Pentagon Whispers; Milbloggers Zip Their Lips

Some military commands are busy shouting about how the press -- and its own soldier-bloggers -- are "threats" for leaking vital battlefield information. Let 'em scream, DJ Elliot, a former Navy intelligence analyst, says over at The Fourth Rail. The Pentagon's own public affairs officers are some of the worst violators of operational security (OPSEC) of all.

*I get more advance notice from a Pentagon Press Brief of US movements from Kuwait into Iraq than I get from all other sources combined. The Pentagon acts as if it is not at war, and the leaks emanating from Arlington are enormous... *

Multinational Division-North: Shoot your Air Force photographers as enemy spies.
Their captions include names, platoon level unit IDs and activities, and are released within 24-48 hours of event...

[On the other hand,] despite the worries by the hierarchy, I have seen only five valid OPSEC violations in two years from Military Bloggers concerning
ISF/Coalition forces (only 1 in the last year). MilBloggers tend to lose unit
IDs and details in their writings in a way that PAOs [public affairs officers] should study and learn from.

Milblogger Dadmanly has more. CNN has a dispatch from last weekend's milblogging conference. And *Secrecy News' *Steven Aftergood tells an Army bureaucrat to take a hike, after she tells him to pull the Army's new OPSEC rules off of his site.

ALSO:
* Military Defends MySpace Ban
* Military Hypes, Bans YouTube
* Petraeus Hearts Milblogs
* No More YouTube, MySpace for U.S. Troops
* Milblogs Boost War Effort
* Clarifying the Blog Rule Clarification
* Army to Bloggers: We Won't Bust You. Promise.
* Army's Blog Rebuttal
* Stop Those Leaks!
* Strategic Minds Debate Milblog Crackdown
* Milblog Bust: AP Gets Snowed
* Army: Milblogging is "Therapy," Media is "Threat"

* Urban Legend Led to Army Blog-Bust?

* New Army Rules Could Kill G.I. Blogs (Maybe E-mail, Too)

* Reporters = Foreign Spies?

* Army's Info-Cop Speaks
* Al-Qaeda Ramps up Propaganda Push
* [Al-Qaeda Propaganda at New High](https://www.wired.com/defense/2007/03/alqaeda_propaga.html)