In the ever-changing, fast-paced world of social networking, even the United States military is having a difficult time adapting to services such as Facebook, Twitter, etc.
Source: Medill Reports
WASHINGTON -- By now, social media and networking are old hat to America’s youth. But to those in charge of keeping America safe, social media is just starting to be something more important than an obscure diversion for teenagers.
Just take a look at the Department of Defense. The Air Force recently joined the Twitter revolution. Gen. Ray Odierno, U.S. commander of multinational forces in Iraq, is on Facebook.
These are just a few ways the U.S. military is trying to incorporate social media into the everyday workings of national security.
But as they enter the world of social networking, military leaders have to be careful in ways other users don’t.
“We have to remember the government is a different participant than other people in social media,” said James Carafano, a senior fellow at the conservative Heritage Foundation who recently published Social Networking and National Security: How to Harness Web 2.0 to Protect the Country. “We also have to remember that there are downsides to the technology just like anything else.”
Carafano says there is the issue of classified information being leaked in a sort-of “social media experiment gone wrong” as well as concern that all information on the social networking sites isn’t accurate.
But the issues must be dealt with because the networks are here to stay, he said. This year alone, communication via Facebook has outpaced the total number of e-mails exchanged.
“We can’t just say ‘the government can’t do social media’,” said Carafano. “The fact is - the world is doing it. The government just needs to be smart about how it uses social media.”
And being smart may mean taking more time to learn how to use social media effectively.
“It’s all about the exchange of information,” said Hugo Teufel, III., former chief privacy officer for the Department of Homeland Security. “It’s something government sometimes isn’t really good at doing.”
Teufel now works on privacy and security issues for the advisory services arm of PricewaterhouseCoopers, mainly working with government agencies and aerospace and defense contractors.
He said using social media is about bringing people together and that the government should use any means to engage with the public.
“(The government) blogging just for the sake of blogging – not sure if there’s value in there,” Teufel said. “In a military context, I can see it being used more social than business focused.”
Some security experts say it’s about having the right leadership in place.
“With people like (Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff) Gen. Cartwright at or near the top of the defense decision-making chain, we should see a lot more use of social networkin
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