Payola (UNCLASSIFIED [I guess!]) (UNCLASSIFIED)

[JAMES A. LANDAU Netscape. Just the Net You Need.]

Dear Bill,

You have absolutely nothing to apologize for.

The American Dialect Society *supposedly* consists of philologists (both professional and amateur).  For a philologist to complain about the word "Unclassified" in an e-mail document from an Army post is akin to complaining about capitalizing nouns in German.

Perhaps you might enliven the list by tickling Outlook into putting a (spurious) TOP SECRET header on one of your e-mails.  Probably wouldn't work, though.  Some members of the ADS List might not know the difference between a classified document and a classified ad.

So my advice is to continue using whatever e-mail setup you find most convenient, and any ADS-L member who complains should be forced to give you ten and dig a six by.

James A. Landau
test engineer
Northrop-Grumman Information Technology
8025 Black Horse Pike, Suite 300
West Atlantic City NJ 08232 USA
~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^
NAZTI EJOXL MWEJV RTSMD PAKRG
DATNC RYCDE DLNJ
~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^

original message follows:

Date: Fri, 17 Aug 2007 10:41:53 -0500
From: "Mullins, Bill AMRDEC" <Bill.Mullins at US.ARMY.MIL>
Subject: Re: Payola (UNCLASSIFIED [I guess!]) (UNCLASSIFIED)
Classification: UNCLASSIFIED Caveats: NONE
I work at an army base (Redstone Arsenal, in Huntsville, AL), and about a year ago the IT people who manage our internet and email pushed an extension to Outlook that forces the (UNCLASSIFIED) addition to the subject line of all outgoing emails, and adds the "Classification: UNCLASSIFIED Caveats: NONE" to the top and bottom of the message. I have no ability to take it off, and am sorry that it clutters up the list. If I post from a web-based client, it won't add the "classified" markers, but it adds extraneous characters as were discussed yesterday. The whole thing is kind of stupid, because if I were to use open emails for classified messages, I would get in all sorts of trouble (and am liable to get prosecuted under federal law, although I've never heard of that happening to anyone.) By default, all email messages are unclassified, open emails are not an approved method of sending classified information (even with encryption), and other procedures exist to transmit classif!
 ied info (there is a dedicated network, completely encrypted to NSA standards, that can be used for some classified material). I think the rationale is that even though I'm a professional, who undergoes security training annually, who manages a program with a staff of 15 or so and a seven-figure budget, who has been entrusted with material which "if disclosed, would cause grave damage to national security", that I'm so stupid I must be hit with a hammer every time I send a email to remind me that I can't send classified emails. But I'm not bitter. Bill

_____________________________________________________________
Netscape.  Just the Net You Need.

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org