All Things Soldier: OPSEC And “Dishonorable Disclosures”

There is no one that manages to “keep it together” better than one of our highly trained Special Forces operatives, irrespective of the branch in which they serve. The SEALS have had the most notoriety in the past year due to the take down of Osama Bin Laden, and it is not something they have appreciated. They operate under the philosophy of “We do it, we don’t talk about it.” So, seeing as it is true across the board that both intelligence and special forces organizations depend on keeping their operations “under the radar” at all costs, if they get together to produce a 22 minute video to protest the leaking of information from the White House to our enemies, you can know that they are hopping mad.

I am referring to the organization OPSEC, (which stands for Operational Security, the basic understanding that “loose lips sink ships,) and they have produced an excellent video that can be accessed online, called “Dishonorable Disclosures.”

If I hadn’t lived amongst the SEALS, Army Rangers, Delta, NCIS and the Iraqi Special Forces on a highly restricted base while in Baghdad, I wouldn’t have known just what a big deal it is that they have come out of their corner to take on the CNC, or Commander in Chief. It is a part of their contract that they never come out and criticize their Commander while they are still serving. They often come right up to the line, and after they are retired they have more freedom to speak their mind, but these guys went ahead and exposed what has been happening to them by the current administration, and I am sure there will be hell to pay.

They talk about the fact that the White House announced the death of Bin Laden before intel from the compound could be processed and analyzed. The Pakistani Dr. who disclosed Bin Laden’s location was exposed and in danger. The US/Israeli joint effort in successfully pushing back the Iranian effort at building a nuclear weapon through the Stuxnet virus was discussed.

Retired Special Forces Colonel Jamie Williamson talked at length about how secrets that he “has been protecting for 20 years” are now public knowledge, but the situations that warranted those secrets being classified have not changed.

Several officers, from Major General Paul Valley (Ret) to Major Dave King, Special Forces, (Ret) to Ben Smith, an active Navy SEAL to FOX News commentator Lt Col Bill Cowan, USMC, (Ret) have all sounded the alarm, some with understandably salty language. But what just set me on my ear was the disclosure that within days after the death of UBL, various heavy hitters from Hollywood, no less, were invited into the White House by President Obama and treated to a blow by blow briefing of everything that went down in the course of the raid. Hollywood producers and actors? I have no words to describe my fury at such shameless consorting for political gain, especially amongst an industry that often has such low regard for our fighting men and women. And my hat and honor go once again to those who sadly are having to defend the Constitution (and us) from all enemies, both foreign and domestic.
By: Ali Elizabeth Turner