This post was update Sept. 25, 2008, to correct an error in the name of the Coast Guard's national Security Cutter.
The message couldn't be clearer: Coasties need to start social networking, right now! Yesterday on YouTube, in his firm, ramrod straight-arrow style, Coast Guard Commandant Thad Allen ordered his entire service, and especially its leaders, to get into Web 2.0, double time. See it here first:
"We're going to see very shortly in the Coast guard a revolution on how we deal with information management in the new social media, or as some people would call it the Web 2.0," Allen announced. "We need to understand that this is a permanent feature of our environment and we need to understand how to operate in it."
"It's critically important that senior leaders in the United States Coast Guard understand what technology is doing today, how it is changing, how we must change with it."
Allen apparently has been on Facebook for several months. He announced an upcoming series of messages from senior Coasties about what he called "social media Web 2.0." The CIO will talk about infrastructure and technologies. Public Affairs staff will address policies regarding content both in official statements and in how Coasties interact with their leadership.
He emphasized that in all communications, internal, with the public and among one another, Coasties must adhere to what he called "the guardian ethos," developed during his term at the helm. Regarding social networking, Allen said, "We need to take care of each other, watch our backs and watch our people."
Ironically, Allen's Web 2.0 dictum came as he declared bloggers are not legitimate news media outlets. According to Wired magazine's "Danger Room" blog, that's part of the reason the Coast Guard denied Freedom of Information Act requests from two of them. Allen's blogger comments came, surprisingly, during a Sept. 22 bloggers roundtable teleconference. Coast Guard-focused bloggers have been seeking test results from the new National Security Cutter Bertholf.
Allen's not alone in exhorting federal officialdom to wake up and get connected. Bob Gourley, former chief technology officer at the Defense Intelligence Agency, wants CTOs to get with it, too. "Get engaged in social media (if you are not already). That means Facebook, Plaxo, LinkedIn, and Twitter (especially Twitter-- it really changes your mind)," he writes on his blog, CTO Vision, in a Sept. 17 post entitled, ominously, "Is Your CTO Making You Stupid? (The blog's very good, BTW, especially for Nextgov readers.)
So, if you think wikis and blogs and Facebook and MySpace and virtual worlds are all just momentary fads you can ignore, probably best to start thinking again. Or even changing your mind. Or maybe dipping in a toe. Fast.
COMMENTS
I COMPLIMENT COMMANDANT ALLEN ON HIS LEADERSHIP IN THIS AREA.
rfairbanks3022@optonline.net
Dr.Richard Fairbanks, PDIVCAPT 2201 10/26/08 07:39 pm ET
A wise direction, cyberspace cannot be ignored. Insightful remarks by Coast Guard leadership.
DSW 10/01/08 07:56 am ET
FOIA and Alternative Media – Correcting Mischaracterizations
To be clear, the Coast Guard does not hold the position that all bloggers are not journalists. The Commandant’s point was that not all bloggers are appropriately categorized as “news media” for the sake of Freedom of Information Act fees.
The Coast Guard is committed to organizational transparency and compliance with the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552. Any entity or person may have access to government documents under FOIA unless the documents are exempted from release. The Coast Guard is guided by the Department of Justice Freedom of Information Act Guide, the Coast Guard Freedom of Information and Privacy Acts Manual (COMDTINST M5260.3.l), and legal precedent. COMDTINST M5260.3 sets policy and procedures for responding to FOIA requests. For the most part, requestors pay for the cost of producing material in response to a FOIA request and the Coast Guard FOIA manual guides Coast Guard personnel in categorizing requestors and then calculating applicable fees for searching, reviewing, and duplicating responsive FOIA materials based on the requestor’s category.
If a requester is categorized as “representative of the news media,” then only duplication fees after the first 100 pages are assessed. Whether alternative media (i.e. bloggers) are eligible for categorization as “representative of the news media” is an evolving legal issue based on the extent to which the alternative media has infused its content with sufficient journalistic rigor and whether it is organized and operated to publish or broadcast news to the public.
