Member Driven - Member Focused

23. November 2007 by Revelator.

One of the driving thoughts behind the creation of the OSPA has always been to create a web site that would be populated with everything an OPSEC professional might need. Everything. Piece of cake, right? Or as we used to say when I was stationed in Germany - Stück Kuchen. Well, I wish it were that easy. But I think we are well on our way to being a one stop shop for all your OPSEC needs. And before I move on to discuss some of these let me ask each of you right now to please contact the OSPA to let us know what else you would like to see on our main web page. 

While this entry is essentially designed to let you know some of the things you may be missing out on it is also a call to action. We are happy to provide services and materials but we need active participation from our members to make the site viable and worth the effort to sustain it. Spend some time checking out all we have to offer and contribute to those things that interest you. It let’s us know that our members are engaged and will help in the information sharing we hope to facilitate.

The main page: check out all that is there. Check out all the links, read the board member bio’s, check out the reading room, look at the posters, check out the “News and updates” scroll and while you’re there subscribe to the OSPA Mailing List and the OPSEC RSS Feed. Also, while you are checking out the offerings keep in mind that we need content. We need our members to share posters or articles or PowerPoint presentations that you think others might be able to use.  In creating this virtual OPSEC community we want to encourage sharing of information among our community members. The more we help each other the better off the whole community becomes.

Speaking of sharing and building; click on the OSPA Forum link while you are there. There are many discussions going on that you can contribute to or you can create a new discussion. If you have any questions or need help in any way the Forum is a great place to go.
Check out the Job Board also - it’s no Monster.com but then again OPSEC jobs are precious and few. If you hear of ANY OPSEC related job please pass this information on so we can post in on the board.

SME’s - The OSPA is fortunate to have many seasoned OPSEC professionals among it’s membership. We are even more fortunate that some of these people have volunteered to act as Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) for you the member. Please feel free to contact any one of our SMEs directly if you have any questions. Also, as you look at our SME list if you feel that you can contribute as an SME in an area please let us know and we’ll add you to our list.
OPSEC Wiki - yup, we’ve even got an OPSEC Wiki. Check it out. And when you get done with that click on the OPSEC Game and give that a whirl. It’s fairly easy once you’ve played a time or two. The forum has been abuzz with high score smack talk so go there (in the “OPSEC Discussion” section) and let us know how you did.

The OSPA OPSEC Academy - This is a huge project and will essentially be the culmination of all of our efforts. If the OSPA leaves nothing else behind we hope this on-line learning environment is a lasting legacy. Via the Academy we envision providing you with all your OPSEC knowledge and training needs. Once registered, students will be able to enroll in self-paced lessons and courses that will be created to satisfy specific OSPEC related knowledge needs. We hope to create tracks of learning geared toward specific environmental needs such as military, corporate and federal. If you are paying attention, you’ve noticed words and phrases such as “envision”, “hope to”, “will be” and “culmination.” The academy will take time to create. While most of our other efforts to support the member can be created and grown as a living entity, the Academy is something that needs to be cultivated within until it is ready for a full launch. To that end we are extremely fortunate that Mr. Tom Mauriello has volunteered as our OSPA OPSEC Academy President. I won’t go into why this is so important right now but check out his bio on our web page (and if it isn’t there yet then ping our Founder and President, Chris Cox). If any of you have any thoughts concerning the Academy please make them known. We are still in the planning and creation stage of development and welcome any contributions you may have.

One more thing - when you finish reading this scroll on down and on the right you will see the link to ”Register” - please do this before you leave the page. 

The OSPA and all we are trying to provide are simply vehicles to facilitate open and free communications between our members and the OPSEC community at large.  Many have complained about much - what are you willing to contribute to make it better?

Keep the Faith!

Revelator

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