Operations security (OPSEC)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A World War II-era poster promoting OPSEC

Operations security (OPSEC) is an analytic process used to deny an adversary information - generally unclassified - concerning friendly intentions and capabilities by identifying, controlling, and protecting indicators associated with planning processes or operations. OPSEC does not replace other security disciplines - it supplements them.

Another definition (from NATO AAP 6 (U) ) would be: “The process which gives a military operation or exercise appropriate security, using passive or active means, to deny the enemy knowledge of the dispositions, capabilities and intentions of friendly forces."

OPSEC helps people identify the indicators that are giving away information about missions, activities, and operations. What do people observe about your schedule? What do you do when you go to work? What are you revealing by your predictable routines and the way you do business - these are indicators.

OPSEC gives the commander the capability to identify those actions that can be observed by adversary intelligence systems. It can provide an awareness of the friendly indicators that adversary intelligence systems might obtain. Such an awareness could be interpreted or pieced together to derive critical information regarding friendly force dispositions, intent, and/or courses of action that must be protected. The goal of OPSEC is to identify, select, and execute measures that eliminate, or reduce to an acceptable level, indications and other sources of information that may be exploited by an adversary.

OPSEC planners, working closely with Public Affairs personnel, must develop the Essential Elements of Friendly Information (EEFI) used to preclude inadvertent public disclosure of critical or sensitive information.

Many different measures impact OPSEC. These include Counter Intelligence, Information Security (INFOSEC), Transmission Security (TRANSEC), Communications Security (COMSEC), and Signal Security (SIGSEC). As more and more of the force is digitized, INFOSEC takes on an evergrowing importance.

Source: U.S. Government OPSEC site