[Hrgeeks] Pentagon Issues New Policy On Social Networking

[John Bos]

 Atlanta Journal-Constitution
February 27, 2010**
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Pentagon Issues New Policy On Social Networking
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By Pauline Jelinek, Associated Press

WASHINGTON — Everyone from troops in the field to the highest brass and
civilian leaders will be allowed to Twitter, blog and use Facebook and other
social networking sites on the military's non-classified computer network,
the Pentagon announced Friday.
The new policy follows a seven-month review in which the Defense Department
weighed the threats and benefits of allowing the wide use of emerging
Internet capabilities. It essentially seeks to manage the risks while
acknowledging the Internet is proving a powerful tool for a myriad of tasks
including recruiting, public relations, collaboration with a wide range of
people and for communications between troops and their families.

To guard security, it allows commanders to cut off access — on a temporary
basis only — if that's required to safeguard a mission or reserve bandwidth
for official use. The new directive also makes practices uniform across the
entire department, in which different commands previously blocked certain
things while others didn't. Visiting sites for pornography, gambling or
hate-crime activities is still prohibited on military computers.

"We need to take advantage of these capabilities that are out there — this
Web 2.0 phenomena," said David M. Wennergren, deputy assistant secretary of
defense for information technology. "The idea is be responsible and use
these tools to help get the job done."

The new directive means that YouTube, MySpace and more than a dozen sites
blocked by the Pentagon in May 2007 will be unblocked, he said. The Pentagon
said at the time that the use of video sites in particular was straining its
network and using too much of its bandwidth. But Wennergren said Friday that
the move failed to stem the use of bandwidth because people just went to
alternate sites.
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