The administrative assistant to the secretary of the Army has issued
a memorandum reminding all major commands of Army regulations dealing
with the handling of otherwise unclassified items that are categorized
“restricted.”
Army spokeswoman Maj. Meredith Bucher told WorldNetDaily there is
“nothing new” about the classification, and added it is not unusual for
the Army to occasionally reaffirm such designations, “usually in
reaction to an inquiry.”
The memorandum, obtained by WorldNetDaily, instructs Army publishing
commands “to take steps to ensure that packages containing restricted
distribution items do not divulge the contents of those packages.”
Written by Joel B. Hudson and dated Aug. 16, the memorandum outlines
rules for handling documents that don’t fit into the standard parameters
of “secret,” “top secret,” or other “eyes only” classifications.
In the memo Hudson said that “certain publications produced by the
Army, although unclassified,” could no longer be published on the Army’s
Internet website, and — when shipped via the postal service — had to
be “packaged so as to conceal the nomenclature (designation)
information.”
Hudson’s memo said the new “distribution restricted” specification
and shipping rules were to be implemented “effective immediately.”
Such publications ostensibly contain unclassified information.
“However, Hudson wrote, “since the content of these publications is
considered to be restricted information, certain precautions should be
taken to minimize the potential of these publications falling into the
possession of unauthorized individuals.”
The memo did not describe who constituted an “unauthorized
individual,” but was aimed at incorporating all means of access.
“Since the Internet is being used more widely as a means of
disseminating information,” the memo said, “it is necessary to ensure
that publications with restricted distribution are not made accessible
on public web sites.” Hudson added, “Access via the Internet should be
limited to only the intended target audience.”
The new directive instructs “Principal Officials of Headquarters,
Department of the Army, MACOM (Major Command) commanders” to follow the
new guidelines regarding “restricted” documents “until such time that
the publication is determined to be no longer restricted information.”
Such MACOM units include Army Forces Command, U.S. Central Command, and the U.S. European Command.
Maj. Bucher told WorldNetDaily that the classification, outlined in
Army Regulation 25-30 (AR25-30), “talks about the distribution system
(for publications) and is an old category.”
“This isn’t new,” she said, “but it seems to me Mr. Hudson’s
memorandum was intended to remind everyone of the existing regulations
regarding restricted materials.”
Bucher said she was informed that “a concerned individual” noticed
that some Army commands were likely ignoring regulations dealing with
“restricted distribution” items, especially when sending them via
regular postal mail. “Mr. Hudson’s memo,” she said, “was in response to
those concerns.”
She added, “I don’t believe it was in response to a congressional
inquiry or anything of that nature.”
Restricted distribution “deals strictly with publications, and it
limits the distribution of a publication to a specific audience,” she
told WorldNetDaily. That does not include the “general public.”
“Equipment manuals, for example, and technical manuals would tend to
fall into this category,” she said.
Bucher used her background as a Chinook helicopter pilot to
illustrate what AR25-30 was intended to protect.
“A Chinook technical manual is not, per se, a classified
publication,” she said, “but certain technical aspects of a Chinook
certainly are. How to fix one, for instance, would fall into the
‘restricted’ category.”
She said such information, when taken with other available
information, could be misused or “conclusions drawn on our capabilities”
by experts from potentially hostile adversaries.
“If an adversary had my (Chinook) tech manual,” she said, “he’d also
be able to understand what my capabilities are and, of course, my
limitations and vulnerabilities as well. That’s just information you
don’t want ‘out there.'”
“While it’s not classified as ‘secret’ or ‘top secret,’ it does need
to be protected by some sort of distribution limitation,” she added.
