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Corps bans Facebook, similar Web sites

Facebook, Twitter and MySpace are officially off limits for Marines — at least while they’re at work.

Marine administrative message 458/09, issued Monday, calls the social networking sites “a proven haven for malicious actors and content,” and officially prohibits Marines from accessing them from work computers unless a waiver is granted.

“The very nature of [social networking sites] creates a larger attack and exploitation window, exposes unnecessary information to adversaries and provides an easy conduit for information leakage that puts [operational security, communications security], personnel and the [Marine Corps Enterprise Network] at an elevated risk of compromise,” officials said in the MarAdmin.

The ban is in effect through at least the next year, the message states. It does not affect personal accounts accessed from Marines’ home computers.

The MarAdmin was released as the Corps’ online presence — and that of the entire U.S. military — continues to grow. The service’s official Twitter site, for example, now has nearly 2,000 followers, and its official Facebook page has more than 75,000 fans.

The Facebook page is used mostly for recruiting purposes and links to the most recent Marine commercials, as well as the Corps’ .mil Web sites. Marine spokesman 1st. Lt. Craig Thomas said that is unlikely to change.

As for the Twitter accounts, those never were operated from government computers, he said.

“That’s just overly motivated Marines going above and beyond the call of duty to try to communicate with their audience,” Thomas said.

The Defense Department also has its own Facebook page, and Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs, has more than 4,000 followers on his Twitter account. Nevertheless, military officials said in late July that they are reviewing whether it’s a good idea to allow access to such sites.

It’s unclear whether the Corps’ decision to ban the sites is part of the broader Pentagon review, but Thomas said social networking sites already were “restricted” before the official announcement was made. In May 2007, the Pentagon blocked worldwide .mil computer access to YouTube, MySpace and 10 other popular sites featuring audio and video clips, saying the amount of bandwidth required by those sites was impairing the military’s network.

“Two years ago we did not have the term social networking site,” Thomas said. “If we did, it wasn’t as prominent. All this stuff is now coming to the forefront.”

Despite the ban, some military occupational specialties or commands may receive a waiver granting access to the sites for professional purposes, but it is unclear how long that process will take, or how many may be granted. Marines applying for the waiver must clearly outline the operational need for the site, as well as the number of times it will be accessed per week and per user.

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