Ministry of Defence News
 Official News Blog of the UK Ministry of Defence  

About the UK Ministry of Defence News blog

Who writes this blog?

This blog is operated by a small team within the Directorate of Defence Public Relations, a part of the UK Ministry of Defence, based in Whitehall, London. The information on this blog is provided by Service and MOD units across defence.

What is the purpose of this blog?

The purpose of this blog is to summarise significant stories about defence and the Armed Forces, respond to press reports, highlight coverage of defence issues elsewhere on the internet, and advertise forthcoming events.

Has the MOD ever published this material before?

Yes. This blog replaced the "Defence News Daily" section of the MOD website, which began daily operation in July 2006.

Comment Policy

We are trialling the following comment policy for MOD blogs. We reserve the right to suspend or modify this trial. If you have any comments or suggestions on how this policy can be improved, please let us know.

  1. It is MOD policy to allow comments by external users on selected official web presences where this supports wider Departmental objectives, for example by enabling better engagement with our readers.


  2. We ask that comments by external users on official MOD presences follow the same guidelines as apply to our own staff when they use official IT. These internal MOD guidelines are set out in Joint Service Publication 740 (MOD IT Acceptable Use Policy), and are updated periodically.


  3. In summary, these guidelines state that you must not knowingly transmit:


    • Offensive, indecent or obscene material or abusive images and literature.


    • Material which can reasonably be considered as harassment of, or insulting to, others.


    • Material obtained in violation of copyright or used in breach of a licence agreement.


    • Spam (electronic junk mail) or chain email.


    • Material that could, by their presence on an MOD website, reasonably be expected to embarrass or compromise the MOD (although comments that disagree with the MOD are allowed).


    • Commercial activities which are not connected to MOD business.


    • Any form of gaming, lottery or betting.


    • Any form of share dealing.


    • Offers of items for sale or bids on commercial auction sites.


    • Chain Schemes (such as pyramid selling).


    • Material designed to mislead people about who originated or authorised it (e.g. through misuse of signatures).


    • Attempts to compromise MOD IT and Telecoms, prevent legitimate access to them, damage them or seek to cause degradation of performance or a denial of service.


    • Attempts to gain unauthorized access to MOD IT and Telecoms or content for which you do not have permission (i.e. Hacking).


    • Attempts to access, amend, damage, delete or disseminate another user's files, emails, communications or data without the appropriate authority.
  4. We will withhold, edit or remove any comments we judge do not follow these guidelines.


  5. Opinions expressed in comments are not necessarily those of the MOD. The use of comments does not overwrite the existing, official channels by which the Ministry of Defence and the Armed Forces are held accountable to Parliament and to the Public. Nor does it affect your rights under the law, for example your right of access to official information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.


  6. We will respond directly to questions and queries online where an answer can be given quickly and simply. More difficult or detailed questions (for example, questions concerning policy issues or individual cases) should be referred to existing, official channels of accountability, such as writing to your MP, asking a Defence Minister or making a Freedom of Information request. Press queries should be directed to the Defence Press Office.


  7. The MOD reserves the right to ignore, limit or suspend comments or responses to comments, locally or universally and without prior notice, if we judge that these are becoming a waste of official funds, or Armed Forces or Civil Service time.

I have a question for Defence Ministers / the MOD - can I ask my question online?

Yes! To ask a Minister a question, see:

http://www.mod.uk/DefenceInternet/ContactUs/AskAMinister.htm

To give general feedback on the website, see:

http://www.mod.uk/DefenceInternet/ContactUs/TechnicalWebsiteEnquiries.htm

For press queries, see our press centre:

http://www.mod.uk/DefenceInternet/DefenceNews/PressCentre/

For other ways to get in touch with the MOD, see our "contact us" page:

http://www.mod.uk/DefenceInternet/ContactUs/

How do I find out more about the UK Armed Forces and Ministry of Defence?

The best places to start are the four official home pages of the Royal Navy, British Army, Royal Air Force and the UK Ministry of Defence:

UK Ministry of Defence

www.mod.uk

Royal Navy

www.royalnavy.mod.uk

British Army

www.army.mod.uk

Royal Air Force

www.raf.mod.uk

How do I know this information is official, and comes from the UK Ministry of Defence?

This blog, along with links to our other official presences, is linked to from the UK MOD website at:

http://www.mod.uk/DefenceInternet/FactSheets/FactsheetUkDefenceAndTheArmedForcesOnTheWeb.htm

Links to other websites

For ease of reference we will occasionally link to external websites. Such links are provided for information only, and do not imply any endorsement by the Ministry of Defence. The Ministry of Defence is not responsible for the content of external websites.

Copyright

The material featured on this site is subject to Crown copyright unless otherwise stated. You can read our full copyright statement at: http://www.mod.uk/DefenceInternet/Copyright/