Simply put, not all online content constitutes journalism that warrants the cost of FOIA production to be borne by the American taxpayer. This is not a value judgment on the content of a blog or other online site, it is simply the application of federal law and guidelines in determining whether an activity is journalism, the Coast Guard may consider a requestor’s past work as compared to accepted professional standards of journalism, including, but not limited to:
American Society of News Editors
Society of Professional Journalists
Associated Press
The Coast Guard’s intent is to achieve openness of its records by applying U.S. government guidelines consistently in a way that does not burden the U. S. taxpayer with underwriting the FOIA requests of individuals or groups that are not eligible for a lower fee level.
LCDR Tony Russell,
Press Secretary to the Commandant
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This is an official United States Coast Guard posting for the public’s information. Our posting does not endorse this site or anything on it, including links to other sites, and we disclaim responsibility and liability for the site and its content.
LCDR Tony Russell 09/25/08 08:56 am ET
When you attempt to access facebook on a Coast Guard computer:
You cannot access the following Web address:
http://www.facebook.com/
Based on COMDTINST 5375.1b Limited Personal Use Of Government Office Equipment, the Coast Guards Automated Internet Web Filtering And Reporting Appliance has detected that you are attempting to access an internet web site that is being blocked. You may have reached this site by accident or it might be a legitimate site that is being blocked based on the filtering criteria. If this is a legitimate site required for you to do your job, please contact the Coast Guard Information Assurance Division at CGCIRT(at) Tiscom.Uscg.Mil or 866-4-CGCIRT and request that the site be removed from the filtering list. Repeated and intentional attempts to access inappropriate web sites is punishable under the UCMJ for military, and can result in disciplinary actions against civilian employees per Paragraph 8 of COMDTINST 5375.1. If you have any questions or believe you have received this message in error please contact the Coast Guard CIRT at 866-4-CGCIRT.
The site you requested is blocked under the following categories: Dating/Personals
You can:
Submit a site review request to your network administrator.
Use your browser's Back button or enter a different Web address to continue.
dddd 09/25/08 07:59 am ET
Although the Commandant may have some valid points concerning many bloggers, more and more legitimate news agencies use the word "blog" in thier URLs. Unfortunately, Websense and other "management tools" prevent users from reading many legitimate blogs that meet journalistic standards -- even though contemporary "standards" are debateable (Olbermann's and Matthews' departure from MSNBC political coverage comes to mind).
However, where the Commandant's argument falls flat is in the legal arena. The courts are holding bloggers to ever higher standards of liability for libel and slander (depending on the medium employed by the blogger). Therefore, if the courts hold bloggers to a similar standard of liability for defamation, then the courts have already established the very standards the Commandant says do not exist.
Considering the Armed Forces protect and defend the US Constitution (yes, I'm aware of the USCG's federal "status"), what bloggers say is protected speech unless it violates pornography laws, incites armed insurrection, and/or foments racist acts, etc. Thus, denying federal workers and military personnel access to blogs, YouTube, etc. is tantamount to thought control.
Mark 09/25/08 07:58 am ET
In DOD we are blocked from accessing any of these sites on security reasons. Funny how the Coast Guard doesn't have these same concerns.
Bruce Krasker 09/25/08 06:26 am ET
That is all well and good but as a federal employee 99% of those types of sites are blocked, so until the powers that be change there mind we can all remain in internet staledom.
Mike 09/25/08 06:19 am ET
That's not what the Commandant is saying. We have been covering along with other Bloggers what Amdiral Allen really said on his appearnce on the the DoD Bloggers Roundtable. Allen actually said that Bloggers are not real journalist.
On Monday, Coastie Commandant Thad Allen explained why: The service doesn't necessarily consider blogs legitimate media, and so didn't feel they were owed the same considerations under FOIA. Allen made these points during a Pentagon-sponsored conference call with bloggers, to announce a new "social media engagement" strategy.
Feel free to visit us at CoastGuardReport.org for the rest of this story.
Thamas Jackson 09/24/08 07:47 pm ET
It is the National Security Cutter BERTHOLF
NextGov Reader 09/24/08 06:55 pm ET