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It's unclear exactly why, but the Department of Homeland has been operating a "Social Networking/Media Capability" program to monitor the top blogs, forums and social networks online for at least the past 18 months. Based on a privacy compliance review from last November recently obtained by Reuters, the purpose of the project is to "collect information used in providing situational awareness and establishing a common operating picture." Whatever that means. Either way, the list of sites reported by Reuters reveals in a Wednesday afternoon exclusive is pretty intriguing:

Social Networks

Facebook

Twitter

Myspace

Blogs

The Drudge Report

The Huffington Post

The New York Times's Lede blog

Wired's Threat Level

Wired's Danger Room

ABC News' investigative blog The Blotter

"blogs that cover bird flu … news and activity along U.S. borders … drug trafficking and cybercrime"

Multimedia

Hulu

YouTube

Flickr

In conclusion, the Department of Homeland Security is just like you. We've seen no reports of The Atlantic Wire being on the list. But if we are, hello Department of Homeland Security employees -- thanks for reading!

This article is from the archive of our partner The Wire.

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