The Defense Department made headlines earlier this year when it blocked access to the sites from military computers. In May, YouTube officials said they were pushing the Pentagon to reconsider. But this month, Army officials said they have no plans to back down and may block even more sites.

"We'll continue to do that, wisely and prudently and where we have operational reasons," said Air Force Lt. Gen. Charles Croom, director of the Defense Information Systems Agency, an organization that manages Defense Department communications and computing resources. Croom said about a dozen high-use social sites were targeted in a recent round of across-the-board restrictions, echoing limited bans already established by U.S. Central Command.

Deployed troops can still get to these websites from kiosks that access the commercial Internet, Croom said. "We never prevented anybody from talking to their families," he said. He also praised an internal military network called Army Knowledge Online that allows soldiers to send video clips to a small group of friends and family. Army officials say this helps soldiers reach home while steering clear of Internet abuse.

"Quite frankly, we had some other issues with respect to YouTube," said Maj. Gen. Jeffrey Sorenson, the Army's nominee to be chief information officer. He cited an instance where a soldier's video showed up on a "terrorist website" and was altered to suggest that the solider opposed the Iraq war and wanted the U.S. to bring all its troops home.

"Once it's on the Internet it's always going to be there," Sorenson said. "In many cases some of these videos, unfortunately, were being maliciously affected."

YouTube defended its relationship with military users. "The vast majority of videos on YouTube posted by soldiers, their families and friends are personal messages, original songs, tributes and video letters," a spokeswoman said via email. She said YouTube and its parent company, Google Inc., are in talks with the Defense Department about the access ban.

Even though the Army limits soldier access to YouTube, the service isn't shy about using the site for its own marketing efforts. A link to "Army Videos on YouTube" is at the top of Army A-Z, a web portal right off the Army home page. It sends viewers to a message from Chief of Staff Gen. George Casey, linked to snippets on the "events and achievements of today's Army."

Recruiters got an exemption from the blanket ban on YouTube and other similar web sites because they have a "legitimate reason" for access, Croom said. "Otherwise, we found they're basically recreational," he said.

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