Wikileaks

I find the whole Wikileaks debacle pretty despicable. There are untold amounts of operational military information being put on the web without regard to how many US military, as well as Afghani and Pakistani, personnel are being endangered. That being said, I think Wikileaks is helping to keep the light off of a much more interesting question; how is that much information getting into the hands of Wikileaks in the first place?

In conflicts up to and including Desert Storm, deployed military personnel could only communicate by regular mail and 5 minute phone calls home. Most of this was limited as the time to write a letter or call home was controlled by other factors (such as combat, maintenance, or traveling to the next battle). The war in Afghanistan and Iraq were the first major conflicts of the 21st Century where cell phones, digital cameras and email were de rigueur. Deployed personnel for the first time in history could instantaneously send digital images to anyone with an email address. It was difficult to control the photos, videos and emails coming out of theater. Soldiers (including airmen, Marines, and sailors) started to create blogs about their experiences. The military had little choice but to encourage this free advertisement to keep recruiting numbers up. Facebook took off in 2008 and the US military found shutting down access resulted in outcries from the personnel as well as their families.

Basically social media and 21st Century technology has outstripped the Department of Defense's ability to regulate the information leaving their facilities. Some may ask, couldn't they just shut down access? It has been tried but this also shuts down the ability for military personnel to communicate with their family. In today's society, young people expect to be in touch with friends and family 24/7. Placing them in an restrictive environment not only goes against their expectations, it also is fruitless. Soldiers, Marines, airmen and sailors are taught to be resourceful if nothing else. If there is a server to be connected with, they will figure out how to get there.

The article I linked here at first sounds like just desserts. In his pursuit of all things US military, Mr. Assange has lost his way and his people are quitting. The more interesting story though is how did thousands of documents get sent t Wikileaks without the Department of Defense doing something about? There are some highly paid general officers in charge of cyber that need to be asked how this happened under their watch. We don't need to see Airmen Snuffy being paraded in front of a court martial unless he is standing trial with the senior officers responsible for letting this mess get this out of control.

Link