Loose lips sink ships

To set the mood for today's reading, play the following link in the background as you read:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkQ1s4-gRls

As I was researching for my blog this evening, I noticed a lot of other blogs all had at least one entry about OPSEC (Operational Security).  As defined by the NSA, OPSEC is "the process of denying potential adversaries any information about capabilities and/or intentions by identifying, controlling, and protecting generally unclassified evidence of the planning and execution of sensitive activities."

Let me simplify to say that OPSEC is denying our enemies OSINT (Open Source Intelligence) or typically unclassified information that can be used to cause harm to American or coalition forces, equipment, or interests.  Why does this matter?  As opposed to the Cold War era with spy vs spy and secret squirrel information espionage that contained national secrets about the government, every modern terrorist attack has been enabled because of either OSINT or a breech in OPSEC.

http://www.au.af.mil/au/awc/awcgate/doe/opsec_primer.htm

Even back in during WWII they understood the concept and importance of OPSEC. If you do a YouTube search on "Private SNAFU" you'll find a series of public service announcements in the guise of informational cartoons put out by the War Department with a voice-over by Mel Blanc (the voice of Bugs Bunny, et al.). One in particular entitled "Spies" warns of how the enemy is listening to every casual word you utter to glean important information that could give them the upper hand. Please note, this video is stereotypical of that era and is ethnically insensitive. You have been warned... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_FmhPY-YEAA

The propaganda campaign didn't stop at the cartoons.  Posters and the afore mentioned song were added to the campaign in order to drive home the importance of keeping specific information from enemy hands.  A series of several dozen posters were commissioned, with the most famous probably being "Loose Lips Sink Ships".
http://history1900s.about.com/library/photos/blyindexww2talk.htm

They were so effective and timeless in conveying the central theme, they've now been updated to include email, tweeting, blogging, etc.

Why is this all important?  Any personal information can be vulnerable to misuse, ranging in consequence from identity theft to impersonation of family members in false death notification, death threats, or in kidnapping in some extreme cases.  On the other hand, information about current operations, know as classified "Operational Secret" is information that can harm or degrade the effectiveness of current operations.  Names, dates and times, troop movement numbers, equipment numbers and capabilities, mapping grid locations, etc are all considered "Operational Secret" until no longer deemed necessary for operational effectiveness.  We routinely shred documents with afore stated information, destroy address labels from packages we receive, destroy any discarded electronics, destroy unsecured storage media, and not speak or write about important information on phone lines, Skype, chat, blogs, email, etc.

Sometimes the leakage of information is unavoidable, and sometimes it is not.  Take Julian Assange and PFC Bradley Manning.  They were of the opinion that operational secret reports containing names of service members and local Afghan or Iraqi forces or informants were fair game to be published.  Not only did they break the law, but this also jeopardizes the security of our U.S. and coalition Troops and local national partners.  Even if no harm came to any of them because of this leakage, just the public relations nightmare alone and the ensuing riots and ill will is enough to make me want to throw these scum bags under the jail for life.  If they have no regard for the life of me and my comrades, what respect do I have for theirs?  I firmly believe that people have the right to all information, but only after sufficient time has passed that it is no longer of any use to people who could do harm.

I fully realize the irony in this post.  Yes I'm talking about OPSEC in a blog, and yes I do give out bits and pieces of my life.  Trust me, that I'm very well aware of everything I write on a nightly basis, so that none of it can be used by the enemy to their advantage.  The U.S. Military used to all but outright ban social media, but in the past few years they have come to realize it is one of the best PR tools that they can use, and for free.  Everyone is trained annually on what should and should not go onto the Internet, and there are severe repercussions under the UCMJ and Federal law for breaking these prohibitions.  After all, social media is a powerful tool,  It has the ability to topple governments by coordination of protests, provide free promotion of good work by Government Agencies, and it even helps a Soldier convey their daily thoughts in a war zone.

More to follow.