B36 News - 24 August 2006

"In my posts here I have gone to great lengths to check myself and make sure that I'm not violating operational security (OPSEC), not because they told me that I would get in trouble if I did, but because I recognize the threat that poor OPSEC poses to troops on the ground.

For a long time I had always suspected that the warning that blogs were being watched for OPSEC violations was just a ghost story told to keep us milbloggers in line. Well, that changed yesterday. Shortly after posting the story "Progress of Together Forward" I received an email from the "they" who checked for violations informing me that posting the maps violated OPSEC. In response I immediately removed the maps and asked for clarification on the issue because I had obtained them from www.mnf-iraq.com, an open-source news outlet. After a review it was determined that because they had been officially released in a public news briefing conducted here in Baghdad, that there was no violation and that I was authorized to re-display the maps.

Let there be no doubt; I am very happy that there is someone who does what "they" do. The threat of poor OPSEC directly impacting troops on the ground *cough*NewYorkTimes*cough* is very real and "they" are helping prevent that.

Thank you, "they"."
bandit.three.six

For those that don't know "OPSEC" is a military acronym for "incumbent security".