More on Milblogs

Actually a decent article (via Memeorandum) from the BBC, but while explaining that the military is worried about operational security, that worry is never explained. On the other hand, at least it isn't dismissed as nothing more than an excuse for shutting down pesky sites the military doesn't like. That temptation, to try and regulate writing commander's don't like, is surely there (although commanders, I think, are quickly learning there isn't that much they can really do) but the operational security concerns are very real but also not always self-evident. Just throwing the label around doesn't necessarily help people understand how it is that these sites can be problemmatic, particularly since a single piece of information can often seem entirely innocuous -- it's only when taken in tandem with other information that it might become dangerous.

Comments

[amr]

Ah, such as leaking about those foreign prisons that couldn't possibly do any harm since they were, just, just not right. Who would have really thought that such information could endanger the transfer pilots, make some allies more tempting targets and restrict the interrogation of senior al Qaeda terrorists, er . . . minutemen. Operational concerns here, bah, just American right wing propaganda!

[dauber]

Uh, yeah, thanks, that story didn't come from milblogs and has nothing to do with TACTICAL operational security, but okay.

[Christopher Whitaker]

Speaking as an ex- and future- (yes, my crazy ass is re-enlisting) serviceman, I can speak to the trouble with OpSec. The problem is that you just don't know what tiny piece of information will be useful to the enemy, and that could compromise you. On the other hand, the Milblogs have proven to be a fantastic informational and propagandical (yes, I made that word up) tool for the military. Commanders are kind of between a rock and a hard place, but I think that, possibly, their concerns are a bit overblown. Soldiers that blog are smart enough to be careful. Perhaps just a tiny bit of internal oversight would prevent any potential problems.

Amr, the "foreign prisons" information was leaked by a REMF CIA puke, NOT by a serviceman. Get you facts straight. Besides, the Justice Department is currently investigating and hopefully will find and burn the SOB that leaked the information.

[amr]

Hey, Chris, I thought I was being critical of the MSM leaking operational info in a snarky manner since the BBC didn’t seem to know what operational concerns were, nor does the American MSM “seem” to know. I guess I wasn’t clear enough at 0116 hrs.

[Christopher Whitaker]

My bad...guess my sarcasm detector is ont the blink again. :)