Shut the Door, the Horse is Gone!

So yesterday – like what, a week and a half after Major General Taguba’s report on prisoner abuses at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq became widely available over the Internet? – the Office of the Secretary of Defense puts out a DoD-wide urgent bulletin telling military and DoD personnel they can’t access or read it because it’s classified.

Here’s the actual message . . .

From: Information Services Customer Liaison, ISD
Sent: Thursday, May 06, 2004 12:45 PM
To: MLA dd – USD(I) – ALL; MLA dd – NII ALL
Subject: URGENT IT BULLETIN: Tugabe Report (FOUO)
Importance: High

FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY

AUDIENCE
All ISD Customers

SUMMARY
Fox News and other media outlets are distributing
the Tugabe report (spelling is approximate for
reasons which will become obvious momentarily).
Someone has given the news media classified
information and they are distributing it. THE
INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THIS REPORT IS
CLASSIFIED. ALL ISD CUSTOMERS SHOULD:

1) NOT GO TO FOX NEWS TO READ OR OBTAIN
A COPY
2) NOT comment on this to anyone, friends,
family etc.
3) NOT delete the file if you receive it via
e-mail, but
4) CALL THE ISD HELPDESK AT 602-2627
IMMEDIATELY

This leakage will be investigated for criminal
prosecution. If you don’t have the document
and have never had legitimate access, please
do not complicate the investigative processes
by seeking information.
Again, THE INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THIS
REPORT IS CLASSIFIED; DO NOT GO TO FOX
NEWS TO READ OR OBTAIN A COPY.

ASSISTANCE
If you have any questions, please contact the ISD
Helpdesk at XXX-XXX-XXXX or via email

And now some blogs are reporting that the military has ordered Halliburton subsidiary KBR, which provides net connectivity for US camps and bases in Iraq, to cut off all soldiers’ “inessential” access to email and the net for the next 90 days.

Can we really be that stupid? Apparently, yes we can. Just. That. Stupid.