---
created: 2025-07-22
updated: 2025-07-22
title: Operations Security Group
tags:
  - organization
  - military
  - intelligence
  - USA
description: The Operations Security Group (Opsec) was a U.S. Army unit focused on protecting sensitive operations from foreign espionage.
category: "U.S. Government"
summary: "The Operations Security Group (OPSEC) was a Fort Meade-based U.S. Army unit that red-teamed U.S. military and intelligence operations by spying on American facilities to identify vulnerabilities exploitable by foreign intelligence services."
location: "Fort Meade, Maryland"
---

The [[Operations Security Group]] (Opsec) was a [[U.S. Army]] unit based at [[Fort Meade]], Maryland, whose primary task was to protect sensitive operations from foreign espionage. This involved acting as a "Red-Team," literally spying on U.S. military facilities to identify and correct security lapses.[^1]

[[Mel Riley]] was posted to the Opsec Group in 1976, where his specific job was to analyze photographic intelligence on these installations. The Opsec Group later became part of the [[Systems Exploitation Detachment]] (SED), which in turn was attached to the office of the Assistant Chief of Staff for Intelligence (ACSI).[^1]

[[Frederick Atwater|Skip Atwater]] initially proposed the formation of a small remote-viewing team to the head of SED, Colonel [[Robert Keenan]], arguing that remote viewing represented a potential security threat that Opsec teams should study. The early remote viewing activities under [[Stargate Project|Gondola Wish]] were initially envisioned to support opsec missions, though the unit later transitioned to an offensive spying role under Grill Flame.[^1]

---

[^1]: Schnabel, Jim. *Remote Viewers*. Dell, 1997.