Friday, January 31, 2014

OPSEC

What is OPSEC? OPSEC stands for Operations Security. Every heard the term "Loose Lips Sink Ships?" This saying started during World War II. And for such a short and sweet sentence, it says quite a bit. If someone slips and says something of importance to the enemy, it could have big consequences. For the person that slipped them, and for the men and women in the military. 


For example, say you're married to a man in the military. One day he gets deployed somewhere, and months down the road you hear the good news that he will be heading home this Friday! YAY! You head straight to Facebook and Twitter and your blog to spread the good news. There's two things that I can think of that could end horribly wrong in this situation. 1-The enemy found your post and luckily the military found out about this, but this means those men and women have to wait longer to come home. That way they do not risk running into the enemy. Or even worse... 2-The enemy found your post somehow, and doesn't get stopped or found out. And the men and women deployed end up hurt or killed.

The hard things is. We don't always know who the enemy is. It could be someone hacking onto your social networking sites, it could be that random person that you don't remember and added on Facebook. Hey, it was okay though because it said you went to the same high school. You felt bad and figured you must have known them somehow. Wrong. They could be the enemy. It may seem like all of us are paranoid about this... But you have to think. Would you rather have your loved one in the military to be home safe, or would you rather risk them staying out longer on deployment. Or possibly even dead. It is that serious. One thing you say could give something away to the enemy and then our loved ones are at risk. Just be smart and double think what you are about to type/text/say. If you wouldn't say it straight to the enemies face, then don't post it.

    
  
                         
Now these rules are for significant others, family members, friends, and military personal. 
PLEASE make sure to not post any of this information on anything,
Including blogs, social sites like Facebook and Twitter, chat rooms, etc.

Rules of OPSEC
1. Do not post exact deployment, or redeployment dates.
2. Do not reveal camp locations, or nearby cities where they or you are deployed.
3. Information on where, why, and how they or you train.
4. The type of weapons or equipment they or you are using, or how much of it they or you have.
5. Do not reveal when and where they/you are changing locations overseas.
6. Do not talk about where they/you traveled.
7. No not talk about procedures, response times, or tactics of any kind.
8. Do not talk about equipment or lack of equipment, including for training.
9. Do not pass on rumors ex. "I heard they're coming home early!" etc.
10. Do not talk about information on casualties (a person killed or injured) (Whether the enemy or our military) before officials have released this information.
11. If posting pictures of a loved one, be sure to check for any landmarks in the background that can give location away, and block out last names and unit affiliations.
12. Do not use count downs or count ups for the same reason as rule 1. It gives away when they/you are coming home.
13. Do not post any pictures that could be taken the wrong way, or taken to be used out of context. For example, a soldier rescuing a child from horrible site, could be taken and re-captioned to make it seem as if the soldier is kidnapping or harming the child.

It may at times seem safe to post things such as these, but sites can never be guaranteed to be 100% secure. With this said, always safeguard information (including personal information), just as you wouldn't advertise your social security number, you wouldn't advertise any of this information.


And now, If you would like to share my OPSEC post for a reminder for you,
and/or your readers, please feel free to grab a button and add
it to your blog or website. Enjoy!