Social Networking for Security

Yesterday on Twitter I ran across reference to an interesting blog on StrategicSocial.com that looks at social networking as a tool to further the security interests of the United States. They have a posting on General Caldwell, Commander of the Combined Arms Center at Ft. Leavenworth, KS, a school for senior Army officers. Gen Caldwell has apparently taken to encouraging the military to blog and become involved in social networking; this in an organization that as recently in 2006 banned blogging. The original ban on military blogging came about because of a number of instances where bloggers described current operations or included other classified information in their blogs. This is one of the reasons that the school at Ft. Leavenworth has adopted 7 rules for military bloggers. As would be expected those rules include prohibitions against disclosing classified information and talking about on-going operations. DHS Blogging DHS has a number of blogs periodically updated by upper management. This is a good start to social networking, but I’m not sure how wide spread the coverage of these blogs is. I would be willing to bet that there are few outside of those of us that cover DHS that routinely read these current blogs. It would be interesting to see some program directors have blogs that address day-to-day issues with their program. For instance we could have a CFATS blog that looked at issues related to the administration of that program; more in depth explanations of frequently asked questions for instance. A blog limited to registered CFATS users (and maybe professional CFATS bloggers. No? Oh well) could provide a forum for discussing more detailed and sensitive information (though actual CVI would be severely restricted). The idea of limited distribution blogs may seem kind of an odd application of social networking tools until you realize that social systems come in all sizes. Routine communications between members of a distinct group of people would go a long way to changing that group of people into a real community. If DHS wanted to bring the disparate Focus Centers into a coherent group that shares information they could establish blogs that would allow for informal communication between DHS Intelligence operations and the Focus Centers. Creative use of social networking tools will make DHS and its State and local counterparts more of a cohesive unit. Sharing information and sharing ideas will make it easier for these professionals to work together.