Are You Connected?

"In a war where information can be more powerful than massed forces, the cellphone is a weapon. Insurgents the world over use cellphones to transmit messages, record photos and videos, and sometimes just to chat. They can record video of an attack, and transmit that video within a minute. U.S. and other technologically adept forces use machines to target cell phones.

This is no secret. Not to the enemy, at least.

I am especially careful not to compromise operational security (OPSEC). There are many photographs and potential dispatches that will never be published here because I do not want to risk jeopardizing our effort. The military forces with which I embed have clear guidelines to protect OPSEC. But war correspondents can learn just as much, or even more, while unembedded, and those times are not covered by guidelines. Still, I am just as cautious while unilateral. Often OPSEC is compromised, not because journalists knowingly publish sensitive information, but because they don’t know what the enemy might learn from the news they share with their audience. Others just don’t care, or publicize sensitive information for one-upmanship or profit.

We are at war – and I want us to win."
Michael Yon