Operational security
Counterespionage safety procedures and practices
Operational security (OPSEC) or operations security is a process that identifies critical information to determine whether friendly actions can be observed by enemy intelligence, determines if information obtained by adversaries could be interpreted to be useful to them, and then executes selected measures that eliminate or reduce adversary exploitation of friendly critical information.
The term "operations security" was coined by the United States Armed Forces during the Vietnam War.
01History
Vietnam
In 1966, United States Admiral Ulysses Sharp established a multidisciplinary security team to investigate the failure of certain combat operations during the Vietnam War. This operation was dubbed Operation Purple Dragon, and included personnel from the National Security Agency and the Department of Defense.
When the operation concluded, the Purple Dragon team codified their recommendations. They called the process "Operations Security" in order to distinguish the process from existing processes and ensure continued inter-agency support.
NSDD 298
In 1988, President Ronald Reagan signed National Security Decision Directive (NSDD) 298. This document established the National Operations Security Program and named the Director of the National Security Agency as the executive agent for inter-agency OPSEC support. This document also established the Interagency OPSEC Support Staff (IOSS).
02Private-sector application
The private sector has also adopted OPSEC as a defensive measure against competitive intelligence collection efforts.
IT security
NIST SP 800-53 defines OPSEC as the "process by which potential adversaries can be denied information about capabilities and intentions by identifying, controlling, and protecting generally unclassified evidence of the planning and execution of sensitive activities."
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Operational security”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- Loose lips might sink ships.jpg by Unknown authorUnknown author, Public domain
- "WAAC - SILENCE MEANS SECURITY" - NARA - 515987.jpg by Unknown authorUnknown author or not provided, Public domain
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