A recent GAO report on the Defense Establishment’s inability to respond to issues that could or should go to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the US (CFIUS) points out an interesting problem that military installations have faced since Caesar went into Gall (or for the true historians, since organized combat started). Foreign Intelligence Services like to locate front companies or “liaisons” close to military bases where they can spy on the activities that go on there.
As the GAO points out, this is not a problem CFIUS can solve for them. And, they weren’t doing very well on things that CFIUS can do for them. What solves one problem is OPSEC, which most military units have stopped thinking about. Most of them have no idea what counter surveillance operations are like or why they are done. Few even bother to check on their neighbors - and they don’t have to be enemies to cause concern. I have seen some allies and drug cartels put intelligence operations in close proximity to secret activities of governments. You can bet those border guards are under surveillance 100% of the time. Nobody even batted an eyelash until they were reported, and even then those operations move faster than governments respond. Pick up the pace Defense. You know what to do; you just aren’t doing it.
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