Air Force used Twitter to track NY flyover fallout

Air Force used Twitter to track NY flyover fallout

apnews.myway.com

As the Pentagon warns of the security risks posed by social networking sites, newly released government documents show the military also uses these Internet tools to monitor and react to coverage of high-profile events.
The Air Force tracked the instant messaging service Twitter, video carrier YouTube and various blogs to assess the huge public backlash to the Air Force One flyover of the Statue of Liberty this spring, according to the documents.

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So the real reason for the NYC AF1 flyover in April finally comes out. It was not a photo op, that is just a cover. They wanted to see how fast the news of an "event" would travel on twitter and other sites. This was all just a stupid test of how fast news spreads and how the government can counteract. All they needed to do was to create an event that would panic people.

The Combat Information Cell's first assessment of the event said "Web site blog comments 'furious' at best." Local reporting of the flyover was "very critical, highlighting scare factor," it added.

A Twitter search revealed a rate of one "tweet" per minute about a pair of F-16s chasing a commercial airliner. A tweet is a text message of up to 140 characters delivered to the author's subscribers, who are known as followers.

Media coverage over the next 24 hours "will focus on local hysteria and lack of public notification," the cell predicted. "Blogs will continue to be overwhelmingly negative."

"Damage control requires timely counter-information," but the opportunity for that had passed, the assessment said. The cell recommended acknowledging the mistake and ensuring it didn't happen again.

What is The Combat Information Cell? I never heard of them before but I can only imagine what else these guys are up to.

1st Air Force spokesman Al Eakle explained that the command had no role in planning or coordinating the Air Force One flight. But the units tracked social networks and blog traffic "to obtain what lessons we might learn so as not to repeat them in the future." The assessments were sent to the command's leadership so they'd know how the public was reacting, he added.

I am sure they were checking out ATS that day, there were numerous threads on the AF1 flyover.



apnews.myway.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

This makes a lot more sense!!

It is still despicable, and the implications of this type of "experiment" and the need to assess this type of situation are nefarious and unethical, but at least we have a legitimate reason for the flyover now!

I wonder what type of event they are planning in advance for?

Obama is a joker. He apparently thinks terrorizing New Yorkers is funny.

reply to post by Kords21


A lot of his jokes are racy, but they are funny! I have to commend him for cahones and timeliness!

So how many ATSers said it was a false flag?

Excellent find, wonder if they'll be monitoring how quickly this new information spreads and what "counter information" will be released to combat it.