DoD changes their social media policy

[Spike]

Demonstration of hazards of Facebook to OPSEC:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100303/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_israel_facebook_fiasco;_ylt=Ah7KcCGrWjdhj1qfzBkqMNNbbBAF;_ylu=X3oDMTE1aWlqN2xtBHBvcwMyBHNlYwN5bi1jaGFubmVsBHNsawNpc3JhZWxpcmFpZGM-

Thank you Judy.

I think that is a reason why DoD originally published the restriction, for things that "might happen".

I wish I can find the article about the Soldier in 2004 who gave away the unit position in an email that was intercepted.  Armed Forces Members today have it much better communication wise than they did 10 years ago or even in World War two.  No one is routinely intercepting mail and censoring it.  Phone Calls from the AT&T phone centers in Iraq are not monitored 24/7 and videoconferencing with family members back home is becoming more common.

However, as a Service Member myself I can understand giving up some freedoms we have in an operational area.  Heck, even in the States I can see where communication monitoring is a good idea when working in and with classified information centers.

We do have enemies (China being one of the biggest) and need to safeguard our secrets.  Recently China bought intel from DoD contractors. 

Honestly, Facebook and Myspace should be off limits.  We all know there are people who monitor those sites waiting for intelligence to be posted.

Heck, in the civilian sector companies pay employees to do nothing but "play" on social networking sites in hope of getting leaked information first so they can make better financial decisions.  Just think if a Ford employee posts on facebook to his friends "sell your shares, I am on my way to make an announcement that Ford will be losing 50 Billion this year".  Aside from an SEC investigation, it hurts our economy etc.

Like in the 80's and 90's...... be carefull of what you say and do, because it can be used to hurt or harm our military.  They military branches used to hang up posters regarding OPSEC, lately I Have not seen that many. 

[jimmydeanno]

http://www.usmm.org/postertalk2b.html

[Eclipse]

Part of the danger and risk is the ability to easily aggregate tidbits of public information into usable intel.

For every classified briefing, there's probably 10 open sources that have a piece of the puzzle - a guuys Facebook says, "we made it safe", another says what unit a guy is in, the third is an RFP for civilian contractors to transport gear, and the next thing you know, your position is in the open.

And in the olden days, the odds of a bad guy reading a (possibly censored) letter home were nearly nil, but these days, with the right (wrong) compromise on your computer, the bad guys can read those same letters from the comfort of their caves.

[raivo]

Still, I would argue that if people are determined to do stupid things, they're going to do stupid things regardless. It may not be on Facebook or Myspace, it may be in a bar somewhere as Airman Snuffy brags about <random classified/sensitive subject> to impress some girl he just met.

The focus should be on educating people so they don't do stupid things anywhere, rather than wasting effort trying to limit the avenues available for them to do stupid things in.

[Spike]

The focus should be on educating people so they don't do stupid things anywhere, rather than wasting effort trying to limit the avenues available for them to do stupid things in.

What?!?!  You have to eliminate the situations in which people can do stupid things.  That would be like saying "Don't lock your car door, because we have an anti-carjacking commercial on TV".

Anyone can have a lapse in good judgement, but if you take away the possible avenues that would make that lapse even worse, it is a good thing. 

I am not entirely sure of you background, but the 30 minute opsec presentation from DoD before deploying is not enough to stop military members from doing things that are detrimental to the mission.  They usually have no idea that what they write or say can be used by our enemies.

I think blocking facebook and myspace in the office is a good thing.  If you have so much free time to play "farmville" and reconnect with old friends while you should be processing my DFAS claim, you need to be separated.  Someone here can dig up the story on the civilian workers at DFAS that spent more time on the internet than they did actually taking calls from military members.  It was about 5 years ago.     

[raivo]

What?!?!  You have to eliminate the situations in which people can do stupid things.  That would be like saying "Don't lock your car door, because we have an anti-carjacking commercial on TV".

Anyone can have a lapse in good judgement, but if you take away the possible avenues that would make that lapse even worse, it is a good thing. 

I am not entirely sure of you background, but the 30 minute opsec presentation from DoD before deploying is not enough to stop military members from doing things that are detrimental to the mission.  They usually have no idea that what they write or say can be used by our enemies.

I think blocking facebook and myspace in the office is a good thing.  If you have so much free time to play "farmville" and reconnect with old friends while you should be processing my DFAS claim, you need to be separated.  Someone here can dig up the story on the civilian workers at DFAS that spent more time on the internet than they did actually taking calls from military members.  It was about 5 years ago.     

Oh, I'm not disagreeing that it should be blocked - just for different reasons. If someone's going to break OPSEC via Facebook, they'll just do it when they get home and it's not blocked.

[Eclipse]

Oh, I'm not disagreeing that it should be blocked - just for different reasons. If someone's going to break OPSEC via Facebook, they'll just do it when they get home and it's not blocked.

That's like saying you might as well give a drunk driver your keys since he'd drive his own car anyway.

You might not be able to control people's behavior with their own toys, but you can sure minimize risk by restricting toys you own.

[A.Member]

On the flip side of the argument, if members are accessing these sites using DoD equipment, it is easier to monitor certain acitivities.

[AlphaSigOU]

...commanders can cut down on social media use if they feel the need to "preserve operations security."

Don't expect the floodgates to open with the new policy. Commanders can make access more restrictive as quoted above. Here on Kwajalein, the nature of the work we do requires us to be vigilant in OPSEC procedures, yet time and again some idiot will post sensitive mission information on Facebook, thus giving security officials a bad case of agita. We can access FB, but many other social media sites are still blocked, and I don't expect the block to be removed anytime soon. We have a separate public network for private use, but are also admonished to practice OPSEC.