Despite this PowerPoint being sent to pretty much everyone in the Fleet and then some, a reader wrote that the crew of the USS George Washington was recently given training on Operations Security (OPSEC) due to this slide show being unauthorized. Since I’d like to avoid an ass-chewing from my omnipotent command, I have removed all links and files relating to said PowerPoint. Thanks for the heads up, reader.
Update @ 18JUNE08: I contacted the GW PAO, inquiring about the PowerPoint, and here was the response I received:
Jim,
The original PowerPoint was created by GW engineers while we were still out at sea and was sent on a very limited distribution to people specifically involved in planning the manifest for COD flights to GW as we neared San Diego. The PowerPoint was designed to give a look at the areas that received the worst damage so that the Navy and Puget Sound Naval Shipyard could send the right people to GW to begin the assessment even before we returned to San Diego. It was not secret information per se (everyone knows that we had a significant fire), but was intended for official use only. It was not intended for release as the photo’s are relatively low resolution.
GW personnel were instructed that damage photo’s in general were for official use only and that release was only to come from appropriate authorities. In fact, we the Navy have released some high resolution damage photo’s at [link].
However, the crew was not giving OPSEC training specifically related to this PowerPoint. I will not speculate as to who forwarded on the PowerPoint to non-official sources (It is unknown at this point), but I don’t think we ever suspected someone from the ship did so. Once it left official channels, it went to the winds, of course, as I have also received it from multiple sources not related to the assessment or repairs.
Sincerely,
LCDR Bill Urban
Public Affairs Officer
Media Department
USS George Washington
Feel free to check out the link above for some hi-res pictures of the fire damage, and thank you to Mr. Urban for the timely response.
Comments 6
eeeep! Watch your back man!
Posted 16 Jun 2008 at 6:44 pm ¶I saw that one coming a mile away ; )
Posted 16 Jun 2008 at 8:19 pm ¶You are right. I have gotten this same PP emailed to me like 10 times in the past few days.
Posted 17 Jun 2008 at 12:34 am ¶I’ve e-mailed the GW’s PAO, so let’s see what they say.
Posted 17 Jun 2008 at 12:37 am ¶Jim,
Nice blog!
Well, we’ve seen that the “Senior Leadership” was relieved after the “extensive investigation” into the causal factors related to the fire onboard. Now, and what really matters to me and other current/former Enlisted folks, what about the “Enlisted Leadership”? How about the folks who went to CO’s Mast? I personally know one individual who was reduced in rank as a result of this incident. Could you shed any light on how many Enlisted folks went to CO’s Mast and why?
Thanks
Posted 15 Aug 2008 at 10:00 am ¶They’re finally holding captain’s mast again? Thank God! I’d really like to know the answer to Carl’s question as well, but my husband is probably getting sick of me asking about all that crap. lol
Posted 15 Aug 2008 at 2:06 pm ¶Post a Comment
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