Our troops and the Internet (the continuing saga)

No one reasonable thinks that our armed forces' cybersecurity isn't regularly at risk from The Bad Guys. On the whole, the various service branches have been working recently toward a reasonable balance of security and access. So how badly do you have to mess up, Maxwell-Gunter AFB in Montgomery, Ala., to get your entire Internet connection taken away?

Seriously, this sounds like a doozy. The Defense Department's still holding to that ban on thumb drives, since people couldn't follow directions on how to keep them from ending up improperly attached to the classified SIPRNet (Secret Internet Protocol Router Network) network. But they still have network access. You don't, flyboys.

InsideDefense.com says you didn't just contravene regulations on access, though Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz says that would be enough to get your Intertubes tied. No, Wired's Danger Room blog reports that as per Schwartz, "The internet shutdown at the Alabama base was in response to a specific, 'significant' intrusion that threatened the entire service's networks."

Frankly, we expect lower levels of dumb from a facility that hosts the Air University. Don't make us send the Naval Aviators down there, or McGruff.