SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill. -- In response to the slowing of mission-essential network traffic to unacceptable levels for Team Scott partners running global mission operations, the 375th Communications Group blocked several "bandwidth-hogging" sites from the Internet during the Presidential Inaugural activities starting Jan. 17. 

Those blocked sites came to the attention of hundreds of computer users here as people logged on Jan. 20 to view previously available news Web-sites during the inauguration. Four sites, including foxnews.com, were completely blocked, prompting phone calls and questions about the blocking procedures for the base. 

Since then, all but streaming video from these sites have been restored and communications group leaders say the actions were taken to quickly ease the congestion on the network servers caused by use of these sites. 

"There was no quick way to cut off the video source," said Lt. Col. Eric Oliver, 375th Communications Squadron commander. "So we had to make a tough call. I asked to see a list of every Web site that was being accessed by base network users. We had to find out what was causing the congestion." 

After several attempts to increase the capacity and allow flow, they concluded that blocking the sites was the best, quickest solution. 

One of the affected agencies on base, the 15th Operational Weather Squadron, had a reported 17,000 messages that were not being processed properly. 

"If pilots don't get their weather reports, they don't launch," said Colonel Oliver, stressing the importance of network capabilities in their daily operations. "It's not that we don't support morale, and we know some agencies require access to all media sources, but when mission traffic is being impeded, we have to make those calls." 

To protect the domain, requests are made to the Integrated Network Operations and Security Center West offices at Peterson Air Force Base, Colo., which in turn restricts access to the sites. Services to most of the blocked Web sites were restored Friday when the communications team acquired the ability to block specific portions of these Web sites that were causing the issues. 

Senior Master Sgt. Rodney Brown, 375th Communications Squadron client service center section chief, added that "the blocks were done solely in response to network performance issues we were experiencing at the time." 

He said the base also has another option for people to get their fill of current events in video format through Internet Protocol Television, or IPTV for short. Access to several local and national channels broadcasting news and television programs has been enabled for Scott computers through IPTV. 

The main benefit of IPTV is that it's not dependent on the base servers and "doesn't clog the network like the others," said Sergeant Brown. Scott users can tune in to IPTV through the Web at this address: http://140.175.64.12/.