A young John Cougar used those words as the title to his fifth album. In those moments when I’m frustrated by the sometimes low OPSEC give-a-crap-factor I wonder about those words and my mind drifts to this thought: OPSEC doesn’t matter and what if it did? Generally speaking it appears to me that no one really cares about OPSEC.
If OPSEC “mattered” then why is it so hard to get people who should care about OPSEC to actually care about OPSEC?
If OPSEC “mattered” then why is it blown off in the planning cycle?
If OPSEC “mattered” then why is it so often on the chopping block when money is tight?
Oh man, I could go on and on.
But to what end? What would be the point? No one cares. And I can’t even assume that those of you who are part-time/additional duty OPSEC POCs care. I’ve done too many OPSEC assessments and have seen with my own eyes the reality of dormant OPSEC programs around the world. I’ve done the interviews of unit personnel as they stare blankly at me when I ask them who their OPSEC Manager is or what a Critical Information List is. I’ve listened to blow-hard OPSEC POC’s who rant and rave about their OPSEC program only to find that it’s all an illusion - that nothing real exists. I’ve read Critical Information Lists that are 10 pages long and totally useless or were “benchmarked” from another unit and they didn’t even bother to change the letterhead to letterhead from their own unit. I’ve listened to OPSEC briefings that would make you want to rip your eyelids off. I’ve listened to senior leaders who talk, talk, talk, OPSEC but can’t seem to get an OPSEC section in their plans of operation. I’ve seen young just appointed OPSEC guys and gals who are ripping their hair out cuz the program they just took over sucks and they are getting no support to make it any better. And I’ve seen really good people try their damdest to do really good things and get shut down and hammered by idiots who make more money than they do.
Good Lord, why even bother? Seriously. Why bother? Hey - I’m not leading up to any great epiphany here. I’m not setting you up to tell you why you should bother. I have no intention of trying to get your emotions roiling by extolling the virtues of OPSEC and it’s devout practitioners in a vain attempt to get you psyched about how great OPSEC is. Nope. Not today.
Today I’m just bummed. OPSEC sucks - that seems to be the prevailing attitude so I’m just gonna give into it. Come on now…aside from some small pockets of success, in the vast majority of places that OPSEC should matter it simply doesn’t. And that sucks.
Keep the Faith! (your gonna need it)
Revelator
Nothing Matters And What If It Did - John Cougar
27. September 2009 at 02:45
You’re right, Rev, few (I say few because there ARE those dedicated OPSEC’ers out there, and I consider each one to be my brethren!) actually understand the intent, purpose and benefit of OPSEC.
Really, aside from the dedicated men and women (heroes, each one) fighting tirelessly, and often thanklessly, each day to KEEP OPSEC off of the front pages of the company newsletter (in the sense that failures get far more press than successes, especially in OPSEC, where success is impossible to measure), there isn’t much visibility on this life-saving method.
But, you know what? OPSEC isn’t alone. There’s many subjects that aren’t really considered- until there’s a failure, or until you need it. What’s more, many things are seen as just another “expense” or “check the box”, until you really evaluate what can go wrong without it!
Such as:
Life insurance
Auto insurance
Regular health checkups
Random ID checks
Security training
Safety inspections
The list goes on. OPSEC is one of those things that, if it’s working properly, isn’t on the radar. Of course, it’s the skilled OPSEC’er that can get it on the radar as a SUCCESS.