US Army: reporters are "threat," just like Al Qaeda; milblogs = "therapy"

Over at the Wired News "Danger Room" defense blog, Noah Shachtman and others have been covering the new Army operational security guidelines that amount to a major crackdown on milbloggers and would-be whistleblowers, and a hardening of stance against the media. Snip:

To the Army's 1st Information Operations Command, the "media" is just another threat -- along with "al Qaeda," "hackers," and "drug cartels."   Military bloggers are even lower than that: just poor saps looking for a "therapeutic" way to get out their feelings.  No wonder the Army has put out new rules that could very well kill the sites off.

I've pasted a couple of screenshots below.  But it's really worth checking out the Information Operation Command's whole presentation on "OPSEC in the Blogosphere," obtained by Steven Aftergood's Secrecy News.

Link to post.

See also these related posts on Danger Room:

Strategic Minds Debate Milblog Crackdown

Stop Those Leaks!

Milblog Bust: AP Gets Snowed

Milblog Bust: AP Gets Snowed

Urban Legend Led to Army Blog-Bust?

New Army Rules Could Kill G.I. Blogs (Maybe E-mail, Too)

Reporters = Foreign Spies?

Army's Info-Cop Speaks