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Origin of OPSEC
There is nothing new about the principles underlying OPSEC. In fact, we
can trace OPSEC practices back to the colonial days and the
Revolutionary War. George Washington, our first president, was a known
OPSEC practitioner. General Washington was quoted as saying, "Even
minutiae should have a place in our collection, for things of a
seemingly trifling nature, when enjoined with others of a more serious
cast, may lead to valuable conclusion."
However, OPSEC, as a methodology, originated during the Vietnam conflict
when a small group of individuals were assigned the mission of finding
out how the enemy was obtaining advance information on certain combat
operations in Southeast Asia. This team was established by the
Commander-in-Chief, Pacific, and given the code name "PURPLE DRAGON."
It became apparent to the team that although traditional security and
intelligence countermeasures programs existed, reliance solely upon them
was insufficient to deny critical information to the enemy--especially
information and indicators relating to intentions and capabilities. The
group conceived and developed the methodology of analyzing U.S.
operations from an adversarial viewpoint to find out how the information
was obtained.
The team then recommended corrective actions to local commanders. They
were successful in what they did, and to name what they had done, they
coined the term "operations security."
OPSEC and Government Activities
Over the years it became increasingly apparent that OPSEC had uses in
virtually every government program that needed to protect information to
ensure program effectiveness. OPSEC professionals modified and improved
techniques based on experience gained with many different organizations
and in areas far afield from military combat operations.
Today, OPSEC is as equally applicable to an administrative or research
and development activity as it is to a combat operation. If OPSEC is not
integrated into sensitive and classified activities, chances are that
our adversaries will acquire significant information about our
capabilities and limitations.
It probably would have been difficult for the "Purple Dragon" team to
foresee that, 30 some years later, the methodology they developed would
become a national program. ^ TOP ^
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