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The Department of Defense has, at times, found itself at odds with many entities domestically: the press, Congress, even the American public. However, DoD rarely finds itself struggling with its own. The very nature of the military with its discipline, loyalty and adherence to standards usually pre-empts internal dissent. It's particularly difficult to conceive that members of the military culture would rebel against something DoD is doing that's actually good for them. But that's exactly what seems to have
happened
in the case of the recent program to inoculate all troops against a potential
biological weapon, namely anthrax. A little research goes a long
way in revealing the source of the resistence to this program. Very
quickly after the plan was announced, a misinformation campaign began on
Internet chat rooms and in World Wide Web sites, trying to convince
military members to refuse to get the vaccine, even in the face of disciplinary
action. How did this happen? When was the ball dropped, and
by whom? Who could have anticipated the influence of this new form
of media? This capstone project was developed to address these issues,
and perhaps lend some ideas that might prevent this from happening in the
future, both in the military and civilian sectors.
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