Eglin temporarily terminates access to social media sites Published June 16, 2011 By Sachel Seabrook Team Eglin Public Affairs EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. -- Access to social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube has been temporarily disabled due to modifications in Eglin's network. "This is not a permanent change," said Lt. Col. Renee Mitchell, 96th Communications Squadron commander. "A recent security change to our network had an unexpected effect on our system. Now that we know of the problem, we must deal with it." A scheduled Air Force level network revision took place June 9. The change was needed to put the Eglin network in compliance with Air Force upgrades, according to Colonel Mitchell. The change resulted in bandwidth saturation issues for Eglin. Technicians noticed the increase in bandwidth consumption the morning after the change was made. Once calls started coming in from across the base from users experiencing a noticeably slower network, technicians elevated the issue to 96th Air Base Wing Leadership and the Integrated Network Operations and Security Center at Langley AFB. "The negative impact we experienced wasn't anticipated," she said. "As network traffic increased, connections became saturated and we experienced intermittent problems reaching off-base websites." The 96th CS concluded they could alleviate the problem by limiting access to non-mission essential sites, freeing up bandwidth for mission-related work. The first sites recommended for restriction were social networking sites. "This solution is temporary, according to Colonel Mitchell. "96th CS personnel are working with AFMC to increase the bandwidth for Eglin, which will be the permanent solution," she said. Until the permanent solution is put in place, access to social networking sites will remain restricted.