US Army's Public Website Taken Down Temporarily After Hacking Syrian Electronic Army has claimed credit for defacing the site.

 -- The Army's main public website has temporarily been taken down as a protective measure after it was compromised by what appears to be an Internet hack by supporters of Syrian President Bashar al Assad, U.S. officials said today.

The website does not contain any public information of U.S. Army soldiers and is the Army's main site for news and public information.

"Today an element of the Army.mil service provider's content was compromised," said Brigadier General Malcolm B. Frost, chief of Army public affairs. "After this came to our attention, the Army took appropriate preventive measures to ensure there was no breach of Army data by taking down the website temporarily."

A Defense Department official confirmed that there were two statements that appeared to reference the conflict in Syria.

One statement said "You've Been Hacked" another said "Your Commanders Admit They Are Training The People They Have Sent You To Die Fighting."

The Syrian Electronic Army claimed on social media sites that it had been responsible for posting the messages. The hacking group claims that it supports the regime of Syrian President Bashar Al Assad.

Defense Department officials could not confirm the claims made by the group.