USAF Operations Security Program

USAF Operations Security Program — 5-Step OPSEC Cycle

Foundation

OPSEC Purpose

The purpose of operations security is to reduce the vulnerability of USAF missions by:

Eliminating successful adversary collection and exploitation of critical information
Reducing successful adversary collection and exploitation of critical information

OPSEC Cycle

Operations security uses a cycle to identify, analyze, and control critical information that applies to ALL activities used to:

Prepare forces
Sustain forces
Employ forces during all phases of operations

Observation Contexts

USAF personnel can be under observation:

At their peacetime bases and locations
In training or exercises
While moving
When deployed and conducting combat operations

Profiling Process

USAF units utilize a profiling process to identify:

Vulnerabilities of their day-to-day activities
Indicators of their day-to-day activities

Signature Management

With this understanding, operations security program managers and signature managers use the signature management methodology to apply measures or countermeasures to:

Hide indicators
Control indicators
Simulate indicators

Activity Modification

Operations security signature managers also recommend modifying the day-to-day activities at an installation or organization to create variations in the status quo.

Three OPSEC Attentiveness Areas

3 OPSEC Attentiveness

Operations security involves attentiveness to:

Identify those actions that can be observed by adversary intelligence systems
Determine what specific indications could be collected, analyzed, and interpreted to derive critical information in time to be useful to adversaries
Select and execute measures that eliminate or reduce to an acceptable level the vulnerabilities of friendly actions to adversary exploitation

Operational Effectiveness

Operations security involves a series of analyses to examine the planning, preparation, execution, and post-execution phases of any operation or activity across the entire spectrum of military action and in any operational environment.

Risk Weighing

Operations security analysis provides decision-makers with a means of weighing the risk to their operations.

Risk Acceptance

Decision-makers must determine the amount of risk they are willing to accept in particular operational circumstances in the same way as operational risk management allows commanders to assess risk in mission planning.

Early Application

OPSEC Early Application

Operational effectiveness is enhanced when commanders and other decision-makers apply operations security from the EARLIEST stages of planning.

OPSEC Principles

Operations security principles must be integrated into:

Operational planning
Support planning
Exercise planning
Acquisition planning
Day-to-day activities

…to ensure a seamless transition to contingency operations.

OPSEC 5-Step Cycle

5-Step OPSEC Cycle

The operations security cycle consists of the following distinct actions:

Identify critical information
Analyze threats
Analyze vulnerabilities
Assess risk
Apply appropriate operations security countermeasures