Air Force Bans Personnel from Reading News Stories Reporting NSA Scandal

[longknife]

from the Big Peace blog

The Air Force's 624th Operations Center sent an e-mail with a NOTAM (Notice to Airmen) that prohibits them from accessing and reading news stories related to the current National Security Agency snooping controversy on the Air Force’s NIPRNET (Non-Secure Internet Protocol Router Network) systems.

Read more @ Air Force Bans Personnel from Reading News Stories Reporting NSA Scandal

 

[SteadyMercury]

I guess it makes sense if you follow their logic.

Some classified material related to Verizon/NSA has been published on some websites, therefore finding it and downloading it over a non-classified network would be a violation.

 

[boedicca]

This goes hand in hand with preventing military personnel from voting via delays in overseas ballots...

 

[RetiredGySgt]

This goes hand in hand with preventing military personnel from voting via delays in overseas ballots...

No it does not. The system BELONGS to the Military with strict rules on what can and can not be viewed shared or loaded on to it. This is just informing users that the particular stories are not allowed on the MILITARY system.

 

[whitehall]

Not only that, it seems that a 30 year Sgt. in the Army was reprimanded by his commanding officer at Ft. Meyer for reading a book by Rush Limbaugh's brother David Limbaugh while in uniform. Apparently the Military is banning books.

 

[Synthaholic]

This goes hand in hand with preventing military personnel from voting via delays in overseas ballots...

No it does not. The system BELONGS to the Military with strict rules on what can and can not be viewed shared or loaded on to it. This is just informing users that the particular stories are not allowed on the MILITARY system.

Thank you. Boe-dickhead wants to make everything a hyper-partisan Battle Royale.

 

[Synthaholic]

The OP title is a blatant lie.

 

[whitehall]

This goes hand in hand with preventing military personnel from voting via delays in overseas ballots...

It's no secret that the little army of litigators hired by Al Gore were "high fiving" each other every time an unopened bag of Military absentee ballots was tossed in the trash for technical violations that the Military had no control over. Gore's lawyers operated on the assumption that the majority of Military votes would go to Bush so if they could prevent a member of the Military from exercising his Constitutional right to vote it would better Gore's chances.

 

[Papawx3]

So what? Air Force personnel are already so used to being told what to think and say that having their reading restricted is no longer a concern to them. Actually, it's just saving them the time and effort of having to stretch their minds that far.

 

[Katzndogz]

At some point, men and women will decide that this government is not providing anything worth fighting for.

 

[Desperado]

from the Big Peace blog

The Air Force's 624th Operations Center sent an e-mail with a NOTAM (Notice to Airmen) that prohibits them from accessing and reading news stories related to the current National Security Agency snooping controversy on the Air Force’s NIPRNET (Non-Secure Internet Protocol Router Network) systems.

Read more @ Air Force Bans Personnel from Reading News Stories Reporting NSA Scandal

It just keeps getting worse with each passing day. The government definitely does not want its' military to be well informed.

 

[Mad Scientist]

So this is false?:
Military told not to read Obama-scandal news

The notice applies to users of the Air Force NIPRNET (Non-classified Internet Protocol Router Network), which is the ONLY WAY that many troops stationed overseas and on bases in the U.S. are able to access the Internet. The last line of the executive summary states:
“Users are not to use AF NIPRNET systems to access the Verizon phone records collection and other related news stories because the action could constitute a Classified Message Incident.”

 

[Mad Scientist]

Are all computers on the Network NIPRNET Computers or do Airmen have their own personal ones?

 

[TakeAStepBack]

This goes hand in hand with preventing military personnel from voting via delays in overseas ballots...

No it does not. The system BELONGS to the Military with strict rules on what can and can not be viewed shared or loaded on to it. This is just informing users that the particular stories are not allowed on the MILITARY system.

The system, and everything material in the hands of the military BELONGS to the American people. At any rate, they are authorized to manage the use of the citizens property. So I see no harm in this. It's not like they are saying personnel cant read the stories, they simply can not use the equipment they manage for that purpose.

 

[Book of Jeremiah]

from the Big Peace blog

The Air Force's 624th Operations Center sent an e-mail with a NOTAM (Notice to Airmen) that prohibits them from accessing and reading news stories related to the current National Security Agency snooping controversy on the Air Force’s NIPRNET (Non-Secure Internet Protocol Router Network) systems.

Read more @ Air Force Bans Personnel from Reading News Stories Reporting NSA Scandal

With the information this guy has on them? They are probably freaking out right now. They will never find him and they know it. They can delay the Military finding out what Snowden has but not indefinitely. At some point these military guys and gals go home and the news is on television and internet and everywhere else and then it is all over but the shout.

This is most definitely the biggest story of the decade. Remember Leonardo Dicaprio in the movie, Catch me if you can? This guy is much smarter than that guy and if you look at the huge gap in abilities FBI vs the figure in that movie? Ramp it up times ten thousand and you are there.

This is one time when hiring the disabled and dumbed down average Joe is definitely not going to pay off for them. It will be interesting to watch how this unfolds. All I know is Snowden has definitely convinced me that becoming a Libertarian is a good idea. I was on the fence before. Not anymore!

- Jeri

Note* I was just told by someone that this guy Snowden is releasing information about Obama tonight via television news source. Anyone else hear that report? Wonder what that will be about.

 

[daveman]

Are all computers on the Network NIPRNET Computers or do Airmen have their own personal ones?

In CONUS and most overseas locations, military members living on base have access to commercial ISPs. At contingency bases, like those in Afghanistan, Airmen are allowed to bring their own devices and connect to the base NIPRNET, BUT they have to give the device upon arrival to the Network Control Center, where the hard drive is wiped and USAF-approved and -licensed software is installed before they're allowed to connect. This is a cybersecurity measure that minimizes the risks from malware being exposed to the NIPRNET. Once on the NIPRNET, of course, access to various sites is limited due to policy reasons -- no online gaming (hogs bandwidth), porn, etc.

At least, that was the policy re: personal devices a few years ago.

 

[asterism]

from the Big Peace blog

The Air Force's 624th Operations Center sent an e-mail with a NOTAM (Notice to Airmen) that prohibits them from accessing and reading news stories related to the current National Security Agency snooping controversy on the Air Force’s NIPRNET (Non-Secure Internet Protocol Router Network) systems.

Read more @ Air Force Bans Personnel from Reading News Stories Reporting NSA Scandal

This is nothing new. Anytime classified information is leaked and available online, it presents a security problem when those documents are accessed on non-secure networks. The directive reinforces a decades-old set of policies of keeping ALL classified information off of ALL non-secured devices.

 

[longknife]

I just read a blog post that says DOD is going to provide free internet access for all military personnel. I didn't find any "but" in the post but I'm certain it's there.