When are service members going to be held accountable for careless/unintentional classified information disclosures on social media?

SPC Bruce Nichols — Thu, 19 May 2016 04:45:52 -0400

Response by PO1 Tony Holland made May 19 at 2016 4:48 AM

PO1 Tony Holland — Thu, 19 May 2016 04:48:51 -0400

When leadership focuses on the problem. Go to any bar in a military town and it's all in the open.

Response by Capt Private RallyPoint Member made May 19 at 2016 5:12 AM

Capt Private RallyPoint Member — Thu, 19 May 2016 05:12:38 -0400

As soon as theirs a feasible way to do it. Intelligence Oversight prevents collection on US persons so the only people who would have the authority to be looking for these types of conversations on Facebook would be OSI because of their Counterintelligence authorities. And there's no where near enough of them to do that mission.

It comes down to us to make sure we're practicing InfoSec. And if you see someone not practicing you need to stop them immediately.

Response by Lt Col Private RallyPoint Member made May 19 at 2016 7:00 AM

Lt Col Private RallyPoint Member — Thu, 19 May 2016 07:00:04 -0400

I think it varies service by service. When I was deployed the Army (specifically 3ID) was really harsh on soldiers who "discharged classified info.". The AF on the other hand, not so much. However, if senior officials can get away with it, it will be cited as implied case law.....

Response by CPO Amb. Terry Earthwind Nichols made May 19 at 2016 7:49 AM

CPO Amb. Terry Earthwind Nichols — Thu, 19 May 2016 07:49:28 -0400

Excellent point. My observations are this: when leadership above the person is lacking in OpSec, all members of the unit follow the bad example.
Social media is a doorway to the world. Good news and bad right?

Response by CW4 Guy Butler made May 19 at 2016 9:22 AM

CW4 Guy Butler — Thu, 19 May 2016 09:22:11 -0400

They're working on it:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2016/05/13/want-a-security-clearance-feds-will-now-check-your-facebook-and-twitter-first/

Want a security clearance? Feds will now check your Facebook and Twitter first

The government has been behind the curve on mining social media for relevant details about trustworthiness.

Response by SSG Richard Reilly made May 19 at 2016 10:18 AM

SSG Richard Reilly — Thu, 19 May 2016 10:18:09 -0400

When they are reported to command.

Response by SSgt Boyd Welch made May 19 at 2016 10:20 AM

SSgt Boyd Welch — Thu, 19 May 2016 10:20:29 -0400

Unfortunately, the civilian role models at the top need to be held accountable first.....

Response by SPC Private RallyPoint Member made May 19 at 2016 10:31 AM

SPC Private RallyPoint Member — Thu, 19 May 2016 10:31:25 -0400

When the leadership starts caring.
We had a female send convoy information over a personal email while deployed.
Probably a coincidence, but one of those convoys was hit.
It was brushed under the rug, and she was promoted to E-5 a few months later.

Response by MSG Floyd Williams made May 19 at 2016 11:01 AM

MSG Floyd Williams — Thu, 19 May 2016 11:01:40 -0400

When someone held accountable should shake up those who individuals to be more responsible.

Response by PO1 William "Chip" Nagel made May 19 at 2016 11:25 AM

PO1 William "Chip" Nagel — Thu, 19 May 2016 11:25:34 -0400

Example: For 3 mo's I was handling the SPECATs and Prep for Prairie Fire/El Dorado Canyon. I couldn't tell anyone. Most nights the Wife would call and would shoot the breeze for a bit, Then my ACWS Wife would call and they would shoot the breeze for a bit. When it finally went down My Wife called and I said Can't Talk, Click. Terry's Wife called, He Said Can't Talk, Click. They called each other, "Turn on the Damn TV Something is going down" so much for OPSEC at the end. They knew what we did and how significant it was that we didn't want to talk to them.

Response by PO1 William "Chip" Nagel made May 19 at 2016 11:30 AM

PO1 William "Chip" Nagel — Thu, 19 May 2016 11:30:10 -0400

Example 2: There is a message that goes out every day, pretty classified that gives the Location of the President, VP, Speaker of the House, Senator Pro Tem, Sec State & Sec of the Treasury for the day. The Presidential Succession just in case the worst happens. You're not going to tell me that they don't tell their loved ones where they are that day? That information is Classified, at least it is classified when it is all 6 of them.

