FORT MEADE, MD –
This is part of a series of informational articles to help official DOD website managers as well as their leadership and unit commanders understand the official policies relating to URLs for official websites. A new OMB policy recently restated the requirement for a .mil or .gov domain. Many units in under the professional military education might qualify for a .edu domain URL for the official public website.
Military Training Units acquiring .EDU domain URLs
EDUCAUSE, a higher education information technology association, is the sole registrar for the names in the .edu generic top-level domain. The .edu domain extension is a major segment of the Internet that does not fall under any other segment, including country-level domains that are identified by their termination in a two-letter country code such as “.us” for the United States or “.ar” for Argentina. The US Department of Commerce awarded management of the .edu to EDUCAUSE in October 2001. (Educause, 2023).
Per the terms of the .edu Cooperative Agreement as amended in June 2021, EDUCAUSE may register as many as two (2) .edu domain names per eligible institution. However, Amendment 2 to the Cooperative Agreement makes clear that “[eligibility] for a .edu domain name is limited to post-secondary institutions that are institutionally accredited” by a Department of Education-recognized accreditor. (Dept. of Ed, 2023; Educause, 2023)
An institution must hold full, complete, and unequivocal institutional accreditation at the time of its registration application or renewal to qualify for .edu registration. (Educause, 2023)
Military education and training institutions can qualify for a .EDU domain if they achieve accreditation from a US Dept of Education authorized accrediting body. More information about the eligibility requirements for the .EDU is located at https://net.educause.edu/eligibility.htm.
Once the organization is fully accredited, to acquire the .EDU go to https://www.educause.edu/ and apply.
Examples of DOD units with .edu URLs
Here are a few examples of official DOD organizations that have qualified for and are maintaining official government information on a .edu domain:
https://pavilion.dinfos.edu Defense Information School
https://www.ndu.edu National Defense University
https://www.cdse.edu Center for Development of Security Excellence
https://www.airuniversity.af.edu USAF Air University
https://www.usmcu.edu Marine Corps University
References for further research:
• The Dept of Defense instruction (DODI) 8410.01 Internet Domain Name and Internet Protocol Address Space Use and Approval.
• Educause Administration Portal https://net.educause.edu/
• U.S. Department of Education https://www.ed.gov/accreditation
• U.S. Department of Education Announces Recognition Status of Nine Accrediting Agencies https://www.ed.gov/news/press-releases/us-department-education-announces-recognition-status-nine-accrediting-agencies
For additional information on accreditation and acquiring a .edu domain, please contact WEB.mil training (Dr. Darline Glaus)