OPSEC and contracting

For those who do not know, OPSEC is OPerational SECurity. It's a military term, and while there are ten points to it, the basic idea is, don't be an idiot with information you may have. In other words, "Loose lips sink ships". There's a lot of misunderstanding about what OPSEC is, and what it isn't, and about what happens when OPSEC is violated, but that's not what I'm here to discuss today.

I get a lot of questions about what exactly Thak is doing, and I totally understand why people are asking. It's a pretty cutting edge job that he does, and he had to get a Top Secret security clearance just to do it! For that reason, believe it or not, I am telling the truth when I say that I really don't know exactly what he's doing. I know he fixes airplanes, unmanned ones. That's really about it. I know a little of what that entails from the Army side since he did this job in the Army, but on the civilian side, there is a bit more to it since they are sort of in charge of setting the things up for the Army and the Marine Corps. The job he does now is a more in depth version of a job he did for five of the years he was Active Duty. I do not know any details on it. I know that there is a lot of information being put out, such that Thak and his classmates have study group every night until about 9:00 PM their time (which is 7 pm our time, so just in time for him to read Orren his bedtime story over the phone!). I also know that they take tests fairly regularly, and so far, Thak has done well on all of his. I do not know anything else.

The reason things have to be so quiet is not only because this technology is new, and will be used by our troops on the battlefield at some point, and it's best if the enemy doesn't know the details of it, although that's part of it. It's also because this is a government contract that a lot of other companies would love to have.

Remember back to history class in high school. Think about the Industrial Revolution, and how people would go into factories, supposedly as an employee, but instead, draw diagrams of all the machines they had, and take them back to their employers, and make those same machines. It was like intellectual property theft, basically. Well, that stuff still goes on. Say Thak was talking on the phone and telling me about the new thing he's working on. Let's say it was a system armed with confetti bombs and called The Flying Party. Well, let's say the guy next door to him is from Boeing, or Lockheed, or any of the other companies like that, and overhears this, then tells his boss that they need to make The Flying Party, just a month sooner than Thak's company is releasing it. Guess who just stole the contract. This stuff is real, and the place where Thak is staying while there has guys from a lot of different firms, and you never know who's listening or watching, so he literally cannot tell me what he does day to day. His job depends on it.

Just to give you some idea, there are no Smartphones allowed on company property. You are not allowed to use your laptop if your back is facing the door of the room you are in, because someone could come in and look over your shoulder. You are not allowed to discuss your work on the phone ever. You cannot list your employer on your social networking sites either. It is very top secret work that Thak is doing, and that's strange for me because it's a different level than it was when he was in the Army. Now we don't just have to worry about the enemy getting information they don't need, but we have to worry also about competing companies trying to move in on ideas, ideas that Thak will know about (or does already know about, maybe).

So I'm really not trying to be just contrary or stupid when I tell you I do not know what Thak is doing. I really do not know, because unlike his Army job, he really cannot tell me. Even speaking in code, like we used to during deployments, is not an option. What's more, I know that with him getting a top secret security clearance, our family is quite possibly being looked at. Maybe someone from the investigating firm is reading this right now. (I'm ok with that. Hi, guys!) I will not cause my husband to lose his job over something like knowing a few more details of it.

All any of us need to know right now is this stuff:

Thak is working for a defense contracting firm in the field of aviation.
His job is fast paced, and he is very busy on a day to day basis.
We can contact him daily via phone or email, although he doesn't have a lot of time to talk since he is always either at work or studying with the other guys he is working with right now.
He is very good at his job.
He is safe on American soil, and will be until further notice.

Honestly, what else matters? If you want to know anything else, then consult the firm's website. Everything on there is totally ok for public knowledge, but beyond that, no. That's what Thak was told in a briefing, and it sounds pretty simple to me. With any questions, it's probably best to consult Thak.