Response by PO1 William "Chip" Nagel made May 19 at 2016 11:35 AM

PO1 William "Chip" Nagel — Thu, 19 May 2016 11:35:39 -0400

Example 3: Meet and Greet, Embassy Party, Staff from other embassies attending. When everybody gets home they discuss with their loved ones what happened, who said what, who was sick or injured, who drank too much or appeared confused (Their Loved ones are not cleared or indoctrinated) then next day all are going to do their debrief reports or are going to be debriefed by their Intel Folks. When the Intel Folks report the Debrief it will be classified with an Initial Determination and submitted to an Original Authority Classification that will make the final determination on the classification and what it should be. Welcome to the Confusing World of a Spook.

Response by Cpl Justin Goolsby made May 19 at 2016 12:07 PM

Cpl Justin Goolsby — Thu, 19 May 2016 12:07:40 -0400

When it hits the fan so to speak. I've always been opsec minded. I take it very seriously because I don't want anything I say to endanger anyone else. My family doesn't even know what I do for a living aside from being a Marine. This way information can't be extracted from my family either.

Unless someone is dedicated enough to crackdown on it, the only way people are going to be held accountable is after the fact.

Response by 1SG Michael Bonnett made May 19 at 2016 12:33 PM

1SG Michael Bonnett — Thu, 19 May 2016 12:33:08 -0400

Right after Hillary Clinton....

Response by MSgt John McGowan made May 19 at 2016 12:40 PM

MSgt John McGowan — Thu, 19 May 2016 12:40:47 -0400

SPC. Probably never. Hillary is walking, she will not be charged. The National Security Advisor has told that the Iran deal was a web of lies. Obamacare was a lie and the man bragged about it. The IRS has refused to answer to Congress. Lies is what this adminstration is all about. Everything about this adminstration is a joke. My question is will we recover.

Response by LTC Private RallyPoint Member made May 19 at 2016 12:50 PM

LTC Private RallyPoint Member — Thu, 19 May 2016 12:50:33 -0400

we had several people get in trouble for this on my last deployment. mainly for posting leave dates and flight times on FB.

Response by SSG Private RallyPoint Member made May 19 at 2016 1:02 PM

SSG Private RallyPoint Member — Thu, 19 May 2016 13:02:14 -0400

That is an excellent question! However, I don't think any firm set of rules have been established. They need to be though.

Response by CPT Joseph K Murdock made May 19 at 2016 1:11 PM

CPT Joseph K Murdock — Thu, 19 May 2016 13:11:10 -0400

Seals = 4 books 2 movies SFs = 0

Response by CPT John Sheridan made May 19 at 2016 2:59 PM

CPT John Sheridan — Thu, 19 May 2016 14:59:20 -0400

If you see it, report it. You have a variety of options. CoC, CI office on your installation or area, IG. DoD IG maintains a hotline for reporting. http://www.dodig.mil/hotline/index.html

There aren't enough CI agents in the world to keep track of social media.

DoD IG - The Department of Defense Hotline

The mission of the DoD Hotline is to provide a confidential, reliable means to report violations of law, rule or regulation, mismanagement, gross waste of funds, abuse of authority, and classified information leaks involving the Department of Defense; as well as the detection and prevention of threats and danger to the public health and safety of the Department and our Nation.

Response by SCPO Private RallyPoint Member made May 20 at 2016 12:46 AM

SCPO Private RallyPoint Member — Fri, 20 May 2016 00:46:27 -0400

Long before a former Secretary of State probably ever will be.

Response by PO1 Jack Howell made May 20 at 2016 12:03 PM

PO1 Jack Howell — Fri, 20 May 2016 12:03:30 -0400

That will happen when enough people care and pay attention to a point where these people take decisive action.

Response by SrA Paul Pfeil made May 20 at 2016 4:43 PM

SrA Paul Pfeil — Fri, 20 May 2016 16:43:38 -0400

I have news for you, I can attest, if you see someone on here or Facebook saying things they shouldn't, if you take a screen shot of what they say, and contact that person's particular branch's Internet Security division, or contact that person's unit, they will do something about it. I know from personal experience on this one. That also goes for people saying disrespectful things that are harassing or way out of line. I for one usually remind them privatly first, and then if they cop an attitude, well, sorry Charlie. When I joined back into 91 opsec was very important, we were not even supposed to say what our mos was. Not that you couldn't tell when a bunch of us L.E. guys walked into a bar who we were.

Response by CPT Joseph K Murdock made May 21 at 2016 8:58 PM

CPT Joseph K Murdock — Sat, 21 May 2016 20:58:55 -0400

I don't know how big the problem is for any qualitative analysis.