The U.S. Army has admitted to blocking access to parts of The Guardian newspaper’s website following the outlet’s report of secret National Security Agency (NSA) surveillance programs, according to a report.
The Monterey Herald reported on Thursday that a spokesperson for the U.S. Army confirmed articles on the Guardian’s website has been blocked on Army computers.
The Department of Defense routinely blocks websites for various reasons, according to Army Network Enterprise Technology Command (NETCOM) spokesperson Gordon Van Vleet.
Some Army employees at the Presidio of Monterey told the paper that it could access the Guardian’s website, but were unable to access specific articles regarding the NSA leaks. Employees told the paper that a high-ranking official said articles on the website had been blocked by Army Cyber Command, based in Virginia, in an effort to “prevent an unauthorized disclosure of classified information.”
Glenn Greenwald, a journalist with The Guardian, reported on a secret effort by the NSA to collect specific information in phone records of Verizon customers, followed by several reports on citizen spying programs by the NSA, including the now-infamous revelation of a program called PRISM that supposedly gave certain government officials “direct access” to the servers of nine U.S.-based technology companies.
A former civilian contractor named Edward Snowden later identified himself as The Guardian’s source. Snowden, who worked for government contractor Booz Allen in Hawaii, is believed to be seeking refuge in Russia after a brief stay in Hong Kong.
Monterey Herald: U.S. Army blocks some access to Guardian news website
