Gunner's Blog

The second unreasonable request by CHINFO was made via email. Here is the complete text with my notes in Brown:

From: ACITI (Assistant Chief of Information for Technology Integration)

To: CFM (Me, Charlie Mitchell)

CC: webmaster@navy.mil; OSD-C31 (Office of the Secretary of Defense, Command, Control and Information)

Sent: Friday, June 06, 2003 9:07 AM

Subject: Your web site

Chief:

We are deeply concerned about the presentation of Fleet Home Town News Center news releases on your World Wide Web site. We feel that this aggregation of information has the possibility to pose a threat to the physical and or mental well-being of DON personnel and their families. Department of Defense and Navy regulations prohibit the publication of the names of family members on DoD and Navy publicly acccessible Web sites. And while we do provide that information to the media in targeted news releases, this type of aggregated information is not presented on a single web site as it is with yours. The key word here is "aggregated." Of greatest concern to us is the ability of some bad actor to create mental anguish on the part of these families.

As example, taking one of your listings at random: "Navy Hospitalman Apprentice Erica N. Whitmire, daughter of Claudia F. and Lawrence M. Whitmire of (Withheld) N. Y., recently graduated from the Basic Hospital Corps School at Naval Hospital Corps School, Great Lakes, Ill." With this information, I can call Mr. or Mrs. Whitmire in (Withheld), N.Y., at (Tele Number Withheld), claim to be from the Naval Personnel Command and advise them that something drastic has happened to their daughter. Families unfamiliar with proper Navy procedures would not suspect a hoax and may be additionally victimized. This is not far-fetched. Here's is a report from the Washington Post of 6 April: Red Cross Warns Of War Hoax Washington Post April 6, 2003 Pg. C3

Red Cross Warns Of War Hoax

Military families, including one in Hopewell, Va., have been targeted by hoax telephone calls informing them that loved ones in the service had been killed, injured or reported missing, the American Red Cross said Friday.

The hoax calls started April 1 and have also been made to families in Delaware, Alabama and Michigan, the Red Cross said. About 10 such calls have been reported, and the Red Cross is investigating and turning over any information gathered to the Defense Department for investigation. In Virginia, a person claiming to be with the Red Cross told a woman her son had been taken as a prisoner of war. The woman later spoke to her son, who is safe.

A Red Cross spokesman said the organization does not notify military families of situations affecting servicemen and women. The military delivers those messages, almost always in person, he said.

Also, we';ve ahd some Sailors' apartments broekn ito when they were on deployment. While we understand these releases constitute a drawing card to your site and provide the content around which you can sell advertising, we would appreciate it if you would remove these releases from your site and no longer publish them.

The request was made by Alan P. Goldstein. You can verify this by Google-ing "Assistant Chief of Information for Technology Integration." The quality of the writing and spelling speak for themselves. I later found out that "Webmaster of the Navy" is the same Goldstein. OSD-C3I was Linda Brown, with the Command, Control, Communications and Information office of the Secretary of Defense.

I was speechless. I could not believe my eyes. Someone in the office of the Chief of Naval Information, a professional wordsmith wrote that? It had to be a hoax. Here is my response:

From: CFM

Sent: Friday, June 06, 2003 11:52 AM

To: ACITI
Subject: Re: Your web site

Mr. ACITI:

Did you send the email below?

Regards, Charlie Mitchell
webmaster@usafns.com
252-633-0161

----- Original Message -----
From: ACITI
To: CFM

Cc: OSD-C3I
Sent: Friday, June 06, 2003 9:07 AM
Subject: Your web site


Chief,

We are deeply concerned about the presentation . . .

And, here is Goldstein's response:

From: ACITI

To: CFM

Subject: RE: Your web site

Date: Fri, 6 Jun 2003 11:51:12AM

Chief,

Yes, I did.

Assistant Chief of Information

for Technology Integration

Navy Office of Information

Washington, D.C. 20350-1200

I was absolutely dumbfounded, and respectfully refused, with a sound rebuttal to his arguments against publishing the releases on the internet.

In my next installment, I will dissect the Goldstein's original request, and include my response.