Quote Originally Posted by Jedburgh View Post
However, OPSEC puts a slightly tighter restraint on many topics on SWC, where you can speak a bit more freely on BCKS - although it is still only up to FOUO.
Indeed.

A very fickle mistress, this OPSEC. First, FOUO is not good for much other than exception from FOIA. Much like my 14 year old daughter was amazed when I penetrated her "private" MySpace page in about a nano-second. FOUO is a veil of pseudo security. Maybe better than nothing. But even the light official-ness that becomes the gate to FOUO turns off much of the value gleaned from a non-attirbution free-for-all.

Second, as we all know, SIPR is a great control on curtailing the "wrong" viewers. But at present throws too much chlorine into the gene pool of collaboration. Given current access to SIPR accounts, only 1% of the value comes through for the average Joe.

We have made a very conscious decision to be open and welcoming here at SWC. We MUST recognize the limitations that places on what we can discuss. But we can still do a lot of good. The larger community, though OPSEC constrained, adds a certain value of its own.

The government in general, and the military in particular, is highly sensitive to one side of the coin. For example, it will spend many man hours of redundancy, pre-approvals, and validations to ensure that we don't have $25 of stray expense, and call it a win because costs were contained. Private enterprise instead opts for revenge supervision on the $25 gone awry, as the preventative controls are too inefficient -- since lost manpower and productivity has a metric, too.

Similarly, there is a drag to SIPR and FOUO. Sure, fewer enemy get the picture. But so do fewer friendlies.

Ruthless execution and an accelerated OODA loop have a certain charm all their own.