

It was considered a harsh, if necessary, measure when the U.S. military decided in November to ban all USB drives and removable media from its networks to stop a worm assault. But compared to what the Air Force's leaders are doing now, that step seems downright wimpy. The air service is cutting off its bases' internet connections, if they don't comply with strict network security rules.

Recently, internet access was cut off at Maxwell Air Force Base in Alabama, because personnel at the facility "hadn't demonstrated — in our view at the headquarters — their capacity to manage their network in a way that didn't make everyone else vulnerable," Air Force Chief of Staff Gen.

Norton Schwartz tells InsideDefense.com:

*"This is the kind of effort that's required up and down the line." ... * *The internet shutdown at the Alabama base was in response to a specific, "significant" intrusion that threatened the entire service's networks, according to Schwartz.

* The Maxwell event served as an example to everyone in the Air

Force "that this is not voluntary, that this is the real deal, that we have standards and we will collectively enforce those standards or you won't be on the net," said Schwartz.

Network administrators at Air Force bases already put strict limitations on what sites their troops can and cannot visit. Many airmen can't access Danger Room, for example — or any site with the word "blog" in the URL. That's in addition to Defense Department-wide bans on YouTube, MySpace and other social networking sites.

Photo: USAF