Pentagon to Troops: Taliban Can Read WikiLeaks, You Can’t

[sabra]

Source: WIRED News

Any citizen, any foreign spy, any member of the Taliban, and any terrorist can go to the WikiLeaks web site, and download detailed information about how the U.S. military waged the war in Afghanistan from 2004 to 2009. Members of that same military, however, are now banned from looking at those internal military documents. “Doing so would introduce potentially classified information on unclassified networks,” according to one directive issued by the armed forces.

...

Now, the Marine Corps is telling its troops and civilian employees in a memo that “willingly accessing the WIKILEAKS website for the purpose of viewing the posted classified material (constitutes) the unauthorized processing, disclosure, viewing, and downloading of classified information onto an UNAUTHORIZED computer system not approved to store classified information. Meaning they have WILLINGLY committed a SECURITY VIOLATION.”

The other branches of the armed services have put out similar notices. The memos were initially reported in the Washington Times. But the story has been removed from the paper’s website.

...


UPDATE: “Take ‘wikileaks’ out of your headlines,” one Army contractor e-mails Danger Room. The web filter “has been updated to block anything with wikileaks in the URL.”

“So, yeah, common sense out the window,” the contractor adds.







Read more: http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2010/08/pentagon-to-troops-taliban-can-read-wikileaks-you-cant/

[Soylent Brice]

1. *facepalm*

[orbitalman]

2. Ah Yes, freedom ot speech, freedom of the press. How sweet. nt

[Veilex]

3. This, unfortunately is fact, not fiction. I've seen the "memo"

It makes no sense to me. I see it as a desperate attempt to control what is already way beyond Government control.

[hlthe2b]

4. Like the troops could not email a friend and ask for them to

send it to them? Good God, the insanity among the brass, slays me.

[TheMadMonk]

12. Wouldn't matter. It would appear they are using legal technicalities to make it clear..

...that ANY serving member of the armed forces who accesses this material, unless they are specifically authorised to view it in its "proper" place, can be charged with a fairly serious crime. And would not put it past the PTB to extend this to any reservists as well.

[Bigmack]

5. One of my favorite mottos from the Corps....

"First to go... last to know."

Fits perfectly here.

[Rozlee]

6. Just you try and make us!

As former military, I can say with total confidence that we were always like kids: tell us not to do something and we'd want to do it all the more. If the majority don't do it, a few wiseacres will find a way to get a hold of it and spread the love.

[Submariner]

7. So the Pentagon has lost trust in the troops and has to censor their reading?

Sounds like it should be un-American to do that. The Pentagon brass are unfortunately more of the shit pile Bush left behind in his wake. Sadly President Obama is left to be the CIC of a bunch of incompetent ass-kissing pussies caught in a web of lies to the detriment of our service members.

[Downwinder]

8. Adds validity to WikiLeaks. Like giving a PG or X rating.

[unblock]

9. get a better flow with w i k i l e a k s !

:rofl:

[Roland99]

10. more accurately spamified as: w 1 k 1 l 3 a k s

:)

[damntexdem]

11. Hey, that's the way to fight a war: keep your own troops uninformed ...

while the enemy can be fully informed.

NOT!

[Downwinder]

14. If you didn't keep them in the dark, they wouldn't be there.

[L0oniX]

15. +1000000

[frylock]

13. brilliant strategy