US Military -v- Internal blogging & Access to WWW

[milesce]

From Zen Pundit:
Get the word out through the chain of command about an awesome opportunity and start issuing some rewards for effective IO operations by individuals - could be recognition (AAMs, ARCOMs - depends on the effect believed to have on a target audience) - could be monetary. This way you get a three-fer - you get reporting, you get self-policing and you get massive IO by talented individuals relatively cheap that adpats faster then the enemy.

Nice idea. I spend a lot of time reading milbloggers on the ground in Iraq and Afghanistan, along with a lot of Iraqi bloggers. It's astonishing sometimes how different the picture is between the folks on the ground and the reporters sitting in the Green Zone.

It'll be a huge loss in the political battle back home if the milbloggers are shut down, given how shaky public support for continuing the venture in Iraq is already. Those guys (and gals) are the best PR the military has ever seen, partly because its much more trusted than anything that comes from a news release. Even reading the really critical ones, I come away with a feeling of confidence that the troops on the ground are doing everything they can to make it a success in Iraq. The credibility level for that is far higher than any political pronouncements I've seen from behind a podium in DC.

[marct]

Zen Pundit had also mention OPSEC education, how about one step further and make an IO course available online that discusses how the enemy uses IO and how Soldier bloggers can combat it by reporting, blogging, etc.? ... This way you get a three-fer - you get reporting, you get self-policing and you get massive IO by talented individuals relatively cheap that adpats faster then the enemy.

It'll be a huge loss in the political battle back home if the milbloggers are shut down, given how shaky public support for continuing the venture in Iraq is already. Those guys (and gals) are the best PR the military has ever seen, partly because its much more trusted than anything that comes from a news release. Even reading the really critical ones, I come away with a feeling of confidence that the troops on the ground are doing everything they can to make it a success in Iraq. The credibility level for that is far higher than any political pronouncements I've seen from behind a podium in DC.

That's a really good point, Miles. Credibility is a crucial element and, to be honest, I have a feeling that most politicians have a pretty low credibility when it comes to the war.

I have been trying to figure out why I reacted so strongly to this reg since I'm not really affected by it per se (except as a researcher). My tentative conclusion is that it stems, in part, from being a Canadian. On the whole, while we do tend to get on well with the US, we also tend not to trust the US government that much. Or, to be more accurate, we trust them to be rather short-sighted and throw their weight around while disregarding their own political and philosophical rhetoric in favour of short term political gains. At the same time, we also have an immense reserve of trust in the American people to act as a rein on their government, and freedom of speech, usually via the press but more recently via blogs, boards, etc., is at the core of this.

I have often felt, although I have little concrete proof, that this dichotomous image of the US is one of the crucial components of the "love-hate" relationship many non-Americans feel towards the US. I feel that this reg, if taken to the extremes that are certainly potential within it, will have a very damaging effect on international perceptions.

As John rightly notes

Then there is the ludicrous briefing posted by Marc - FOUO for no good reason other than it is embarrasssing ... often another improper reason for classification - that he, an obvious foreign security risk from that oh so foreign country (is it our ally?) Canada, found openly published on the web in violation of its stupid administrative protection.

If we - aka "obvious foreign security risk[s] from that oh so foreign country (is it our ally?) Canada," - can find and talk about the silliness of this type of "briefing" (), we can a) help to counter it thereby trying to strengthen US endevours and b) laugh it off as the obvious work of some bureaucratic REMF. If we can't find it, then we will start to wonder. Personally, I think that the fact that it was available so quickly was a good sign; a sign that the American people think that this is bunk.

Marc