Rumsfeld Is Watching: Where's The Surprise?

WaPo tells us in a story today that the Army is watching all soldiers' blogs and Web sites.

OK, but where's the surprise? I mean, they spend more time watching our people, citizens as well as armed forces, than they do the so-called enemy.

And as any blogger NOT in the Army will tell you, CentCom and other aspects of the military watch very closely for anything posted on civilian blogs not to their liking. When they spot something, the blogger hears about it. I've noted a few of my run-ins here.

Now, just because I'm not surprised does not mean I approve of what the military does. I don't, either for soldiers or for citizens. I think they're muscling in on everyday life and on constitutionally protected space. From WaPo:

"This is a new media _ Blogging. Podcasting. Online videos," wrote Borda, 32, of Dallas, who kept a blog while he was deployed in Afghanistan with the Virginia National Guard. "The military is doing what it feels necessary to ensure the safety of the troops."

Warnock said the Web risk assessment team has reviewed hundreds of thousands of sites every month, sometimes e-mailing or calling soldiers asking them to take material down. If the blogger doesn't comply with the request, the team can work with the soldier's commanders to fix the problem _ that is, if the blogger doesn't post anonymously.

I argue that much of what they may block has nothing at all to do with actual endangerment or revelation of troop positions and every bit as much about preventing any embarrassment to Rumsfeld, Casey, etc.