OPSEC begins and ends with you
By Jennifer Brugman , 60th Air Mobility Wing Public Affairs
/ Published December 08, 2006
TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. --
The current Global War on Terrorism means that all of Team Travis needs to remain vigilant and keep Operations Security on their minds at all times.
"Sound OPSEC procedures and practices offer Travis our first line of defense against adversaries," said Col. Steve Arquiette, 60th Air Mobility Wing commander. "To succeed, everyone must avoid all disclosures that reveal how, when and where we operate."
According to Cheryl Brown, 60th AMW OPSEC program manager, disclosure that requires protection, includes not only classified information, but also unclassified information, which, when aggregated with other unclassified information, becomes sensitive or classified.
"Our adversaries know the importance of the mission, and our location in California doesn't make us immune from intelligence collection," Colonel Arquiette said. "Too much effort and too many resources have been wasted by inadvertent or premature disclosure of day-to-day mission operations as well as deployment information."
Successful OPSEC and protecting command and control systems, requires the attention of every active duty and civilian on Travis.
"Our success requires your active involvement," said Colonel Arquiette. "The threat is real! Our activities, conversations and communications are subject to monitoring by an adversary who will use any lapses in sound OPSEC against us."
Everyone on base is urged to be aware of certain actions they perform may provide indicators to Travis operations.
Ms. Brown urges people to use secure telephones or encoded Land Mobile Radios to the maximum extent possible and to not discuss "shop talk" in an environment where it could be overheard by individuals without a need to know.
"Your support of good security practices is vital to the continued success of our mission,"
Colonel Arquiette said. "Practicing good OPSEC is everyone's responsibility."
For more information on OPSEC, contact your unit program monitor or Ms. Cheryl Brown at 424-3345.