Noah Shachtman has done it again — drawn the interest of the blogosphere (here, here and here to name a few) and the scorn of the Pentagon.
Readers of the D-Ring know that I have been known to lavish praise on Shachtman. He is probably my favorite milblogger.
But you got it wrong, this time, Noah. You chased the story that you wanted to write, not the one that was there.
Today, I had a phone conversation with Maj. Ray Ceralde, the officer interviewed by Noah for the article.
The apocalyptic first line of the article reads as follows:
The U.S. Army has ordered soldiers to stop posting to blogs or sending personal e-mail messages, without first clearing the content with a superior officer, Wired News has learned.
Maj. Ceralde said that this is categorically untrue. Personal e-mails are not subject to the regulation, the policy only applies to public statements made online. With regard to blogs, the new policy does not order soldiers to stop posting; rather, it requires the Soldier to consult with his immediate supervisor and his OPSEC officer, and only if that blog is being published in a public forum (i.e., not behind a firewall or other private settings).
The goal of the policy, Ceralde said, is to strike a balance between the free expression by Soldiers and the protection of the Soldier and his or her unit. It is not, he said, meant to silence and hinder speech.
Having been inside the Pentagon, I believe him. The military brass might not understand new media, and might be a bit afraid of it, but their knee-jerk response is not to squash it. Blackfive even notes that GEN Patraeus has praised the “Muddy Boots Milbogger” solution.
To Noah’s credit, he did find a major flaw in the implementation of the new policy, namely that it wasn’t accessible on AKO by spouses and contractors. While Ceralde claimed that anyone with an AKO account should be able to see it, a D-Ring source with a spouse AKO account sent me the following screenshot of her browser when trying to access the new regulation on AKO:
MAJ Ceralde, if this policy impacts spouses and contractors, it MUST be accessible to them as well.
In the words of the spouse:
Family members must have access to this policy, especially if they are overseas and command-sponsored. Spouses cannot be punished under UCMJ but if they are command-sponsored, the Army can take away that sponsorship which means the active-duty member loses housing allowance or family housing and the extra “with family” allowances often assigned to COLA.
This isn’t easy folks. Balancing OPSEC with milblogging isn’t simple stuff. But both sides should be able to prevail.
Throwing your hands in the air and yelling that the sky is falling may make for a good story, but it doesn’t help the lives military leadership and the Soldiers who follow their orders any easier.
Lets keep our eye on the ball and work on creating a balance, rather than a riot.
Good job!
I think the average citizen forgets that Soldiers fight to defend everyone’s freedom of speech but give up the same right to free speech when they join the military.
The updated AR is a great step but the Army still needs to conduct an information campaign. When do you think we’ll begin to see this in the post papers and on the Pentagon Channel? And will it be in terms that people really understand?
I’m a contractor that blogs. Any idea where I can actually find the policy to read it? thx
Thanks, Sherry. I think you make a good point — commanders and PAOs have not done a good job talking to Soldiers about this policy. I think that is a major source of confusion/anger/fear on this issue.
Jim, I’d check out Noah’s original article, linked in this blog post. It is a great read, even though I personally disagree with his assessment of the situation.
Steve, thanks for the update. However, I think that a solution should be for soldiers to be able to create blogs and register them with their PAO’s. This way, PAO’s (or DoD back home) can routinely check on their subordinates (via a reader), and the soldiers can write about their lives. Granted, PAO’s (and DoD) can’t check everything, but at least this provides an outlet for those guys. What do you think?
Shack, Steve.
I mentioned your post over at my milblog and we both agree.
Cheers.
Patrick
[...] responds to ‘milblog crackdown’ Jump to Comments Follow-up from yesterday’s conversation about the new Army regulation and its impact on military [...]
Funny thing is, when I first read that article the Army’s alleged position and actions didn’t surprise me much at all, even when presented the way Wired.com presented them.
They really don’t seem to get it.
[...] Army to Wired: ‘First line is not true’ « The D-Ring: Where the military and new media … Reaction to the Wired article. Don’t believe everything you read in magazines… (tags: milblogs) Share and enjoy [...]
“”With regard to blogs, the new policy does not order soldiers to stop posting [without approval]; rather, it requires the Soldier to consult with his immediate supervisor and his OPSEC officer, and only if that blog is being published in a public forum”"
So Noah is wrong unless:
(a) if by “blogs” he is referring to ones on the “internet”, and
(b) if by “approval” of posts he means like the rule says it requires and this guy just confirmed it requires.
Well if that’s what being wrong looks like, it’s kind of hard to tell it apart from being right.
“”But you got it wrong, this time, Noah. You chased the story that you wanted to write, not the one that was there.”"
He’s posted a copy of the rule which confirms it says what he’s said it does.
If you don’t think he’s written the story that is there why don’t you. Apparently it is that the Pentagon isn’t a stickler for rules anymore, even ones they just introduced.
Now that would be a story.
So write it if you believe it.
[...] razboi, momente de respiro. Mai mult, noua lege (desi este de uz intern al MoD) se aplica si “prietenilor si familiilor” [...]
Snx for you job!
It has very much helped me!
I must say, that I could not agree with you in 100%, but that’s just my opinion, which could be very wrong.
p.s. You have an awesome template . Where did you find it?