Navy Wants to Cut Out "Excessive" Web Sites -- Like the Chess Site?

The Navy has had it with what it calls the “unmanaged proliferation” of Navy Web sites, and Admiral Mike Mullen, Chief of Naval Operations and nominated last week to become chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, sent out a message June 7 to curb the growth.

The message said the embrace of Web sites throughout the service has resulted in an “excessive number of publicly accessible and an undetermined number of access restricted” Web sites and directed Vice Admiral Mark Edwards, deputy chief of Naval Operations for Communications Networks and the Naval Network Warfare Command, to develop a strategy to consolidate the sites.

The message says major commands should inventory their Web sites and then assess them for consolidation or shutdown. It added that subordinate command Web sites should be consolidated under major command sites.

Web sites “serving redundant needs or not serving as an authoritative source of Navy information” are prime candidates for shutdown, the message said.

The message indicates that the Navy wants to consolidate or shut down Web sites to save money and to improve network security, but a Navy spokesman said he could not provide any additional details. The Navy also could not provide the number of Web sites it operates by deadline, but a quick Google search pops up Web sites for all major and subordinate commands and special purpose Web sites devoted to truly arcane topics. For example, I typed "Navy chess" into Google, and found that, yes indeed, there is a Navy Web site devoted to chess. Check out this chess site quick, as I have a feeling it may be one of the first to disappear.