Are reporters the same as foreign spies?

The U.S. Army apparently thinks so.

Wired's national security Danger Room report's on the Army's tough new security directives urging that reporters be handled like Al-Qaeda moles and treating the communication of unclassified, so-called "critical" and "sensitive" data as almost as serious a matter as leaking top secret information.

Army personnel should "consider handling attempts by unauthorized personnel to solicit critical information or sensitive information as a Subversion and Espionage Directed Against the U.S. Army (SAEDA) incident," the regulations say.

(1) DA personnel who have been involved in or have knowledge of a SAEDA incident will report all facts immediately to the nearest supporting counterintelligence (CI) office as required by AR 381–12.

(2) If these offices are not readily available, SAEDA incidents will be reported to the unit or organization security manager or commander.

(3) Security managers and commanders will ensure that, without exception, reports are relayed as securely and expeditiously as possible, but in all cases within 24 hours, to the nearest CI element.

(4) If counterintelligence support is not available, call the 1–800–CALL–SPY (1–800–225–5779) hotline, leave a message with your name and telephone number and no further details.

Secrecy News chief Steven Aftergood calls out this section -- which "encourages Army personnel to view inquisitive members of the press or the public as if they were enemies of the United States" -- as one of the worst in a "very rich and disturbing document."

He also notes that this policy -- and others like it -- seems "to be having an effect. I have noticed quite a few valuable Army web sites that used to be publicly available until this year and no longer are. One example: many hundreds of documents on the Army JAG site have recently been made password-protected."

Check out the presentation from the Army's 1st Information Operations Command, above. "And," as Danger Room puts it, "be ready to gag."