EMERGENCY PLANS

Emergency plans provide for the protection, removal, or destruction of classified material. Commands holding classified material must develop an emergency plan to fit their needs. The primary requirement of an emergency plan is that it adequately provide for the rapid and complete destruction of the classified material. Emergency plans must cover three areas of emergencies:

Natural disasters, such as hurricanes;

Civil disturbances, such as rioting; and

Enemy action.

Emergency plans should provide for the protection of classified material in such a manner as to minimize the risk of loss of life or injury to personnel.

For destruction, the command's emergency plan must do the following:

Emphasize procedures and methods of destruction, including place and destruction equipment required;

Clearly identify the exact location of all classified material;

Prioritize material for destruction; and

Assign personnel by billet, areas of responsibility for destruction.

Priorities

When the emergency plan is implemented, priority of destruction is based on the potential effect on national security should the material fall into hostile hands. COMSEC material is destroyed first. The priorities for emergency destruction are as follows:

FIRST PRIORITY- Top Secret COMSEC material and classified components of equipment and all other Top Secret material;

SECOND PRIORITY- Secret COMSEC material and all other Secret material;

THIRD PRIORITY- Confidential COMSEC material and all other Confidential material.

After you have destroyed the classified for which you are responsible, you should destroy any unclassified equipment that could be of use to an enemy. You should also destroy pertinent technical, descriptive, and operating instructions.

FIRE PLANS

In addition to an emergency plan, a plan of action in the event of fire is also required. As with an emergency plan, it is important that all comunications personnel familiarize themselves with their command fire plan. Normally, the fire plan provides for the following:

Local fire-fighting apparatus and personnel to operate the equipment; Evacuation of the area, including a decision whether to store classified material or remove it from the area; and

Admitting outside fire fighters into the area.

PRECAUTIONARY ACTIONS

Precautionary destruction reduces the amount of classified material on hand in case emergency destruction later becomes necessary. Destruction priorities remain the same during precautionary destruction. However, when precautionary destruction is held, material essential to communications must not be destroyed. For example, communications operating procedures and publications that are to become effective in the near future would not be destroyed. Communications operating procedures that are already effective, necessary, and being used would also not be destroyed.

The following actions should be taken daily:

All superseded material should be destroyed in accordance with its prescribed time frame.

Unneeded material should be returned to the issuing agencies.

Material should be stored in such a way as to make it readily accessible for removal during destruction.

Contrary to widespread opinion, there is no security policy requiring destruction of unclassified messages. However, some message centers with high volumes of classified and unclassified message traffic may find it more efficient to destroy all messages and intermingled files as though they were classified. Under some circumstances, units operating in foreign ports or waters and commands situated in foreign countries may take additional precautions in disposing of unclassified material.

SUMMARY

This chapter has discussed general security considerations to provide you with a working knowledge of this important aspect of your job. As a Radioman, you have a two-fold job concerning security. The first, of course, is to properly perform your duties within general security guidelines. Security guidelines pertain to everyone in every official capacity. Second, you must also perform your duties in such a manner as to protect the integrity and overall value of secure communications.

Security should be second nature insofar as the practice of personal habits is concerned. However, second nature does not mean "without thinking." It behooves all of us to take security seriously and practice sound security habits in the interests of naval operations and our overall national security.

Security precautions mentioned in this chapter do not guarantee complete protection nor do they attempt to meet every conceivable situation. Anyone who adopts a commonsense outlook can, however, solve most security problems and gain a knowledge of basic security regulations.