[Infowarrior] - How the Army Is Winning the Pentagon's Internet 'Civil War'

[Richard Forno]

How the Army Is Winning the Pentagon's Internet 'Civil War'
By David Axe EmailMay 31, 2008 | 9:46:11 AMCategories: Info War

http://blog.wired.com/defense/2008/05/how-the-army-is.html

This winter, the Air Force, as the Pentagon’s point agency for  
"cyberwarfare," banned access from official networks to many blogs,  
declaring that they weren’t "established, reputable media." The Air  
Force didn’t seem concerned that international jihadists had long ago  
latched onto websites as cheap, effective tools for sharing ideas.  
Indeed, the Air Force’s ban was part of a widening military crackdown  
on the so-called “Web 2.0.” Mostly, Website-banning Pentagon officials  
were worried that U.S. troops might inadvertently release secret  
information on the Internet.

But the Army cleverly dodged the Pentagon's Web 2.0 crackdown, scoring  
the upper hand in a growing "civil war" within the military over how  
to deal with the Internet. I explain the Army's approach in the first  
of a three-part series over at The Washington Independent. The Army  
set up

     its own versions of popular Web 2.0 sites, but [hid] them behind  
password-protected portals. In that way, the Army appears to have  
found a middle ground between Internet proponents and skeptics. On  
this toehold, the land combat branch is steadily building new Internet  
tools that might help the United States catch up to Internet-savvy  
jihadists. In late April, the land-warfare branch even launched an  
official blogging service for officers. The blogs combine the best of  
the civilian Web 2.0 with old-fashioned military-grade security.

The officials blogs are a function of an Army version of MySpace, the  
social-networking site popular with teens:

     This "military MySpace," like the civilian version, would include  
"status update[s], private message[s], and [the] ability to add  
'members I value' to your own profile," according to Maj. Ray Kimball,  
one of a handful of officers at the Center for Company-Level Leaders,  
a sort of Internet advocacy group at the U.S. Military Academy in West  
Point, N.Y.

     The military MySpace –- call it "MilSpace" -– would eventually  
include the previously mentioned blogging function, allowing officers  
to develop and share ideas and tactics without necessarily having to  
work through the military’s lumbering, labyrinthine and strictly  
hierarchical chain of command. MilSpace and its blogs are part of a  
network of online discussion forums, created by the Center for Company- 
Level Leaders, that Lt. Col. Tony Burgess, Kimball’s boss, called a  
"virtual front porch" for hosting soldiers’ conversations.

     The forums have their roots in the late 1990s, when they were a  
private project overseen by several young officers. In 2002 the Army  
officially sanctioned the forums. After months of work, the MilSpace  
addition went live in January this year, and the blogging function  
launched in late April. With each successive new feature, this  
"virtual front porch" has gained new users, new admirers in the senior  
ranks and a more prominent position in the Army’s emerging Internet  
strategy. "I would definitely characterize it [the Mil-Space blogs] as  
a success," Kimball told The Washington Independent. "Anecdotally,  
conversations are more vibrant than they've ever been."

(Photo: Army)