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US Military 'Banned' From Viewing Wikileaks

Posted by kdawson on from the do-you-want-these-guys-protecting-cyberspace dept.

Following up on its risible demand that Wikileaks return the Afghanistan documents, the Pentagon has banned military members from viewing the documents. The Washington Times obtained copies of Navy and Marine Corps messages to their troops saying that accessing the documents even from a personal computer is "willingly committing a security violation." Wired notes that terrorists everywhere are under no such restriction. Reader carp3_noct3m writes "I am personally left almost speechless at this disconnect from reality demonstrated by the military. I am a USMC Iraq war vet, and find these policies completely ridiculous. They show the inability of our supposedly technologically knowledgeable military to fuse this knowledge with policy, mostly due to the political pressure that has erupted to 'take care of' the Wikileaks problem."

2 of 390 comments (clear)

  1. Wouldn't it be against the rules anyways? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    If the material is currently classified, wouldn't it be against the UCMJ or other military policies to view such material?

  2. Tip of the iceberg? by IICV · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Is the bit of fulmination we're seeing from outside the government a symptom of some serious pressure being applied within? I mean first it was Marc Thiessen calling for the United States Government to basically declare war against a person, and now this irrational command.

    I just can't help but wonder if these things aren't just signs of a lot of behind-the-scenes scurrying.