Examining OPSEC And Prepping

Operational Security (OPSEC). It’s a surprisingly controversial subject in the prepping community. For some, OPSEC means keeping every single aspect of being a prepper secret from everybody. For others, it means something much less stringent.

The purpose of this article is not to say “who is right and who is wrong”, but rather to share a few of my thoughts by looking at my own and my sister’s situations. 

What is OPSEC, exactly?

In the military, at least in one version of OPSEC, there are five steps to OPSEC. Rather than re-write the entire things, here’s an condensed version of the Wikipedia entry on it which is well done:

1. Identification of Critical information: Critical information is information about friendly intentions, capabilities and activities that allow an adversary to plan effectively to disrupt their operations.
2. Analysis of Threats: A Threat comes from an adversary – any individual or group that may attempt to disrupt or compromise a friendly activity. Threat is further divided into adversaries with intent and capability. The greater the combined intent and capability of the adversary, the greater the threat.
3. Analysis of Vulnerabilities: Examining each aspect of the planned operation to identify OPSEC indicators that could reveal critical information and then comparing those indicators with the adversary’s intelligence collection capabilities identified in the previous action.
4. Assessment of Risk: First, planners analyze the vulnerabilities identified in the previous action and identify possible OPSEC measures for each vulnerability. Second, specific OPSEC measures are selected for execution based upon a risk assessment done by the commander and staff. Risk is calculated based on the probability of Critical Information release and the impact if such as release occurs.
5. Application of Appropriate OPSEC Measures: The command implements the OPSEC measures selected in the assessment of risk action or, in the case of planned future operations and activities, includes the measures in specific OPSEC plans.

OPSEC and prepping

I think most of us would agree that we don’t want half the neighborhood showing up at our front door for handouts every time the power goes out for a couple of hours in the neighborhood (assuming you live in a city or suburbia).

Being known around the neighborhood as “that prepper family” is something few would choose. In reality, however, unless you engage in neighborhood patrols in tactical kit, build bunkers in your front yard, or shoot your mouth off at the annual block party, nobody’s going to pay the least bit of attention to you. 

As long as your house fits into what the neighborhood expects, the only reason you would be known as a prepper is if you call attention to yourself.

Here were I live, in a small (OK, tiny) town, it’s much harder to hide because everybody knows everybody and they all know all there is to know about people.

Small Town OPSEC 

I’m going to totally blow my local OPSEC right now to prove a point, because everybody who would catch the reference already knows that Spice & I are preppers and we run this website.

If you want to know exactly where we live, I’ll tell you. We live in “the Helen Gibbons” house. This should tell you about living in a small town. Spice and I have lived in the Helen Gibbons house for 30 years, and Helen “passed” in the 1970’s… but since Helen’s dad built the house and she lived there all her life, it’s the Helen Gibbons house to this day. 

The house is the one with a permaculture yard, water barrels, raised bed gardens, a complete reconfigurable rainwater catchment system, a working cistern, 1,000 gallon propane tank, etc.

Busted.

OPSEC at work

I work in an office, and we have two 20 minute breaks per day where we can get away from our desks and go to the break room to have a snack, talk, whatever.

My office is actually right next to the break room, and in years gone by I would hear roars of laughter from the crews on break as the stories tended to fly. (Sadly, this no longer happens… if you walk into the break room in 2019, all you see is a bunch of people staring at their phones, no interaction whatever going on).

I’ve always skipped break and stayed at my desk, because I don’t want to blab about what I am REALLY doing away from work. In fact, I’m doing that right now, writing this on my morning break… (strangely enough, my employers expect me to actually work at work, so my blogging is limited to break times and lunch hour).

When we bought The Place, it was impossible to hide that we were doing a land transaction. Fortunately, buying “hunting land” here in North Missouri is the most normal thing in the world, so I had to say to anybody was “yeah, I’m buying some land of my own to bow hunt on” and that was a complete and “normalcy bias” appropriate answer.

I actually avoid social contact with my co-workers to help maintain OPSEC, because I can’t trust myself to keep my mouth shut.

OPSEC in the neighborhood

I live in a small town, and I personally know of 3 other prepping families, more because I recognize what to look for rather than me talking to them about it. Here’s a hint… when you see a house with a huge amount of raised bed gardens, a water catchment system and a Bennington flag & “Don’t Tread On Me” flag on the front porch, you can pretty safely assume that person is a prepper.

I’m sure some people have us equally figured out, because it’s a small town and there are no true secrets in a small town. Still, I try to keep it on the “down low” as much as I can.

Really though, there’s only so much you can do to keep your prepping activities private, especially if you have people in and out of your house for whatever reason.

When OPSEC concerns hurt you more than help you

One or two adults in a family are not enough to provide security in a Stuff Hits The Fan (SHTF) situation where there is a breakdown in law and order. It just won’t work.

Let’s look at my situation, for example. Let’s say there is a breakdown and we are living in a Without Rule Of Law (WROL) scenario. 

We have good preps at our in-town place, we have a garden, we have fruit trees and many food-bearing vines. Food is right there, ready to be picked… and it would be picked, by somebody else, if we don’t put a sentry on it. 

Heck, even if there still is law, there are times when we have to take security measures to keep the local wildlife from de-fooding our trees.

Spice & I can’t provide 24/7 security plus do all the other things that need to be done by ourselves. We need a tribe of people to work with.

All too often, I think preppers let OPSEC get in the way of finding like minded people and developing mutual support relationships with them.

Wrapping it up

What are your thoughts on OPSEC? Tell us how you go about keeping things “on the down low” in your situation… I’m curious to know.

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