This site is registered with the U.S. Dept. of Defense (DoD) and Dept. of the Army as an external official presence (EOP) of Fort Detrick. The Fort Detrick page is maintained by the Fort Detrick Public Affairs Office. General information:
This is an open forum, where individuals are encouraged to express their views. Views expressed by individual users of this site are assumed to be the p
ersonal opinions of the person making the comment, unless otherwise stated. Professional standards of conduct must be adhered to by military personnel making comments on this site. Service members should adhere to social media policies established for members of their service. Administrator comments represent Fort Detrick PAO, acting as an authorized source of official information released on behalf of the installation. We do not control content posted by friends and fans. We may delete information posted to this page that violates our comment and posting policies. External link disclaimer:
The appearance of external hyperlinks (including advertising links) does not indicate endorsement by DoD, military services, or Fort Detrick of the linked site or of information, products, or services contained at such locations. Operational security (OPSEC):
All military personnel have a personal and professional responsibility to ensure information that could place service members in jeopardy or be of use to adversaries (including local criminal elements) is not posted to public websites. Sensitive organizational information, to include Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI), should not be discussed on any public-facing website (including sites requiring usernames or passwords for access not located in the .mil domain). Such information includes, but is not limited to:
• Classified information
• Casualty information, before next-of-kin has been formally notified by the service concerned
• Information protected by the Privacy Act
• Information protected by the Health Insurance Portability And Accountability Act
• Information considered Essential Elements of Friendly Information (EEFI)
• For Official Use Only information (FOUO)
• Information identified on a current Critical Information List
• Personally Identifiable Information (PII), when protection is required under applicable service-specific and DoD policies
• Sensitive acquisition or contractual information
Fort Detrick PAO urges everyone to give careful consideration to what they reveal, intentionally or inadvertently, when participating in a public forum like the Fort Detrick page. We advise all service members, employees, and military family members to consider OPSEC whenever sharing information online. Moderation policy:
Fort Detrick PAO reserves the right to remove comments containing: profanity, sexual innuendo violation of U.S. laws and/or DoD and service-specific policies and regulations (Copyright, HIPAA, Privacy Act, OPSEC, etc.), commercial activity (ie: advertising or "spam"), implied military endorsement of a commercial product, political party, or private organization, abusive language, personal attacks, or comments prejudicial to maintenance of an environment conducive to good order and discipline. Repeated violations of this policy may result in action to block users from commenting on the site. Monitoring public use of this site:
This site and comments to this site are monitored by Fort Detrick PAO staff. Additionally, the Army Web Risk Assessment Cell includes external official presences (EOPs) in its regular rotation of sites monitored for compliance with security requirements or signs of fraudulent or objectionable use. A list of registered Army external official presences is available at: http://www.army.mil/media/socialmedia/. Examples of acceptable and unacceptable comments:
OK: I will miss my husband when he deploys! Deployment is a normal part of military life. All service members are expected to deploy periodically, and most are in some stage of preparing for deployment when they are not deployed. Not OK: My husband is deploying with the 123 MI Co. on Thursday. We're leaving soon to drop him off, because their plane leaves at 6 a.m. tomorrow morning! This comment contains very specific information about the service member's unit of assignment, and the time and means by which he will be traveling. This comment would be removed. OK: I don't like these boots - they are fine for the field. But in garrison, service members should polish their footwear. This is a personal opinion. The commenter disagrees with an official policy, but she is expressing her disagreement without being disrespectful. Not OK: This policy is dumb, and General Z. is an idiot for creating it. This is a personal attack. This comment would not permitted to remain on our site. OK: Fort Detrick: Congratulations to SPC Jenna Smalls for her first-place win in this year's Dept. of Army "Keith L. Ware" awards! This contest was an official military activity. PAO is authorized to release the names of service members and employees engaged in official duties, or of individuals participating in a public event. We may also release personal information that is normally protected when we have obtained the individual's permission to do so (such as in interviews conducted for military news stories). However, personal information in the form of personnel rosters or which contains protected information (home addresses or personal phone numbers, social security numbers, etc.) is normally not releasable. Photos:
Typically, photos on our site are official photos, taken by Fort Detrick public affairs or visual information personnel while documenting events on Fort Detrick. Non-official photography on Fort Detrick is normally restricted, but is permitted for news-gathering activity (when accompanied by a PAO es**rt), and other requests are considered on a case-by-case basis. If you have concerns about a particular photo - or any other information posted to this site - please don't hesitate to message the moderator or contact Fort Detrick PAO directly to discuss your concerns. Contacting Fort Detrick PAO:
By mail:
Fort Detrick Public Affairs Office
810 Schreider St
Fort Detrick, MD 21702
By email:
[email protected]
