Operational Security

OPERATIONAL SECURITY
I. Operational Security Defined

In clandestine activity, the sum total of precautions taken to maintain
the secrecy of the activity and protect the identity of agents constitutes
operational security.
It is composed of measures taken by a project or key officer during the
planning and implementation of clandestine operation in order to conceal or
protect the unit’s methods of operation, sources of information and its own
personnel.
II. Rationale
Intelligence activities will never be able to attain complete secrecy or
security, therefore, efforts must be made to achieve a high degree of secrecy
as much as possible and be able to initiate and maintain operations in spite of
the opposition.
III. Variable Affecting Operational Security

A. Sensitivity of the target or persons involved in the operation
B. Quality and quantity of the persons involved
C. Urgency of the Task
D. The opposition
IV. Elements of Operational Security

A. Element of Surprise
B. Element of Conspiracy
C. Proper Operational Planning
V. Principles of Operational Security

A. Keep the true mission secret
B. Carefully evaluate the risk which must be assumed to
accomplish the mission
C. Consider every factor no matter how minor from the standpoint
of its possible effect on the mission.
D. Maintain the actual appearance of normalty and blend effectively
with the environment.
E. Faithfully subordinate personal desires and feelings and place
emphasis on the accomplishment of the mission.
F. The operational plan must be based upon factual knowledge of
the environment in which the operation will take place.
G. The operational plan must provide a way out of the worst
possible disaster and away from enemy opportunity.
H. The operational plan must be as simple as possible
III. Problems in Operational Security

A. Compromise
The biggest blunder to operational security is being
compromised. Compromise takes place upon disclosure or
identification of intelligence personalities, operations or operational
techniques in such a way as to destroy the effectiveness of the
collection effort.
The common cause of compromise are as follows:

1. When the operations of an intelligence
organization are not covered properly, or its members wittingly
or unwittingly betray themselves by unnatural or unusual
behavior, all these will draw undue attention to itself that can
easily be picked up by the opposition.
2. When a person with knowledge of the intelligence
organization and /or its members decides to give information to
the opposition for revenge, reward or safety.
3. Compromise may be effected passively through an
innocent bystander.
4. Compromise may be effected actively in the
course of routine control activities conducted by the opposition.
In the event of a compromise, the actions to be taken will
depend on the following:
1. The level and type of intelligence operation
2. The mission and target to the intelligence
operation
3. The degree of compromise and the degree of
possible embarrassment to the intelligence organization
An analysis of these factors should guide the actions to be

taken. At times it may be advisable not to take any action, other than
re-emphasize certain security measures. In another case, we might
find it necessary to reorganize a part of our activity; in still another
case, we may have to take more drastic action.
B. The Human Element
In most cases, it is not possible to obtain complete security

even if we apply these principles to the best of our ability. The reason
for this is the human element characterized as follows:
1. The inability to keep secrets
2. Tension resulting from lack of human contact for a period

of time
3. The limited ability of the average human to live a “double
life”
4. The common tendency to do things the easy way
5. The tendency to develop set patterns of activity
6. Fear
7. Physical limitations
8. Limitations in mental ability
How to overcome natural human obstacles
1. Recognize the fact of human limitations and capabilities

and evaluate human weaknesses on an individual basis.
2. Determine to what extent training is capable of reducing

these human weaknesses and limitations.
3. Determine how an individual be use in spite of his

weaknesses.
VI. Operational Security Techniques
A. Compartmentalization
Clandestine activity should be managed in such fashion that

persons involved in one or another component know only what they
need to know about the personnel, organization and activities of any
other component or activity to perform their assigned tasks.
B. Cover
Outward status which a case officer and clandestine

organization of which he is a part adopt to disguise clandestine activity
or achieve clandestine tasks.
C. Concealment
Denies outsiders any view of who or what is being protected.
D. Communication
Properly organized communication enhances security, hence,

communication must be organized in such a manner that it will:
1. Create screen that hides the identity of various members

of the organization under normal operation
2. Provide an effective warning system to the personnel
3. Timely enough to allow for the destruction of

compromising material
4. Timely enough to allow escape and evasion of personnel
E. Cut-Out Device
A cut-out device promotes the avoidance of direct contact

between personnel or units in the intelligence organization which may
help impede investigation by the active opposition by reducing the
opportunity to observe direct contact. A cut-out can be any of the
following:
1. Person
2. Accommodating address
3. Safehouse
4. Letter Drop (Dead/Live)

Operational Security

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OPERATIONAL SECURITY

I. Operational Security Defined

III. Variable Affecting Operational Security

IV. Elements of Operational Security

V. Principles of Operational Security

III. Problems in Operational Security

The common cause of compromise are as follows:

An analysis of these factors should guide the actions to be

In most cases, it is not possible to obtain complete security

1. The inability to keep secrets

2. Tension resulting from lack of human contact for a period

4. The common tendency to do things the easy way

5. The tendency to develop set patterns of activity

8. Limitations in mental ability

How to overcome natural human obstacles

1. Recognize the fact of human limitations and capabilities

2. Determine to what extent training is capable of reducing

3. Determine how an individual be use in spite of his

VI. Operational Security Techniques

Clandestine activity should be managed in such fashion that

Outward status which a case officer and clandestine

Denies outsiders any view of who or what is being protected.

Properly organized communication enhances security, hence,

1. Create screen that hides the identity of various members

2. Provide an effective warning system to the personnel

3. Timely enough to allow for the destruction of

4. Timely enough to allow escape and evasion of personnel

A cut-out device promotes the avoidance of direct contact

4. Letter Drop (Dead/Live)

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