Twitter, Facebook use allowed on military non-classified computer network

PENTAGON

Twitter, Facebook use allowed on network

Everyone from troops in the field to the highest brass and civilian leaders will be allowed to Twitter, blog and use Facebook and other social networking sites on the military's non-classified computer network, the Pentagon announced Friday.

The new policy follows a seven-month review in which the Defense Department weighed the threats and benefits of allowing the wide use of emerging Internet capabilities. It seeks to manage risks while acknowledging the Internet's utility for a myriad of tasks, including recruiting, public relations, collaboration with a wide range of people, and for communications between troops and their families.

To guard security, it allows commanders to temporarily cut off access if necessary to safeguard a mission or reserve bandwidth for official use. The directive also makes practices uniform across the entire department.

-- Associated Press

NORTHEAST

Storms cuts power to a million homes

A persistent winter storm parked itself over the Northeast on Friday, bringing hurricane-force winds, flooding and more than two feet of snow as it cut power to more than a million homes and businesses.

Schools were canceled as far west as Cleveland and roads closed as far south as West Virginia. The highest wind reported was 91 mph in Portsmouth, N.H. -- well above hurricane force of 74 mph.

In the parts of coastal New England where winds caused havoc, the precipitation mostly came as rain. Power failures were so severe and widespread in New Hampshire -- 330,000 customers in the dark in a state of 1.3 million people -- that even the state Emergency Operations Center was operating on a generator.