Soldier sentenced for posting operational info on Facebook
Haaretz / Anshel Pfeffer
03-Mar-2010

An Artillery Corps unit operating in the Binyamin district of the West Bank was set to arrest Palestinian suspects in the village of Katana, located near Ramallah. One of the unit's soldiers posted a status update on his Facebook profile that read, "On Wednesday we clean up Katana and on Thursday, G-d willing, we go home." He also added further details about the unit and the mission.

Other soldiers who saw the update informed their commanders, who in turn informed the Judea and Samaria division command. Division commander Brigadier-General Nitzan Alon ordered the mission postponed and court martialed the soldier for releasing confidential military information. The mission was subsequently carried out several days later.

The Israel Defense Forces information security department has been working for some time to stem information leaks through online social networks and blogs. Hezbollah has made several attempts to contact IDF soldiers through social networks, and in 2009 the IDF department publicized several dozens of incidents in which soldiers were disciplined for posting military information online. On one occasion, a soldier posted a picture taken in an active operations room - with classified maps clearly readable on the wall.

In cases in which the Web sites were Israeli-owned, the army approached the site managers and asked them to remove the secrecy-breaching content. The department has a special unit browsing the Internet for military informatio... >>>

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