The Air Force -- and let's make it really clear, we're talking here about the U.S. Air Force headquartered in the Pentagon -- has blocked computer access to the Pentagon Channel, the Defense Department's 24/7 news channel designed to provide personnel with "more timely access to military information and news."
The channel says it serves 1.4 million active duty service members, 1.2 million members of the National Guard and Reserve, and the 650,000 Defense civilian employees via cable TV, satellite systems or over the Internet.
But, the men and women in Air Force blue, as well as civilian Air Force workers, who want to view the Pentagon Channel's offerings -- such as the cooking show The Grill Sergeants -- on their office computers can't do so because of a prohibition against streaming media on Air Force networks, a service spokeswoman told me.
This policy is in place to conserve bandwidth on Air Force networks and applies to other (unspecified) streaming media Web sites, she said.
The irony here is that since the Pentagon Channel is on the Internet, it means that anyone in the world (except Air Force personnel) with an Internet connection -- including North Korea's "Dear Leader" Kim Jong-il -- can tune into the channel, which today was broadcasting a special on the Korean War.
COMMENTS
The story itself includes solid rationale for the USAF action!
Why in the world do USAF airmen or civilians need to be using precious bandwidth to view "The Grill Sergeants" on their office computers?
These work networks were designed to support mission execution, not to be a supporting vehicle for loafing on the job.
USAF airmen and civilians can go home (or to their dorms/barracks) and logon and enjoy The Pentagon Network at the end of the day, AFTER work is complete.
Richard Arnold 09/08/09 11:39 am ET
Hey, I think you're being overly harsh and assuming you know everything about the situation.
But following my own advice about not making assumptions, I'd welcome your thoughts on a blog post I wrote about the situation and your post: http://levyj413.wordpress.com/2009/09/06/leadership-stupidity-and-assumptions/
Jeffrey Levy 09/06/09 11:22 pm ET