Pentagon Blocks Websites to Free Bandwidth for Relief Ops

I'm told the Defense Department has blocked access to a wide range of commercial websites in order to conserve bandwidth for relief operations in Japan.

Multiple military sources told me that since Friday, the Pentagon has blocked access to Amazon.com, Ebay, ESPN and YouTube, among others.

A military pal of mine tried to access Amazon over the weekend, and received a message that said "You have attempted to access a blocked website. Access to this site has been blocked for security reasons by the DoD Enterprise Level Protection System."

But one source told me this was incorrect -- the real reason was to ensure folks don't hog mission-essential bandwidth while ordering books or watching videos.

I guess all that can wait while Defense helps Japan dig out of the rubble.

There's more to come on this.