The Real OPSEC Violators
Over at imbedded reporter Bill Roggio’s site one of his guest posters, a former intelligence analyst, has a good posting about the operational security issue that was raised last week concerning the milblogging community. As it turns out the Pentagon and their public affairs offices are the biggest OPSEC violators of all:
The worst OPSEC violator in the senior staffs is the Pentagon. I get more advance notice from a Pentagon Press Brief of US movements from Kuwait into Iraq than I get from all other sources combined. The Pentagon acts as if it is not at war, and the leaks emanating from Arlington are enormous.
This is quite obvious just from the number of leaks from the Pentagon to newspapers like the New York Times releasing classified information. What was interesting about the posting though was that Korean Zaytun unit in Irbil is considered to be the best unit in Iraq in regards to operational security:
1. Multinational Division-North East/Zaytun Division (Republic of Korea Army): The best in-theater OPSEC. Period. The only thing I see from their AOR is what new project or jobs training is ongoing. Unit identification of coalition/Iraqi Security Forces below Division does not get released by the Koreans. I get my data on Iraqi Security Forces in that area from US PAO releases and briefs.
He is right that reconstruction projects all you pretty much all you hear from the Zaytun unit, but there has been other bits of news released that could be of use to insurgents such as the USAID office issue, the guarding of the UN building in Irbil, and reaction to a mortar attack. Then there are other incidents that happen with the Zaytun unit that the Korean government minimizes or even tries to cover up. However, in the grand scheme of things this is all minor stuff compared the OPSEC issues within the US military; especially at the Pentagon, where something has to be done about the constant leaks and released media reports that are threatening the lives of soldiers more than anyone in the milblogging community.
