I am Michael Lipkin. It is Friday, March 10. The top story, hundreds of Marines are being investigated for sharing private and sometimes naked photos of Marines on social media. The scandal is more pervasive than originally thought. They reported that the privacy of women from all branches is being violated in some are targeted by name. Paul broke this story. Thank you for being here. It is nice to be here. Of us an idea of the scope of the scandal. This was thought to be a Marine Corps problem but they reported that it is far wider. It is not clear how many servicemembers are involved, as far as a specific number but it is clear that the Army and Navy and Air Force has their own issues with personnel sharing new notion -- nude photos without consent. What about the men posting the picture's? They appear to be jilted axis. That is one of the most disturbing aspects. It seems to be a jilted ex-boyfriend who is sharing nude photos of an error man. In other cases, you have Instagram photos being shared on the message boards where they are fully clothed on Instagram and others ask for nude photos, they are crowdsourcing the cyber stalking campaign to find more scandalous nude photos were other people to enjoy. This started when the photos were being shared through Facebook. You found a category where people are posting on a Thursday afternoon. How difficult will it be for the military to shut this down? I think it is going to be very difficult. The message board that I found and reported on, it is an anonymous SH board. That is its strength. People can post anonymously. It is headquartered in the Bahamas. Is outside of the jurisdiction of law enforcement. It is going to be a challenge. I think one of the things that I put in the story from a lawyer that I spoke with, Fred Moss is a national security lawyer. He said the zero tolerance policy would go a long way with the military. Post-Vietnam, they had a big problem with drug use. In order to stamp set out, military had a zero-tolerance policy and they said if you are positive on a drug test, you are kicked out of the service and you will have a bad conduct discharge and no questions asked. That cut down on drug use within the ranks. We do not have a problem anymore as far as drug use. There are individuals here and there but it is not as rampant as it was. If that were the policy, that would go a long way. Whether they adopt a policy, that remains to be seen. Do you know what they have done so far to punish those responsible? As farce the other branches, I think that is an open question. I cannot say that for Marine Corps, they have taken positive steps. The general came out with a video and he took the Marines that engaging in this behavior does not make you a Marine. These female Marines are Marines. If you are sharing nude photos, you are not respecting your colleagues and the history of the core. I found that to be great of him to do. He had to tread a careful line because he did not want to demonstrate what is called an unlawful it was. You have a general saying something against the elected photo sharing individuals and then that comes up in a court-martial the charges are dropped. He had to be very careful. He did well but as far as as investigating people were bringing them up on charges, I know right now, there are hundreds of Marines under investigation. That is what is in the original story on Saturday. You left the Marine Corps in 2010. I wonder whether you were surprised to learn how many Marines claimed to be clamoring for the photos or deciding not to report them when they see them in the groups. I do not say I was surprised. You know, I was an infantry man. Infantry is an all male dominated force. It is slowly starting to be integrated with the lifting of the exclusion rules. That kept women out of the ranks from the defense secretary. As far as I am concerned, for my own personal experience, it is a very male centric culture that is to be expected. It is something that does not shock me. I think the scale and the level of disrespect from some Marines to colleagues, and the idea of stalking them online, trying to find more nude photos and find out information on where they served and sharing names, that goes beyond the type of macho behavior that could be expected by mail Marines in my day. I think this is a new level. It is dishonorable behavior in my opinion. There is no difference between this and stalking somebody on the street. It is just through a computer. It is shameful. I am speaking with Paul. Thank you for being with us. Thank you.
Hundreds of Marines are being investigated for sharing thousands of private — and sometimes naked — photos of female Marines on social media. But the scandal which broke last weekend is more pervasive than originally thought. Business Insider is reporting the privacy of women from all branches of the military is being violated and some are being targeted by name.
A former Marine and an active-duty Marine came forward Wednesday to say photographs taken of them were secretly posted online without their consent along with nude photos of other servicewomen that have led to threatening replies and a military investigation.
It comes as another former Marine who helped found a victims' group said the social media postings have been going on for more than a decade but superiors ignored complaints from female service members. Gen. Robert Neller, the Marine Corps commandant, has condemned the photo sharing and urged victims to report abuse.
Active-duty Marine Marisa Woytek and former Marine Erika Butner appeared at a news conference in Los Angeles to applaud the investigation into sharing of naked photos of women on a secret Facebook page called "Marines United."
Woytek and Butner each said they learned that clothed photos were posted without their consent.
Butner, 23, who served for four years before leaving the Marines in 2016, said she contacted investigators in January and told them there was an online storage drive that contained "indecent photos of women from all military services, organized by name, rank and even where they were stationed."
"As a Marine Corps veteran, I am disheartened and disgusted with this scandal," she said.
The women's lawyer, Gloria Allred, said there may be hundreds of such postings and that they prompted pornographic and violent replies, including some recommending that female Marines be raped or shot.
Butner and Allred said some women who have spoken out have been attacked in what they called "victim shaming."
Meanwhile, a former Marine, Erin Kirk-Cuomo, said servicewomen have been reporting websites like "Marines United" for more than 10 years but were ignored. She said the issue was "laughed off by military leadership and members as harmless, expected, or invited."
"This behavior is not harmless, and we demand an end to it," said Kirk-Cuomo, who recently co-founded a group, Not In My Marine Corps, dedicated to sharing incidents of sexual assault and harassment.
The Naval Criminal Investigative Service is investigating the photo sharing. It's not clear how many active-duty Marines and other service members were involved or are under investigation.
However, an internal Marine Corps document obtained by The Associated Press said a former Marine maintained the Google Drive where the photos were shared, and that it had a following of about 30,000.
