Inside (page 28) you will find a detailed description of the Israeli’s tactics, techniques and procedures for ‘high-tech battle’.  It outlines the use of electronic warfare, net warfare, and just plain-old physical destruction involved with the takedown of a suspected (yeah right) Syrian nuclear reactor.

As an OPSEC bubba, you can’t help but cringe while reading.  While the article itself is bad enough and I would hate to be the Israeli OPSEC Program Manger, the parts that I find most disconcerting are the many comments that are attributed to ‘U.S. military and aerospace industry officials’, ‘U.S. electronic warfare specialist’, and ‘U.S. analysts’.

How bad can it be?  The experts are commenting on someone else’s capabilities.  But wait…continue reading and suddenly you are reading about perceived

U.S. capabilities.  I’m no expert (as those who work with me can attest), but I’m a little uncomfortable reading about how this all works. 

            Don’t give up reading and make sure you read all the way to the end of the article where it describes signals intelligence and cell phones.  By now anyone who even has a vague understanding of OPSEC will be shaking their head.  

            As an added bonus for those who actually have your hands on the magazine; turn to page 25 and checkout the small filler article that talks about how the Israelis are banning the use of cell phones in certain areas due to their vulnerability.  Any connection?

People love to talk about what they do.  The sad thing is that people tend to think that if someone as prestigious as Aviation Week asks, it can’t be wrong to share information.  I mean, come on, this is a respected trade periodical.  Open source is highly overrated and surely no ignorant terrorist would possibly subscribe to such a magazine.  (…and don’t call me Shirley.)   

The bad guys would love to know where their vulnerabilities exist and what better way than to employ U.S. analysts to conduct vulnerability assessments … and for free!

One of these days, we will find out who’s job description is “unnamed defense official” or “senior defense official who requested to remain anonymous” actually is…and target them for OPSEC Awareness.  Until then…

Ollie