text: Loose tweets destroy fleets. Keeping quiet about operational information is vital to ensure military members stay safe on a daily basis. 
   
   Social media can be a useful tool to stay connected to friends, family, and quick entertainment. However, there is sometimes a fine line between letting your friends see what you’re up to and providing an adversary critical information about your connection to the military and its mission. 
   
   “As social media keeps evolving and there’s more and more avenues to let your friends and family know what you are up to, those same avenues can be used by ISIS sympathizers, ‘lone wolves,’ to track down and hurt our military members outside the safety of the base,” said Capt. Jonathan McDonald, AFCENT Force Protection chief. “So not only is it important to not post vital mission related information, but it’s also important to not post detailed personal information to keep yourself and your loved ones safe. 
   
   “It’s vital to check your security settings in your social media accounts to make sure that just your friends are able to see what you post and remember to be smart about what you post and share,” McDonald added. 
   
   Operations Security is the process of keeping sensitive information away from the enemy. Information is identified and controlled by various security measures to minimize violations. 
   
   
   
   “Without OPSEC, our adversaries would be able to freely and easily gather information of our activities and operations; putting missions, resources and members at risk, said Master Sgt. Aaron Miller, AFCENT Information security program manager. “Ultimately this could impact a campaign or mission and be detrimental to national strategic and foreign policies.” 
   
   With OPSEC violation consequences so high, it’s important to ensure OPSEC procedures are followed through. 
   
   “The best way to keep OPSEC is to look over the Critical Information List and be sure to protect the information on that list and destroy it accordingly,” said Senior Airman Anthony Bolton, 609th Air Operations Center OPSEC manager. “Another way to keep OPSEC is to go secure whenever possible, use a secure phone line , encrypt your email and make sure that you are shredding all paper including any notes on post its.” 
   
   The public affairs office coordinates all media interviews, media queries and media access to the base. If approached by the media, Airmen should refer all media to their local public affairs office. 
   
   Each unit employs an OPSEC manager to whom anybody may report suspected OPSEC incidents. For more information regarding OPSEC, refer to Air Force Instruction 10-701, Operations Security OPSEC) on the Air Force e-Publishing website or contact your unit OPSEC manager. 
   
   ||||| F-16 Fighting Falcons taxi down the flight line at Kunsan Air Base, South Korea, on Dec. 14, 2012. The U.S. Air Force is using the photo to promote careful use of social media, with the message: "Loose Tweets Destroy Fleets." The phrase is a modern-day twist of the words from a famous World War II propaganda poster, "Loose Lips Sink Ships." 
   
   “Loose Tweets Destroy Fleets” — the Air Force’s twist on the famous World War II slogan, “Loose Lips Sink Ships” — is meant to remind servicemembers to guard what they share on social media, particularly given recent threats by Islamic State sympathizers. 
   
   U.S. Air Forces Central Command’s online message last week from Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar, included a photo of a fleet of F-16 fighter jets parked on a runway. It was accompanied by a story reminding airmen “there is sometimes a fine line between letting your friends see what you’re up to and providing an adversary critical information about your connection to the military and its mission.” 
   
   The AFCENT article speaks directly to the threat posed by Islamic State supporters, who on at least two occasions have acquired and posted online personal data of military personnel, urging followers to attack Americans in the States and overseas in retaliation for the air strikes. 
   
   “As social media keeps evolving and there’s more and more avenues to let your friends and family know what you are up to, those same avenues can be used by ISIS sympathizers, ‘lone wolves’, to track down and hurt our military members outside the safety of the base,” AFCENT’s Force Protection chief, Capt. Jonathan McDonald, was quoted as saying. He used an acronym for the Islamic State. 
   
   Most recently, a group calling itself the “Islamic State hacking division,” posted the names and identifying information such as email addresses and phone numbers of some 1,400 former or current military and diplomatic personnel who worked in the United Kingdom, according to London’s Sunday Times. Most of them were Americans, though much of the information was believed to be outdated. 
   
   Air Force tips to post smartly include the use of appropriate privacy settings and checking with a supervisor before posting anything work-related; also encrypting email about work missions, using a secure phone line and shredding important documents. 
   
   The “loose tweets” catchphrase is not new, having been adopted earlier by the Navy and Army. 
   
   Before the carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt deployed earlier this year to support airstrike operations in Iraq and Syria, the ship reminded sailors on Facebook to “Remember: Loose Tweets Sink Fleets.” Sailors were told to be aware of what they’re posting, what hashtags they’re using and what security settings are enabled. The Army used the phrase even sooner. In December 2013, U.S. Central Command tweeted the same message, linking to a U.S. Army online story about social media usage titled: “Loose lips still sink ships, loose tweets sink fleets.” 
   
   But the Air Force’s twist on the message has been garnering attention from news organizations as diverse as Popular Mechanics and Russia News.Net and has been getting mixed reviews on social media. 
   
   “’Loose lips sink ships’ has evolved,” said one commenter on the John Q. Public Facebook site. “Probably more relevant now than in the 1940s.” 
   
   Another commenter quipped: “Hey Air Force. The Navy called, they want their slogan back.” 
   
   svan.jennifer@stripes.com
target: – Just as soldiers were warned "loose lips sink ships" during World War II, modern airmen are being warned "loose tweets destroy fleets" in the social-media age. ABC News reports US Air Forces Central Command sent out a security notice last week warning personnel of the "fine line" between sharing activities with friends and family and providing harmful information to enemies. The military is getting increasingly concerned about tech-savvy terrorist groups. In the notice, one official specifically worried about "ISIS sympathizers" and "lone wolves" using social media to find and harm military personnel and their families. For instance, a group calling itself the Islamic State Hacking Division released a "kill list" of 100 military members and their families seemingly compiled using information readily available on social media in March. In the release, the Air Force warns airmen not to post information about their mission or too many personal details while keeping their social media accounts "friends only." The Navy and Army also are hammering home the "loose tweets" message, notes Stars and Stripes.