Release of Information to the Public

By Mike Luchner, Garrison OPSEC Officer, Rock Island Arsenal-GarrisonApril 25, 2011

ROCK ISLAND ARSENAL, Rock Island, Ill. - Installation personnel publishing or presenting an unclassified paper, briefing or display must take into consideration the legal and security requirements associated with publishing or presenting sensitive, unclassified papers, briefings or displays in the open press, on the Internet "home pages," Social network sites (Facebook, Twitter, MySpace) outlets or at domestic and international conferences and exhibits.

1. Ensure your organizations Operations Security officer conducts an OPSEC review, or a Public Affairs office review, prior to any release of official information to the public (regardless of the form of media) in accordance with AR 360-1.

2. Ensure the information is "Unclassified" and releasable to the public by initiating the OPSEC review certification process by the program manager after their supervisor has reviewed the information for proprietary or sensitive information. Note: Classified information will not, under any circumstances, be considered for release.

3. Ensure that in addition to the OPSEC officer, a Public Affairs Officer, webmaster/web site maintainer, and other appropriate designee(s) (for example, command counsel, force protection, intelligence, and so forth) have properly cleared information posted to the World Wide Web or to Army Knowledge Online in areas accessible to all account types. See AR530-1 paragraph 2-3 a (15) for further details.

4. When the information being considered for release has been found to be proprietary or sensitive and the program manager concurs with the need for release, the originator of the information and will initiate the review certification process. Plan ahead and allow at least two weeks for staffing the action through the appropriate reviewing offices.

If in question, contact your supervisor, Public Affairs Officer or OPSEC officer for assistance.

Related Links:

AR530-1

AR 360-1

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