Mark Esper, secretary of the Department of Defense (DoD) and a 2020 Wash100 Award winner, has released a memo about DoD’s new operations security training requirements for civilian employees, service members and on-site contractors, Government Executive reported Thursday.
Esper’s July 20 memo requires all DoD personnel to watch a video message from the secretary, complete the four modules as part of the mandatory training within 60 days and save certificates of the training to prove completion. Those training modules can be accessed through the department’s Center for the Development of Security Excellence website.
OPSEC Awareness for Military Members, DoD Employees and Contractors; Unauthorized Disclosure of Classified Information for DoD and Industry; Insider Threat Awareness; and Introduction to Information Security are the four courses all DoD personnel should take, according to the memo.
The report said the updated OPSEC training requirements came after Esper told Senate lawmakers that he had initiated an investigation into unauthorized information disclosures to the New York Times.
