The Importance of Securing Sensitive Items

Sensitive items are anything that is considered classified or a mission essential item. These items can include protective gear, maps, or a piece of paper designating patrol routes. The importance of securing sensitive items comes down to maintaining accountability for operation security, mission success and a soldiers over all readiness. The habits of exercising security and accountability of a soldiers items allow the soldier and their team to operate to the highest standards or have items be accessed by an opposing adversary creating loss of overall mission success.

Operational security is a process that denied critical information to an adversary. If one were to obtain the information presented it could be used against friendly forces. Utilizing all assets to maintain and secure sensitive items and classified information promote proper operational security and soldier readiness. Not securing items of sensitive nature acquire the risk of loss by being intercepted by unauthorized persons. All personnel should maintain accountability of all sensitive material to allow full utilization by themselves and anyone involved with the mission and still maintain operational security. Operational security can be compromised through the loss of sensitive items due to loss of equipment used for operational planning, or items used for support missions. Depending on the sensitive item that is being classified it could fall under a different level of security as it is deemed by the U.S. Government. The levels included in the term classified (withheld from general circulation for reasons of national security) are RESTRICTED (public disclosure could have undesirable effects or do some harm), CONFIDENTIAL (unauthorized disclosure could damage national security e.g. compromise information that indicates the strength of armed forces or disclosure of technical information about weapons), SECRET (unauthorized disclosure could seriously damage national security) and TOP SECRET