Classic propaganda updated for social media from the US Air Force in 2015.
This image was issued by the US Air Forces Central Command Public Affairs Team on August 14, 2015, and accompanied by the following press release,
OPSEC: be safe, be smart
By Staff Sgt. Emerson Nuñez, U.S. Air Forces Central Command Public AffairsPublished August 14, 2015
AL UDEID AIR BASE, Qatar —
Loose tweets destroy fleets. Keeping quiet about operational information is vital to ensure military members stay safe on a daily basis.
Social media can be a useful tool to stay connected to friends, family, and quick entertainment. However, there is sometimes a fine line between letting your friends see what you’re up to and providing an adversary critical information about your connection to the military and its mission.
“As social media keeps evolving and there’s more and more avenues to let your friends and family know what you are up to, those same avenues can be used by ISIS sympathizers, ‘lone wolves,’ to track down and hurt our military members outside the safety of the base,” said Capt. Jonathan McDonald, AFCENT Force Protection chief. “So not only is it important to not post vital mission related information, but it’s also important to not post detailed personal information to keep yourself and your loved ones safe.
“It’s vital to check your security settings in your social media accounts to make sure that just your friends are able to see what you post and remember to be smart about what you post and share,” McDonald added.
Operations Security is the process of keeping sensitive information away from the enemy. Information is identified and controlled by various security measures to minimize violations.
“Without OPSEC, our adversaries would be able to freely and easily gather information of our activities and operations; putting missions, resources and members at risk, said Master Sgt. Aaron Miller, AFCENT Information security program manager. “Ultimately this could impact a campaign or mission and be detrimental to national strategic and foreign policies.”With OPSEC violation consequences so high, it’s important to ensure OPSEC procedures are followed through.
“The best way to keep OPSEC is to look over the Critical Information List and be sure to protect the information on that list and destroy it accordingly,” said Senior Airman Anthony Bolton, 609th Air Operations Center OPSEC manager. “Another way to keep OPSEC is to go secure whenever possible, use a secure phone line , encrypt your email and make sure that you are shredding all paper including any notes on post its.”
The public affairs office coordinates all media interviews, media queries and media access to the base. If approached by the media, Airmen should refer all media to their local public affairs office.
Each unit employs an OPSEC manager to whom anybody may report suspected OPSEC incidents. For more information regarding OPSEC, refer to Air Force Instruction 10-701, Operations Security OPSEC) on the Air Force e-Publishing website or contact your unit OPSEC manager.