Abbreviation OPSEC Headquarters Alexandria, Virginia Spokesperson Chad Kolton | Formation 2012 President Scott Taylor | |
Motto I serve quietly, not seeking recognition or accolades... | ||
Special Operations OPSEC Education Fund, Inc. (OPSEC) is a 501(c)(4) organization in the United States, formed in 2012. It began a media campaign critical of President Obama in August 2012, accusing his administration of disclosing sensitive information about the killing of Osama bin Laden and taking too much credit for the operation.
Contents
OPSEC's members are primarily former U.S. special operations forces and intelligence community personnel. The group has extensive ties to the Republican Party and Tea Party movement, though it describes itself as non-partisan. As of mid-August 2012, it claims to have raised almost $1 million.
The military portmanteau "OPSEC" (Operations Security) is where security measures are taken to prevent friendly operations and intentions from being observed by an adversary's intelligence systems.
Leadership and composition
OPSEC's president is Scott Taylor, a former Navy SEAL who vied for the Republican nomination for a Virginia congressional seat in 2010. Its lead spokesperson and former SEAL, Ben Smith, was also a spokesperson for Tea Party Express. Another spokesperson is Chad Kolton, who worked for the Bush administration as a spokesperson for the Director of National Intelligence, and who was hired to perform media relations for OPSEC in July 2012 through HDMK, a Republican strategic communications firm. Public records filed with authorities indicate the group's treasurer, lawyer and TV producers also have affiliations with Republican Party organizations.
Activities
During the 2012 United States presidential election it began a media campaign asserting that leaks of sensitive information from the Obama Administration have endangered U.S. personnel and compromised national security, and that Barack Obama has taken too much credit for the death of Osama bin Laden.
Web video
On August 15, 2012, the organization released Dishonorable Disclosures, a 22-minute documentary film that accuses the Obama Administration of taking credit for killing bin Laden and leaking information for political advantage, featuring interviews with former special forces personnel. The film appears on the organization's website and on YouTube, and OPSEC also intends to show it in a handful of swing states, including Virginia, Colorado, Florida, Ohio, North Carolina, and Nevada. Elizabeth Flock of US News questioned the group's claims to be non-partisan noting that "its ranks are filled with Republicans" and stating that OPSEC "has clearly taken a political side". News reports have described the group's ties to the Republican Party, noting that several prominent leaders of the group are Republicans and Tea Partiers and that it shares an office with a Republican consulting firm and a Republican polling firm.
The Obama campaign has likened it to the discredited "swift boat" smear tactics used against presidential nominee John Kerry in 2004. In an official statement, the Obama campaign responded to the film by saying "The Republicans are resorting to 'Swift Boat' tactics because when it comes to foreign policy and national security, Mitt Romney has offered nothing but reckless rhetoric". Leaders of OPSEC responded by stating the group is non-partisan and unconnected to any political party or presidential campaign. The veterans political action committee called VetPAC has said "OPSEC is a shadowy Republican front group," and called their video "dubious" and "silly". Juliet Lapidos of the New York Times called the OPSEC video "a dishonest hatchet job" and remarked that while the stars of the video presented themselves as concerned citizens with no partisan motivations, their positions were inconsistent with their decision to appear in the video. Military journalist and former Marine, Geoffrey Ingersoll, reported in BusinessInsider that the video is a partisan effort instead of an effort to protect US troops, saying, "Obama used SEALs to kill bin Laden. Republicans are using them to eliminate Obama."
Funding
In mid-August 2012, the group said that it had raised almost $1 million since June of that year. Registered with the Internal Revenue Service as a 501(c)(4) social welfare organization, which, unlike 501(c)(3), can participate in partisan politics, the group is not required to disclose its donors and OPSEC has declined to discuss its funding.