John's Story

I am often asked whether I am comfortable releasing classified information that could help terrorists. That concern rests on two assumptions: first, that this material was classified; and second, that explaining general tactics gives an adversary a decisive advantage. Neither assumption is correct.

Both Small Unit Tactics and Small Unit Tactics and Raids were formally reviewed and cleared by the U.S. Army for release under two separate concerns:

• Information Security (INFOSEC) protects classified national security information. This is the system that uses formal levels such as Confidential, Secret, and Top Secret.
• Operations Security (OPSEC) protects critical information about activities, intentions, capabilities, limitations, and vulnerabilities—even when the individual facts are unclassified.

The books passed INFOSEC review because the underlying tactics were already available through official Army sources, although often scattered across documents that were harder to understand. They passed OPSEC review because they reveal no unit-specific plans, schedules, targets, intentions, or vulnerabilities. A useful tactic does not automatically lose its value when it is understood in general. Knowing that the U.S. Army can conduct an attack is very different from knowing when, where, how, and with which unit it will attack.

In fact, a prototype of the second book initially failed review because I had included two phrases: Operation Neptune Spear and Delta Force. Both names were widely available in public sources. That taught me that public availability is not the same thing as official declassification: a cleared publication cannot treat repetition by a museum, news outlet, or encyclopedia as authorization to publish information.

The second concern is whether general tactical knowledge helps bad actors. General knowledge is not a substitute for operational detail. In Afghanistan, insurgents with very limited resources still adapted to established room-clearing methods using improvised booby traps. They did not need these books to understand that predictable patterns can be countered. Tactics depend on context, surprise, disciplined execution, and—most importantly—specific knowledge of when and where they will be used.

That is exactly why OPSEC matters. It protects the details that let an adversary act: timing, location, personnel, capabilities, intentions, and vulnerabilities. It does not require every general principle of military education to remain secret.