Army to better monitor blogs, Web sites

“Chief of Staff of the Army OPSEC Guidance Memorandum”

Gen. Peter Schoomaker, the Army’s chief of staff, wants military leaders to better monitor soldiers’ Web sites and blogs for the posting of sensitive information that could aid the enemy.

Schoomaker said some soldiers, for example, continue to post pictures “depicting weapon system vulnerabilities and tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs).”

“Such OPSEC (operational security) violations needlessly place lives at risk and degrade the effectiveness of our operations,” he said in a memo issued earlier this month obtained by the Federation of American Scientists and posted on its Web site.

Schoomaker said the enemy “reads” public information and uses it against U.S. warfighters. He said the Army must do a better job in OPSEC and he expects to see immediate improvement.

Schoomaker said the Army’s Office of the Chief Information Officer/G-6, with help from the service’s Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Intelligence/G-2, will track and report OPSEC violations every three months. He said the service is also preparing more OPSEC training.

Schoomaker attached a memo issued in February by Gen. Richard Cody, Army vice chief of staff, to service leaders on the importance of guarding information and that the enemy is a “pro” in exploiting OPSEC vulnerabilities.

“The enemy is actively searching the unclassified networks for information, especially sensitive photos, in order to obtain targeting data, weapons system vulnerabilities and TTPs,” Cody said.