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Kitty Hawk Sailors Practice Good OPSEC

Navy NewStand

Story Number: NNS030318-08
Release Date: 3/18/2003 2:58:00 PM

By Journalist Seaman David Beyea, USS Kitty Hawk Public Affairs

USS KITTY HAWK, At Sea (NNS) -- As USS Kitty Hawk (CV 63) operates in the Arabian Gulf, operational security, or OPSEC, becomes more vital for the safety of the ship, its crew and its mission.

"OPSEC is protective measures we put on ourselves to restrict the flow of information that is not necessarily classified, but is sensitive in nature," said Lt. Mike Elliot, command OPSEC officer for Kitty Hawk.

Elliot said OPSEC works under the principle that one or more pieces of unclassified material can reveal classified material. By putting together several pieces of seemingly harmless information, an enemy could damage the security of a ship and its mission. The goal of OPSEC is to avoid giving any indication of what Kitty Hawk's intentions or missions are.

"If somebody wanted to do harm against us, it's possible that they could use that sensitive information against us," explained Elliot. "If someone knows when we're going to be pulling into a port, or when we're going through the Malacca Strait, they can form some a terrorist operation against us."

As Kitty Hawk approaches a possible wartime mission, it's important for crew members to follow OPSEC, and avoid giving away any clues to what that mission may be. It is vital that as few people as possible know what Kitty Hawk's specific mission is.

"Crew members need to avoid mentioning the what, when and how of a mission to anyone who doesn't need to know," said Elliot. "In effect, everything about the mission falls under the old 'need to know' cliché."

You can talk about what we're doing in general terms, explained Elliot, but there are certain items that can't be discussed.

"What operations we're taking part in, how we're getting from point A to point B, where are we right now, those types of things you can't discuss," said Elliot.

In order to help crew members know what they can and can't discuss, Kitty Hawk's plan of the day contains OPSEC notes on a weekly basis. Slides are also being shown on KTTY TV.

Elliot said even when Kitty Hawk isn't involved in a possible combat mission, such as during a port visit or sea trial, OPSEC must be followed. Whenever you're talking about Kitty Hawk's timeline or ship's movement outside of a specific mission, you shouldn't specify anything more than seven days beforehand, explained Elliot.

If crew members wish to make plans for family to visit them during a port visit, they can go ahead and make the plans, said Elliot. But Sailors shouldn't advertise those plans outside of the family.

It's important to remember to follow OPSEC not only in casual conversations, but also in any communication off of Kitty Hawk.

"Those letters, those phone calls, the e-mail -- it doesn't go from you straight to the person you're trying to send it to," said Elliot. "It goes through a lot of people in between. A few of those folks want to know what we're doing, because they want to do something against us."

To help ensure that sensitive information is not sent out over e-mail, automated data processing (ADP) security monitors all e-mail aboard Kitty Hawk.

Sailors should follow the same guidelines in e-mail as they would in a conversation. According to the Kitty Hawk standard organization and regulations manual, or SORM, e-mail messages from Kitty Hawk may not contain details of ship's movement or descriptions of flight missions and aircraft activities while deployed.

Additionally, ADP may temporarily close e-mail use during times when the ship's operations need to be kept secret, explained Elliot.

The bottom line, said Elliot, is that "the information that we have may not be classified, but somebody could use that information to hurt us or our families."

America's oldest active warship, Kitty Hawk remains mission-ready to respond to emergent national tasking where needed, and currently operates in the Central Command area of responsibility with coalition forces preparing for possible operations in that area. Kitty Hawk, with embarked Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 5, is the world's only permanently forward-deployed aircraft carrier and operates out of Yokosuka, Japan.