Since the revised AR 530-1 was published there has been speculation that the Army was censoring the blogs and emails of military members, especially those of soldiers in battle. A number of stories have appeared around the web with bloggers from the left saying the military does not want the truth about how soldiers feel to get out so they are censoring the items to those on the right who say it is a matter of security or who are upset at the censorship. The truth of the matter is that soldiers are no more restricted then they were in the past. Soldiers may still blog and send emails and they do not need each item approved as has been reported. This is from a fact sheet the Army published:
In no way will every blog entry/update a Soldier makes on his or her blog need to be monitored or first approved by an immediate supervisor and Operations Security (OPSEC) officer. After receiving guidance and awareness training from the appointed OPSEC officer, that Soldier blogger is entrusted to practice OPSEC when posting in a public forum.
Army Regulation 530-1, “Operations Security,†was updated April 19, 2007, but the wording and policies on blogging remain the same from the July 2005 guidance first put out by the U.S. Army in Iraq for battlefield blogging. Since not every entry/update in a public forum can be monitored, this regulation places trust in the Soldier, Civilian Employee, Family Member and contractor that they will use proper judgment to ensure OPSEC.
The entire fact sheet can be found here and it pretty well clears up the misconceptions. The Army expects its soldiers to maintain security and it entrusts them to do so.