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Saturday, September 24, 2005
CHINFO/FHTNC/USAFNS Debacle - #5A - Freedom of Information Act Request, et al
I just created another Freedom of Information Act request. This one requests copies of the FHTNC reports to "CHINFO and others the degree of unit participation in the fleet home town news program;". I don't know anything for sure, but, I think that we will find out that the production of releases by FHTNC has been on a steady decline for the last year.
This week, I placed a call to someone at FHTNC, which to their credit was promptly returned. It was pretty short. I asked a question, and it was answered. Then, I asked if I could quote the answer. The tone of the conversation went from warm and friendly to absolutely frigid. Permission to use the quote was denied based on form, more than substance. But, that is alright with me. I did not even expect that the call would be returned, so that is to the credit of that individual that returned the call. The change in tone and denial, probably belongs in the "gamesmanship" category more than any other.
New subject: For more than a year now, there have been rumors floating around that the legacy software that FHTNC employs to produce their releases does not meet the standards and specifications for the new Navy Marine Corps Intranet (NMCI) servers. Very strong rumors from multiple sources to that effect have surfaced again, and the rumors indicate that in November the legacy software will no longer be allowed. So, that would mean that FHTNC release production would cease for all media, unless of course, they revert to using hardcopy and US Mail, which is probably cost prohibitive. If so, our fine young sailors, Marines, Coast Guardsmen and reservists will no longer be able to have a release about their active duty accomplishments published. A vast majority of them lead quiet lives, and other than the FHTNC releases have nothing ever published about them other than their obituary. If FHTNC ceases to publish releases about our junior servicemembers, whether by design or neglect, what a terrible shame it would be.
I am of the opinion that CHINFO expended so much money on their new Navy NewsStand software that they can't afford to have FHTNC software migrated to NCMI. The new Navy NewsStand software is indeed a vast improvement over its predecessor.
The rumor that FHTNC will be moving to Ft. Meade, MD is a new one that has surfaced recently. I am pretty sure that the move is not covered under the Base Realignment and Closing (BRAC) report. If it is not, CHINFO would have to find the money to fund the move. If so, maybe that money would be better spent on migration of FHTNC's software to the NMCI servers. The Army & Air Force Hometown News Service (AFHNS) is mentioned in the BRAC report, and will be moving to FT. Meade from San Antonio, TX.
~G: Stay tuned - More to come - Next installment will include my take on Navy Times article "Security concerns shut down commercial e-mail" (for Navy Times Subscribers only).
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