As social media permeates deeper into military organizations, leaders are confronting a host of challenges. However, those challenges largely are new incarnations of longstanding problems that have faced military communicators for generations.

A panel of experts at TechNet Asia-Pacific 2011 focused on how information sharing can exist within an information security environment. Many of their concerns proved to be more user-oriented than technology-based.

Addressing those concerns, Master Sgt. Andrew Baker, USA, 516th Signal Brigade, said that forces need to be more operations-security (OPSEC) oriented with new media. In the Army, the problem has been soldiers who did not consider that the information they were posting on Facebook was giving away operational details that could be used by an enemy.

“Right now, at the OPSEC environment, education is basic,” he said, calling for leaders to be more aggressive in OPSEC.

SPC E4 Anthony Vandergrift, USA (Ret.), who used social media in Afghanistan as an infantryman, related how some soldiers violated OPSEC while using social media. He described how some bought a 56k cell modem so that they could post information on social media sites. In doing so, they circumvented Army rules and could have put their unit at risk.

Tuesday’s afternoon keynote speaker highlighted the importance of accepting technological change across the U.S. government. David Wennergren, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Information Management and Technology and Defense Department Chief Information Officer, shared his ideas for improving technology processes throughout the federal space.

He began his speech by stressing the need for information sharing across federal agencies, noting that in 2005 the human race created 150 exabytes of data and that by 2010 this had increased to 1,200 exabytes. Chief information officers and managers will have to manage a constantly increasing sea of data. “Data has to be sexy for you,” he quipped.

Wennergren said that several new technologies, while hyped, offer great potential. These are service oriented enterprise, Web 2.0, and cloud computing. Service oriented enterprises allow capabilities to be delivered quickly in short development increments while Web 2.0 applications such as social networking are changing the way work is done in the Defense Department. He cited the examples of Intellipedia, an open-source information sharing network used by the intelligence community and Second Life, which allows users to attend virtual meetings. “If you imagine Second Life is just a game, you’re missing the point,” he said.

Cloud computing, which used virtualization to maximize existing server resources is another new capability with lots of potential. Because cloud computing can save organization money they would otherwise spend on building and maintaining servers, Wennergren said that this capability should also be extended to replace most desktop computers with thin client workstations.

Federal agencies must also align their information technology efforts. This includes cooperating on architecture, standards, enterprise software initiatives, adopting efforts such as the Federal Desktop Core Configuration, adopting enterprise services, and maintaining consistency across networks. Wennergren added that information security and information sharing compliment each other and that both cannot individually work in a vacuum. Organizations must provide security, but they must also be open to sharing information.

Wennergren closed by noting that government technology officers must take a leadership role to successfully implement changes. Besides setting goals, he noted that the goals must push the organization to where it needs to be.

The Department of Defense yesterday launched the Open Government Plan, its latest salvo aimed at increasing transparency and opportunities for engagement and collaboration. From Elizabeth McGrath, DoD Assistant Deputy Chief Management Officer:

In the four months since the Office of Management and Budget issued an Open Government Directive, the Department of Defense has demonstrated its commitment to improve transparency, participation and collaboration.  Improved transparency can enable the public to better understand goals and activities of the Department and facilitate analysis of data never before shared publicly.  Broader participation can serve to lower barriers between the Federal Government and public citizens.  Finally, greater collaboration can foster an open exchange of ideas between federal employees, public interest groups and the interagency community to maximize creation of best practices and new initiatives.  Embracing Open Government at the Department of Defense will generate new ideas benefiting both the Warfighter and U.S. citizens.

Interested parties are invited to visit the DoD Open Government site, created in February, and provide feedback on the plan at the OpenDefense discussion forum.

A PDF version of the plan is available here.

The popularity and growth of social media networks and blogs offers federal agencies new tools to get their message to the nation’s citizens. However, the openness of social media platforms also presents a security challenge. A panel of government and commercial media experts pondered the implications of widespread adoption of social media platforms at AFCEA’s Homeland Security Conference.

The U.S. military has recently adopted social networking as an extension of its public affairs activities. Col. Kevin V. Arata, USA, director of the Army Online and Social Media Division, explained that the service wanted to formalize how it approached social media. Besides stressing the importance of social media to junior officers, the colonel said that the Army set up its own Facebook page to communicate the service’s message to the public. Questions regarding Army and Defense Department policy are posted on the page, and Army personnel are regularly available for online question and answer  sessions.

On a larger scale, social media allows a government to present its views to its citizens and the world, said Michael Walsh, project director at Forum One Communications. He cited the example of the U.S. government’s Open Government initiative to provide transparency into federal activities. Walsh said that citizens want government to incorporate their feedback into policy, and social media helps to enable this process. He said that social media is a useful tool for public diplomacy and explained that the United States must become a leader in this context because other nations are actively using social media tools to promote their national agendas.

Security remains an issue for social media. However, Walsh contends that the government must strike a balance between risk and openness. “Cybersecurity can’t trump everything,” he said.  Walsh notes that three things affect security in social media: devices such as BlackBerries, platforms and behavior. While personal electronics can be compromised, another consideration is the use of proprietary third-party platforms such as Facebook for government social media. The main challenge of third-party sites is the potential loss of privacy when users provide personal data. A final aspect is behavior. Walsh explains that government personnel must be trained to be reactive to perceived threats or anomalies on social media sites.

Next week is the West 2010 Conference in San Diego. For those of you who will be attending the conference, we look forward to seeing you there. (Look for the SIGNAL editors to say hello–we’ll be the ones running around to all of the events, frantically taking notes and muttering to ourselves.) If you’re unable to attend but want to keep up with the conversations and discussions, there are plenty of ways to tune in:

Follow @signalmag on Twitter and use the hashtag #west10.

Read our editors’ blog coverage here on SIGNAL Scape.

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Catch up on each day’s events with SIGNAL’s Online Show Daily.