If you’ve been following the online buzz with Congress using social media, Dr. Mark Drapeau’s series on Government 2.0, political campaigns online and more, then you know that the use of social media tools for government and military purposes is a hot topic right now. Dan Bricklin sat down with Vice Admiral John Morgan recently to talk about how the military uses technology and social media tools.

The interview touches on the many ways our military has incorporated social technology and software over the years, both internally via chat rooms and externally via use and observing of the tools we all use everyday. I found much of the interview fascinating, especially hearing about the use of chat rooms and other technology to both assist in efficiency and, on occasion, to expedite a solution by enabling a direct route to the right person, bypassing traditional paper-based chains of command.

Another intriguing concept from the interview is the burgeoning refocus in the military from a mentality of “decisive win” and defeat of an enemy to one of collaboration and global solutions that benefit more global citizens. Social media and the technology behind it is inherently geared for collaborative efforts, crowdsourcing, information gathering, information sharing and finding joint solutions to complex problems. That the military is taking this into consideration is a good thing going in to the next stage of our future development.

One example of social media in a strategic military application is the use of chat to direct a missile campaign. From the transcript of the podcast (John Morgan speaking):

John: [5:44] Let me give you a very specific military example. You are right, I brought the Enterprise Battle Group south through the Straights of Hormuth on the night of the 10th of September, and on the 11th of September we watched the events unfold in New York and Washington and Pennsylvania and the reaction around the world and we pressed up off the coast of Pakistan.

[6:05] But, when we launched the first strike in Afghanistan we did so by firing Tomahawk cruise missiles. And here’s the technology example: We directed all those Tomahawk cruise missiles by means of a chat room. It’s staggering..

The entire podcast fascinated and intrigued me. On one hand, I love the idea of the global society benefitting from a more collaborative strategic approach instead of a combative one. On the other hand, to hear that whole missile campaigns can be directed via social technology (such as the use of chat rooms, monitoring and use of Twitter and similar applications) is a bit staggering as a concept. I highly recommend you check out the podcast and transcript, and I’d love to hear your thoughts on the military and strategic uses of social media and technology in the comments here as well.