Post by Shadow on Sept 4, 2005 10:28:43 GMT -5
World Peace Herald
By Shaun Waterman
UPI Homeland and National Security Editor
Published August 30, 2005
WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Army is warning soldiers that posting photos on their Web logs may inadvertently reveal "vulnerabilities and tactics," and "needlessly place lives at risk."
Army Chief of Staff Gen. Peter Schoomaker circulated a memo to all Army personnel last week saying that "we must do a better job" at operational security -- "OPSEC" in military parlance.
"Some soldiers continue to post sensitive information" on the Internet and especially on their Web logs or online diaries, wrote Schoomaker, giving as examples "photos depicting weapon system vulnerabilities and tactics, techniques and procedures.
"Such OPSEC violations needlessly place lives at risk and degrade the effectiveness of our operations," he wrote.
Schoomaker promised that amendments to Army regulations would be promulgated within a month, and that officers would have access to new training materials on the issue by Sept. 2.
[Visit a blog post related to this article: blog.wpherald.com/wphblog/?p=71 ]
In the meantime, he ordered Army staff at the Pentagon to "tracks and report, on a quarterly basis, (such) OPSEC violations."
"Get the word out and focus on this issue now," Gen. Schoomaker concluded. "I expect to see immediate improvement."
A copy of the memo was posted on the Web by Steven Aftergood of the Federation of American Scientists, who edits the e-newsletter Secrecy News.
Pentagon spokeswoman Lt. Col. Tracy O'Grady-Walsh told United Press International it was Department of Defense policy that military personnel, "while acting in a private capacity ... have the right to prepare information for public release through non-Department of Defense forums or media" so long as they did it in their own time and with their own equipment, and did not use "information generally not available to the public."
By Shaun Waterman
UPI Homeland and National Security Editor
Published August 30, 2005
WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Army is warning soldiers that posting photos on their Web logs may inadvertently reveal "vulnerabilities and tactics," and "needlessly place lives at risk."
Army Chief of Staff Gen. Peter Schoomaker circulated a memo to all Army personnel last week saying that "we must do a better job" at operational security -- "OPSEC" in military parlance.
"Some soldiers continue to post sensitive information" on the Internet and especially on their Web logs or online diaries, wrote Schoomaker, giving as examples "photos depicting weapon system vulnerabilities and tactics, techniques and procedures.
"Such OPSEC violations needlessly place lives at risk and degrade the effectiveness of our operations," he wrote.
Schoomaker promised that amendments to Army regulations would be promulgated within a month, and that officers would have access to new training materials on the issue by Sept. 2.
[Visit a blog post related to this article: blog.wpherald.com/wphblog/?p=71 ]
In the meantime, he ordered Army staff at the Pentagon to "tracks and report, on a quarterly basis, (such) OPSEC violations."
"Get the word out and focus on this issue now," Gen. Schoomaker concluded. "I expect to see immediate improvement."
A copy of the memo was posted on the Web by Steven Aftergood of the Federation of American Scientists, who edits the e-newsletter Secrecy News.
Pentagon spokeswoman Lt. Col. Tracy O'Grady-Walsh told United Press International it was Department of Defense policy that military personnel, "while acting in a private capacity ... have the right to prepare information for public release through non-Department of Defense forums or media" so long as they did it in their own time and with their own equipment, and did not use "information generally not available to the public."