Social media use breeds OPSEC violation potential

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Benjamin Raughton
  • 2nd Bomb Wing Public Affairs
BARKSDALE AIR FORCE BASE, La. - --  With more than 70 percent of online adults using Facebook and nearly 90 percent of 18 to 29 year olds using social media, it would be easy to say most communication occurs online.

While social media use can be entertaining and informative, it poses potential operations security weaknesses, and Air Force Instructions provide guidance on appropriate social media use.

"Operational security is vital to the accomplishment of the Air Force," states AFI1-1: Air Force Culture. "The use of social media and other forms of communication that allow you to communicate with a large number of people brings with it the increased risk of magnifying operational security lapses. Classified, For Official Use Only, and other Department of Defense information and documents are prohibited from being posted on social networking services or transmitted via non-DOD email accounts without proper authority."

The AFI reminds Airmen that appropriate conduct and communication between officer and enlisted personnel is applicable, and that offensive and inappropriate behavior that can bring discredit upon the Air Force or the Airman must be avoided.

"Social media is something we use to connect with each other, but it's important for Airmen to know from day one, what they say and the image they put out to the American public and to our adversaries is important, be it good or bad," said 2nd Lt. Christopher Sullivan, 2nd Bomb Wing Public Affairs Officer. "Airmen have a choice to showcase their professionalism and dedication to the mission."

If Airmen aren't careful, they won't avoid security pitfalls, such as posting dates or times of an Airman's deployment.

"Our adversaries are not ignorant people," Sullivan continued. "If they know what we're going to do before we do it, that's a huge security risk. When they're scouring social media, it isn't hard for them to look at indicators to see if someone works at Barksdale. We have a very important mission here and security is paramount."

Additionally, Airmen should be mindful of social media because the image the American public receives is partly a result of the content posted publicly.

"It may be easy to say you're a professional in uniform during the duty day and a party animal on weekends, but you're representatives of the Air Force 24-hours-a-day," Sullivan said. "A very small percentage of the American public actually know what we do as a military. The only indication they're going to have of what the military is like and the professionalism of the Airmen on base is your social media account and things you're putting out there, so it's up to you if that's going to be a positive or negative image."

Information in this article has been provided by a Pew Research Internet Project study.