A Closer Look at the Policy

At the risk of having romanizzo call me a barracks lawyer, I'd like to take a closer look at this policy. According to the policy, “MNC-I units or personnel owning or desiring to own or maintain a unit or individual web page, portal or site, must register that web site(s) with the unit chain of command.” The way I read this, it would apply to ANY site owned or maintained by a MNC-I soldier. So, if you own a website for your kid’s soccer team back home or maintain a Star Trek web shrine you would have to register it. I imagine that is not what the policy intends to regulate but there are no mention of content filters for registration.

As far as content goes, the following items are prohibited:

1. Classified information.

2. Casualty information before the next-of kin has been formally notified by the Military Service concerned.

3. Information protected by the Privacy Act.

4. Information regarding incidents under ongoing investigation.

5. For Official Use Only Information.

I’m willing to bet that DoD would not need this policy letter to punish a soldier who released any of the above information. It seems the public release of the above items would be covered under other regulations. For example, if someone posts classified information they would be punished under the applicable security regulations. As an interesting side note, the two soldiers I mentioned in the original post who were reprimanded for their webpage did not post any of the above listed information. It looks like justanothersoldier was punished for conduct unbecoming a non-commissioned officer for posting a picture of himself on the toilet. What SPC Leonard Clark is accused of is unclear but he was campaigning for public office and critical of the Bush administration. So, in my opinion, the list is reasonable. None of the above information should be posted by deployed soldiers. Perhaps the practical effect of this policy is promotion of regulations that already exist. Justanothersoldier did say that when he originally posted his blog he was unclear on what he could or could not post.

The regulation also states that “personnel who supply editorial content to but do not themselves administer a web page, web site, or web log must register any page or site to which they contribute editorial content…” “Supply editorial content.” What does that mean? Does every poster at sites like military.com forums have to register their posts? What if I write a letter to a newspaper and they post it online do I have to register that page? What if you are quoted in a newspaper article? If this policy is enforced, it seems like it runs counter to the efforts the military has made with embedded media. Many commanders encourage their soldiers to write letters to their hometown newspapers. In fact, one battalion commander was reprimanded after several of his soldiers sent good-news form letters to various papers. There are significant public relation benefits for the military to have soldiers speak honestly about their successes, hopes and fears. Of course, there is a risk that a soldier will reveal something embarrassing but the military faces the same risk by embedding reporters.

The last interesting piece of the policy is the quarterly review. Content does not need to be approved before posting but it is subject to a quarterly review. At that point the content would be removed if it fell into the prohibited content categories. If the military is concerned that soldiers might post operational secrets, the site may not be reviewed until long after the damage has been done.

Generally I feel that this is a good policy that will deter some irresponsible posting but I feel there are some areas that need clarification.

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