granted. Beyond things such as life, liberty and pursuit
of happiness, we are a society that also takes for granted everyday luxuries
such as having a cell phone, a PDA, the Internet, a Facebook page or a Twitter
account.
We are a technology and rapid communications-driven society. Social media and
networking have
carved a permanent niche in our society. Don't think so? How
many friends are on your MySpace page? How many blogs do you read? President-elect Barack Obama leveraged social media to connect with voters, and it helped win him the election, changing forever the way politicians will connect with constituents.
We have come to rely on the power of social networking to stay connected with friends and families, staying informed and sharing day-to-day (even minute-by-minute) details of our lives. Our reliance and ability to engage in social networking is a privilege that our deployed troops don't get to enjoy. The military prohibits the use of blogs, Facebook, MySpace, personal email accounts, YouTube, etc. on its networks and servers. Part of the reason is that using some of these sites can slow down the military's network, and the other reason is troop safety.
Social networking also compromises operational security and endangers lives both on the battlefront as well as at home. There are a lot of people who oppose the military's ban on social networking sites on its networks as censorship. Before trying to make a case for censorship, consider that a terrorist could follow a deployed service member's blog and learn the identities of friends and family and threaten their well-being, or even hack into some sailor's Yahoo! account and see an email to Mom letting her know the ship is pulling into Yemen on Friday. (Ship schedules are classified, and nobody wants another incident like the attack on USS Cole.) Or using Twitter to microblog back home on your day in Tikrit. Terrorists are using Twitter to communicate—relaying orders, reporting on coalition force movements, etc.—and just imagine if they discovered a Marine's Twitter account and was able to track and follow a platoon readying for a patrol. The result would be devastating.
Despite the operational and troop security concerns, the Pentagon is not ignoring social media and Web 2.0. The Department of Defense has embraced the power of the Web for many years, and the Navy had a primitive social media news room all the way back in 1998!
The Department of the Navy continues to embrace social media. Just last month, the Navy issued one of the first policies in the government sector regarding these issues. The policy, Web 2.0: Utilizing New Web Tools, is intended to:
"provide initial guidance for all Navy and Marine Corps commands regarding the use of emerging web tools to facilitate collaboration and information sharing in the Department of the Navy. These tools… include wikis, blogs, mashups, web feeds (such as, Really Simple Syndication and Rich Site Summary (RSS) feeds), and forums, which are often referred to as components of "Web 2.0" and can significantly enhance mission effectiveness through collaboration. The Department endorses the secure use of Web 2.0 tools to enhance communication, collaboration and information exchange; streamline processes; and foster productivity improvements. However, their application must not compromise data confidentiality and integrity."
This policy is not unlike any other corporate governance regarding the use of a company's Internet. There are Fortune 500 companies that restrict and limit access to certain social sites for fear of corporate espionage of loss of productivity. The military is not any different in this regard and has been instrumental and supportive in the creation of social sites such as Military.com and NavyForMoms.com.
As a 13-year Navy veteran, I am thankful for the opportunity to have worn the uniform and am thankful to the men and women with whom I have faced battle, as well as the sacrifices being made each and every day. I salute you and thank you.
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