Sometimes, I come across a decision so stupid I’m momentarily rendered speechless. Today was one of those days.
Wired has published an article claiming:
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. The directive, issued April 19, is the sharpest restriction on troops’ online activities since the start of the Iraq war. And it could mean the end of military blogs, observers say.
Are you kidding me? I hope so. We live in a society where information flow is critical. The Pentagon and the Executive Branch are losing the hearts and minds battle. There is no doubt about that. The uncensored voices of our military personnel via blogs have been one of the few sources of positive, thoughtful information from the ground.
Why? Why would officials effectively choke off the thin trickle of spin free information coming from the war zones? An OPSEC review prior to publishing anything, per the new regulation supposedly now in place, will effectively kill any desire by our troops to publish what’s happening in their daily lives.
The unfathomable arrogance and stupidity of military bureaucrats overwhelms me. A micromanaged war is a war lost. Perhaps Harry Reid was right after all.