SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill. (USTCNS) --- Air Force men and women understand the term OPSEC, or operations security. OPSEC isn't just for airmen. Family members also need to understand why it's important for the safety and security of their loved ones.

"Our families are vital to the success of the Air Force," said Maj. Jeff Bream, chief of mission planning programs for the Air Mobility Command Information Warfare Branch. "What they may not know is they also play a crucial role in protecting their loved ones by practicing good OPSEC on the information they know, even if it's just on day-to-day operations."

The purpose of the OPSEC program is to keep potential adversaries from discovering critical information. It protects military operations, those planned, those in progress, and those completed. AMC operations security experts point out that many countries and organizations
collect information to use as intelligence data.

Successful military operations depend on secrecy and surprise, keeping adversaries from knowing where or when to act, what forces to use and what actions to take. The U.S. military relies on OPSEC to accomplish their mission faster and with less risk

Adversaries have the ability of using small pieces of information as pieces of a puzzle that highlight what the U.S. military is doing. According to the experts, it is not impossible or unprecedented for enemy agents to target spouses and family members for intelligence collection.

Staff Sgt. Frank Kuwanoe, the OPSEC NCO for with the 67th Information Warfare Flight at Scott AFB, said, "There are times when the military member can't talk about job or mission specifics. It's very important to conceal and protect certain information include flight schedules, temporary duty locations and other mission-specific base activities. Even though this information isn't classified, it's what we call 'critical information.'"

Other examples of critical information include trends in unit morale or personnel problems, and large numbers of personnel transactions including wills, powers of attorney, and deployment preparations.

"Something as simple as discussing a spouse's temporary duty travel or deployment can be useful to an adversary. An adversary's agents frequently visit some of the same stores, clubs, recreational areas or even churches we and our families visit," said Kuwanoe.

Tech. Sgt. Josh Walker, superintendent, defensive information operations, also with the 67th IWF, said phone conversations are especially important. "Determined individuals can easily collect data from cordless and cell phones, and even baby monitors, using inexpensive receivers."

Bream said the best advice for families is to stay alert. "If anyone, especially a foreign national, approaches you and persistently seeks critical information, family members should notify the military sponsor immediately. He or she will then contact the unit OPSEC program manager or the Air Force Office of Special Investigations."

"We're not trying to make families paranoid by providing them with this type of information," said Bream. "Our goal is to promote understanding of OPSEC and awareness of security concerns."

An OPSEC brochure for families will soon be available through unit program managers. Those with a ".mil" address can download the brochure, "Operations Security: A guide for the family," at https://amc.scott.af.mil/do/dok/.

(FROM AIR MOBILITY COMMAND PUBLIC AFFAIRS)