Marines Ban Twitter, MySpace, and Facebook

In what appears to be a strategic decision, the the Pentagon’s newly-appointed social media czar, Price Floyd, has decided that all web 2.0 SNS (Social Networking Sites) be banned for the next year. Citing reasons such as scams, worms, and Trojans, as well as other OPSEC (Operations Security) and COMSEC (Communication Security), the ban is more of a security concern than it is anything else.

“These internet sites in general are a proven haven for malicious actors and content and are particularly high risk due to information exposure, user generated content and targeting by adversaries,” reads a Marine Corps order, issued Monday. “The very nature of SNS [social network sites] creates a larger attack and exploitation window, exposes unnecessary information to adversaries and provides an easy conduit for information leakage.

Oddly enough,

Many within the Pentagon’s highest ranks find value in the Web 2.0 tools. The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff has 4,000 followers on Twitter. The Department of Defense is getting ready to unveil a new home page, packed with social media tools. The Army recently ordered all U.S. bases to provide access to Facebook. Top generals now blog from the battlefield.

Despite the ban, waivers for the Marines Web 2.0 ban will be giving if a mission critical need can be proven. Otherwise, the next year will be twitter-less for our Marines.

[Wired's Danger Room]