Operations security

The term "operations security" was coined by the United States military during the Vietnam War.

In 1966, United States Admiral Ulysses Sharp established a multidisciplinary security team to investigate the failure of certain combat operations during the Vietnam War.

[2] In 1988, President Ronald Reagan signed National Security Decision Directive (NSDD) 298.

[3] The private sector has also adopted OPSEC as a defensive measure against competitive intelligence collection efforts.

[4] NIST SP 800-53 defines OPSEC as the "process by which potential adversaries can be denied information about capabilities and intentions by identifying, controlling, and protecting generally unclassified evidence of the planning and execution of sensitive activities.