Military says not to forward e-mail about Barack Obama Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Monday, January 21, 2008
Army personnel have been warned not to forward an e-mail that falsely claims that Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama is a Muslim and attended a radical Muslim school, the Boston Globe reported on Sunday.
The move comes after the e-mail was sent from an Army computer to possibly thousands of Army personnel, the paper reported.
A memo went out Thursday to personnel at Army Medical Command at Fort Sam Houston, Texas, saying that the e-mail was false and using government computers to forward it violated regulations, according to the Globe.
Regulations dictate that government computers can only be used for official business; moreover, the content of the e-mail is considered “prohibited political activity” the newspaper reported.
The Globe cited one regulation that says servicemembers and Defense Department civilians cannot, “Knowingly solicit or discourage the political activity of any person who has business with DOD; engage in political activity while on duty; and engage in political activity while in any federal workplace.” The paper also reported the Army warned personnel: “In this emotion-charged election year expect to see an overabundance of similar chain emails from friends and foes alike in both your personal and government email inboxes. Just keep in mind that the government systems are for official use only.”
Article at:
http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=51796