Want to know the official policy of the Multi-National Corps (I.e., CJTF-7 in Iraq) on blogging-while-military? Or civilian or contractor in support of the Corps?
Click here, and read the pdf.
Phil Carter of Intel Dump sent this out to the milblog world (so it's probably going to be everywhere, soon). (if you see it blogged, lemme know, I'll link it, it's an important subject).
It's been a subject of discussion over at Blonde Sagacity (go to the bottom of the post and read the comments, too), and I'm sure elsehwere, as some milbloggers are finding themselves shut down, shutting down voluntarily, or finding that the effort of trying to comply is too much. Sometimes the shut-downs are, frankly, deserved - such as the cases where soldiers (with good intentions but bad timing) are publishing casualty names before notification teams can tell the next-of-kin, let alone giving out operational information.
Reading it, I think it's as balanced an approach as is possible with the current state-of-the-art - and most importantly, recognizes the importance of the deployed bloggers. Since it's a scanned graphic I can't quote it - but read para 6. It works for me.
Your blog is subject to scrutiny quarterly, but you don't have to submit material for approval, either. But - you *must* register the blog. I don't have a problem with that, really, all things considered. Let's see if other people's mileage varies. But it will certainly keep candid discussions of leadership to a minimum.
But then, if you want to do that, there's the rest of us - the non-deployed/able milbloggers - we can always post those posts, if it makes sense to get them into the light of day, and it's not just a fit of crybaby pique!
As Phil said in his email:
...I think this policy strikes a pretty good balance, especially to the extent that it refrains from "prior restraint" (i.e. pre-publication review). However, a lot continues to depend on the willingness of commanders to allow these blogs, and the extent to which they exercise their lawful authority under Article 92 to quash them.
It's a tough question, and I think the leadership is trying to be even-handed on this one - and you can bet there are many in the weak-leader range who would like to squash the blogs.
Others blogging:
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