(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . What is "Opsec" and why does it have me gnashing my teeth at the moment? [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2024-03-02 I’m a little irritated at the moment. I’ve just turned off the German news and there are reports that “Senior Bundeswehr Officers” were either spied upon by Russia or were just careless with a video conference. Someone caught them talking about the feasibility of using the Taurus long range missile in Ukraine as they came to the conclusion it was doable. Russia wants an explanation from Germany and the news, coming as it did, has set them on their back foot already. That’s not a good place to be when dealing with a possible future enemy. Opsec- what is that and why is that funny word being used in a civilian blog post. Well, because all of us have little bits of information that no one wants to hear or even worries about and yet- someone is always assiduously gathering that useless information. When you KNOW no one can hear you, is about the time they record what you are saying. Operational Security- that is what Opsec stands for and there was a time in my life when that was pretty much the most important aspect of my career. When I was a young specialist, serving in W. Germany during the cold war, I was moved into a slot two ranks above what was holding my collar down in the wind because I was pretty darn good at what I did and because we were chronically understaffed- there was no way the battery was going to get an extra E-6 (Staff sergeant) just to run a special weapons section when we had corporals working as chief of section on some of our artillery pieces. (Information: In most military small units, a leader is a squad leader or a platoon sergeant. In the artillery, that leader, the gun commander, roughly equivalent to an infantry squad in numbers, is a section chief. To my knowledge, red legs are the only ones who use a different naming convention (Armor?). Going up one rank, the infantry has a platoon sergeant, we have a chief of smoke- gunnery sergeant. Clear as mud?) Opsec- hoo boy. When I was given the position (No, they don’t ask, you get detailed and then it is your baby!) I received a crash course, a refresher, actually, in hardcore opsec. My wife had East German relatives. That was a potential problem but turned out to be acceptable. Once that was all cleared up and investigated (Oh yes they did.) I was allowed to go to Battalion once a week and sign out all the manuals I needed to train my people and do the job at hand. I got to load and unload “The Round” in trucks and helicopters- got to learn how to use demolitions in case we were ever overrun and I needed to blow that thing up. It was very interesting and VERY secret. I say refresher because when I went through basic training, America was just coming out of the Viet Nam war and all of my drill sergeants were veterans of that conflict. They made a HUGE deal out of talking about any of our daily business to anybody. No, your wife does not need to know where you are going. No, you should not tell the girls or guys at the club you frequent anything about your job so you can impress them. It is pounded into you, multiple times daily, that what you say can bring you and all your buddies home in a nice, zippable bag. Nobody but the enemy wants that. I can’t really disparage the German officers too much, except to say that with the rank they are supposed to hold, they should be able to teach opsec without access to notes. We’ve had our own challenges in America recently with operational security and espionage- perhaps all of us have been too long out of the fight to take this stuff as seriously as it needs to be taken. I will say everyone needs to start taking it a lot more serious. It has been awhile since the cold war but during that time and the hot wars immediately after, it went something like this. Can I tell my mom where we are deploying to? No. Tell her when you get back, if we’re done there- better yet, tell her in a decade. Can I tell them when we are shipping out? No. When they can’t see or hear you, they will know you are gone. Can I tell them how long I will be gone? No, they’ll figure it out when they see you standing in the doorway on the way back. It is incredibly important if you wish to win the battle and hopefully survive it, be able to walk through that doorway- that you keep your lips shut. What a civilian doesn’t know, they cannot inadvertently let slip. That’s a plus to utilizing good operational security. It increases your chances of coming home in one piece incredibly. And that guy you are impressing with your military prowess after a few beers, do you really need to tell him how a Vinson works or something as innocuous as “Oh, my night vision on the new m1 variant sucks! I can’t acquire a target after…..meters...” No, no you don’t, awe them with how many push up you can do, NOTHING ELSE! The Army is currently restructuring to be able to face Two near peer adversaries in a continental theater sized war- that’s necessary, but none of it will be worth a dime if we don’t get our soldiers and the people that know and love them to stop talking about things that can get them killed. Those officers KNEW better- and yet, it happened. It should not have. Thanks for the wake up call Russia- kind of weird, them telling us about a information source that was so lucrative for them, perhaps it had dried up so they decided to use the information to rattle the German’s nerves. Thanks for reading my rant- things sure look like they are about to heat up, so, keep your eyes to the skies and your secrets in your heart. Peace. Kell [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/3/2/2227059/-What-is-Opsec-and-why-does-it-have-me-gnashing-my-teeth-at-the-moment?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=trending&pm_medium=web Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/