Iowa troops warned to scrub social media to avert terror attacks

Thousands of Iowa National Guard and reserve troops are being warned to scrub their social media accounts of personal information and military unit data that could help terrorists launch attacks against the U.S. military inside the United States, military officials confirmed Tuesday.

Officials with the Iowa National Guard in Johnston, which oversees 9,400 soldiers and airmen, and with the U.S. Army Reserve's 103rd Sustainment Command (Expeditionary) at Fort Des Moines, which oversees 5,000 troops in four states, told The Des Moines Register that troops won't be prohibited from using social media accounts like Facebook and Twitter. However, the troops are being instructed to use common sense to avoid disclosing information that could hurt their fellow service members and their families, officials said.

"They need to stay generic," said Col. Gregory Hapgood Jr., public affairs officer for the Iowa National Guard. Soldiers and airmen should not disclose "anything that talks about what you do for a living, where you are going or what you are doing when you are there," he added.

One of the concerns is that photos of service members posted on social media accounts can be used to provide geographic coordinates specifying the locations of where the photos were taken, Hapgood said.

Maj. William Geddes, a spokesman for the 103rd Sustainment Command, said Army Reserve members have received similar advisories in the past, but there is a heightened sense of awareness now. "It is definitely something that we are taking the time to push to our soldiers again to make sure we are keeping it in front of them," he said.

The 103rd Sustainment Command includes Army Reserve logistical units in Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan.

The FBI, in a joint intelligence bulletin issued Sunday with the Department of Homeland Security, recommended that current and former members of the military review their online social media accounts for "any information that might serve to attract the attention of ISIL (ISIS) and its supporters." It also advised that troops "routinely exercise operational security in their interactions online."

U.S. officials said they fear copycat attacks based on separate incidents in Canada last month when two uniformed Canadian soldiers were killed by young men who claimed they were ISIS followers, according to ABC News, which first reported information about the joint intelligence bulletin.

"The FBI recently received reporting indicating individuals overseas are spotting and assessing like-minded individuals who are willing and capable of conducting attacks against current and former U.S.-based members of the United States military," the joint bulletin said.

Attacks such as as those in Canada may "embolden" and "motivate" those who support ISIS, ABC News reported.

Hapgood said the Iowa National Guard issued a caution to its soldiers and airmen about a month ago to reiterate concerns being expressed in intelligence reports about what is posted in social media accounts. He noted that many Iowa National Guard units have Facebook accounts and he said they are now being used to talk about events that have already occurred, as opposed to upcoming events.

"There is a careful balance between telling your organization's story and providing people who may want to harm us with information that they can use," Hapgood said.

Geddes said Army Reserve troops were also recently cautioned about their use of social media, and he received the latest bulletin on Monday afternoon. The caution went out through Army Reserve communications channels and has gone down to units with guidance to discuss it in troop formations, he said.