UTILIZING SOCIAL MEDIA AND PROTECTING MILITARY MEMBERS AND THEIR FAMILIES

Abstract

Social media is rewriting the rules of modern warfare, making it more difficult to analyze and predict our enemies and control the information that is in the public domain. It is essential to ensure the safety of military members and their families when using social media, all while continuing to tell the U.S. Air Force (Air Force) story. The purpose of this study is to evaluate if social media, specifically Facebook, poses a threat to military members and their families. A subset of this study is to evaluate if the education provided by Public Affairs is adequate to protect military members and their families in an ever-evolving technological society. Terrorist groups depend on open media systems, such as social media, to further their message, actively recruit, and promote propaganda. A 2012 study showed that pproximately 90 percent of organized terrorism on the Internet use social media to carry out their threat or cause. As of 2014, Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) supporters used at least 46,000 accounts on Twitter. ISIS released more than 100 service members names through social media in March 2015, and charged its members to kill those service members whose names, photos, and addresses were posted online. The threat is significant and growing at a rapid pace. Continuing the status quo does not decrease the threat of social media to military members and their families. The Air Force must incorporate a multi-tiered approach to reduce the threat social media poses to military members and their families. This includes establishing a course at the Defense Information School (DINFOS) that focuses on social media and the associated threats of this growing communication; creating a risk communication strategy or case study; and updating policy and guidance in a timely manner to reflect the growing threat and the pace in which social media is emerging.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Feb 01, 2016
Accession Number
AD1040766

Entities

People

  • Jennifer M. Piggott

Organizations

  • Air Command and Staff College

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Cyber
  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Human Systems

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Force
  • Department Of Defense
  • Distance Learning
  • Homeland Security
  • Internet
  • Military Personnel
  • National Security
  • Online Communications
  • Personnel Management
  • Social Media
  • Social Networking Services
  • Social Networks
  • Students
  • Terrorism
  • Terrorists
  • War Colleges
  • Warfare

Readers

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  • Strategic Security Studies