UPDATED: Has the US Army retreated on the blogging ban?
Perhaps a sidestep — if not a retreat.
After I concluded interviewing Michael Yon for an upcoming Blog Week In Review program, Blog Week producer Ed Driscoll forwarded an email from a US Senate email list.
Key bullet point in the email:
* In no way will every blog post/update a Soldier makes on his or
her blog need to be monitored or first approved by an immediate
supervisor and Operations Security (OPSEC) officer. After receiving
guidance and awareness training from the appointed OPSEC officer, that
Soldier blogger is entrusted to practice OPSEC when posting in a public
forum.
How does that differ from pre-April 19th policy? Not much. OPSEC is always stressed, and from what I’ve read on milblogs, OPSEC is observed.
Michael Yon ripped the Army and Army public affairs for the “blogging ban.” I asked him if there was a chance it would be lifted and he thought it unlikely. I have already recorded a podcast “insert” with this new information –but stay tuned.
UPDATE: I haven’t seen anything else on the Web regarding this new explanation. As I wrote earlier today, the ban is utterly foolish. Based on the Wired article I linked to in the prior post, the email explanation Ed received does look like a change.
