UPDATE February 27, 2010 at 11:00 -- I just published an updated article on this for the Huffington Post US Department of Defense Ahead of Most Companies with a New Social Media Policy

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Just an hour ago, the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) released its official policy covering new media and social media.

With some three million employees, the DoD is one of the largest organizations in the world.

This is big news.

I'm still digesting what’s in here, but wanted to get this out right away.

The policy (Directive-Type Memorandum 09-026), which is effective immediately, states that employees of DoD (U.S. the Army, Air Force, Navy, and Marines) can use new media.

Check out the memorandum

Read about it on the Department of Defense blog

Late last year, I had an opportunity to visit The Pentagon and spend time with Roxie Merritt, Director of New Media Operations at the Office of the Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs in the U.S. Department of Defense (the top social media person at the DoD). At the time she was working on this policy

She told me at the time: “It's not about controlling the message any more. It's about giving people as much information and resources and facts as they can."

Check out my video interview with Roxie.