Nextgov

The U.S. Marine Corps is getting another lesson in the power of ubiquitous digital technology.

Less than one month after a video surfaced showing Marines urinating on Taliban fighters' corpses, a photo has been making the rounds of an elite sniper unit posing by a flag with the double lightning bolts symbol of the Nazi SS.

The photo, which an earlier Marine investigation concluded was a mistake by young Marines unaware of the symbol's history, might have slowly yellowed in a back drawer in an earlier age. On Thursday and Friday, though, it shot around the Internet, prompting outrage from the Simon Weisenthal Center and other groups.

The photo, taken in 2010 in Afghanistan, first surfaced on the blog for Knight's Armament, a military weapons manufacturer in Florida and Marine officials first learned of it in November, according to a CBS News report.

The picture shows 10 Marines posing with their weapons around an SS flag which hangs directly beneath an American flag.

The Marine Corps conducted an internal investigation that determined members of the sniper unit mistakenly thought the flag's SS referred to "sniper scouts," and weren't aware it was a symbol of the Nazi paramilitary unit. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta ordered a broader investigation into the photo Friday after it went viral online.

Also on Friday, Marine Corps Commandant James Amos launched an investigation into the possible use of the SS symbol by other sniper units and vowed to ensure the sniper school curriculum included a prohibition on the symbol's use, according to a statement.

"I want to be clear that the Marine Corps unequivocally does not condone the use of any such symbols to represent our units or Marines," Amos said.