DOD Policy Change Defends a Soldier's Freedom to Connect
BY Nancy Scola | Monday, March 1 2010
Credit: U.S. ArmyThe Defense Department high-ups have announced a new policy that creates the assumption that U.S. military personnel will be able to use U.S. military networks to Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, what have you, as the New York Times has reported.
That's good news for folks who believe that social media can serve as a lifeline, outlet, and connector for soldiers and other fighting men and women. But the new Pentagon policy that removes default social media blacklists doesn't necessarily mean that, in practice, those in uniform will be unrestricted in how they choose to use tech, at home and while out in the field. In announcing the policy (on Twitter, natch), Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs Price Floyd boiled it down to this: "What does DoD social media policy mean to you? Ideally more access, and broad DoD policy cover supporting SM which we currently don't have." Note the "ideally" in there.
In other words, it isn't at all a given that what the Pentagon executive suite in Arlington pronounces about social media trickles down to the various branches of the military -- not to mention the various sub-units and sub-sub-units of the armed forces. But what the new DOD embrace of online tools does do is to lay out a grand principle that the men and women of the military will, likely, have to fight to defend.