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Silencing success in Iraq

Strategy Page:

There's a war going on in the U.S. Department of Defense, between the Information Warriors, and the OPSEC (Operational Security) traditionalists. It goes like this. Many American military successes in Iraq and Afghanistan are being kept secret because of traditional attitudes towards OPSEC (keeping the enemy from knowing what you are up to). But troops on the spot, especially the Special Forces, realize that the rules of OPSEC have changed in the age of cell phones and the Internet. You snatch an al Qaeda big shot in Iraq, and his buddies are going to know about it real quick. The OPSEC advocates (generally senior intel officers in the Pentagon, and the intel "establishment") will respond that it is still important to keep the bad guys in the dark about how their boy was taken down. That's because whatever tricks were used to pull that off, could be used again. But not so if the terrorists know details, and have time to come up with countermeasures. The Information Warriors, who want more of these successes publicized, point out that you don't have to describe every detail of these operations. All you have to do is release information that the terrorists are going to get anyway, and usually before the American public. Indeed, most Americans have little idea just how successful their troops have been in Iraq and Afghanistan, for all their operations are distorted by reporters who only want to do stories about failures or missed opportunities.

The result of all this is something of a stalemate. The troops have tried to fight back via their blogs, but there the Pentagon OPSEC traditionalists have come out on top as well. Troops with blogs have been ordered to be careful, or else. The Information Warriors are trying to convince the senior brass, but this is a slow and time consuming process. Meanwhile, many victories go unreported, making the enemy look more formidable than they actually are.

One of the best sources for success stories in Iraq are local papers who interview troops when they return. The OPSEC guys have no say so far and the bias Baghdad hotel journalist filter is by passed. Keep reading this blog and we will keep looking for the stories that get by the filters.