US Army gags blog-o-soldier for "classified" info breach

The US military has demoted and fined a soldier for publishing "classified" information on his personal blog, an Army spokesperson confirmed on Tuesday.

Leonard Clark, a 40-year-old Arizona National Guardsman who is currently on active duty in Baghdad, dropped from the rank of specialist to private first class on 19 July and must pay the Army a fine of $820 per month for two months, according to a statement from US Central Command.

A spokesperson at the military's Combined Press Information Center in Iraq, confirmed that an investigation is under way but declined to provide further details on the case.

Clark was charged with violating two articles of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, which prohibit soldiers from releasing or "encouraging widespread publication" of classified or specific information about troop movement and location, soldiers who have been attacked or hit, and military strategy, the statement said.

The military has not specified which portions of Clark's blog broke the rules and did not respond to requests for clarification about its policy on blogs maintained by personnel.

Word of the soldier's situation has been traversing the blogosphere for weeks. One post at the liberal blog DailyKos lamented Clark's situation and compared selected quotes from Clark's old emails about the war in Baghdad with accounts in the mainstream media.

Clark's own site, which describes him as a kindergarten teacher and former Democratic candidate for Arizona governor, is now devoid of content, save for a couple of links to recent media coverage about his plight and a message posted on Tuesday by someone identified as a "site admin", which attributes the blogger's recent silence to a gag order.

The post said: "He has been asked not to comment, and is doing so. Please understand that he is worried about folks back at home smearing his name. When he is done with active duty, the story [from his side] will come out."

Anne Broache writes for CNET news.com