Defense to allow troops, family members to use social network sites

The Defense Department, which had seen some services ban the use of social networking sites, will allow troops and their families to use the popular online communication tools such as Facebook and Twitter on its unclassified networks, according to a draft memo written by Deputy Defense Secretary William Lynn III. The memo, due out in days, solidly backs the use of social network sites, which Lynn calls "Internet capabilities," for both official and unofficial purposes and envisions these tools as providing an information advantage for Defense. The new policy "addresses important changes in the way the Department of Defense communicates and shares information on the Internet," Lynn wrote. "This policy recognizes that emerging Internet-based capabilities offer both opportunities and risks that need to be balanced in ways that provide an information advantage for our people and mission partners." The directive defines Internet capabilities as "the full range of publicly accessible information services resident on the Internet [and] external to the DoD, [for example] outside of the .mil domains, including Web 2.0 tools such as social networking services, social media, user-generated content sites, social software, as well as e-mail, instant messaging and discussion forums."