As noted previously, data collection begins in the planning phase with a review of associated documentation. During the field survey phase, interviews with personnel directly involved in the operation, together with observations and document collection, are the primary means of data collection. The following actions are normally accomplished during the field survey phase:

1. Command Briefing on Operation to be Surveyed. This briefing is presented to the OPSEC survey team by the command directing the forces or assets involved in the operation or activity being surveyed. The purpose of the briefing is to provide the survey team with an overview of the operation from the command's point of view. Team members should use this opportunity to clarify remaining questions about the information developed in the planning phase.

2. OPSEC Survey Team Briefing. This briefing is presented by the chief of the survey team to the commander and principal staff officers of the surveyed organization. The briefing may be either a formal presentation or an informal discussion. The objective is to inform the commander and the staff of how the survey will be conducted. The briefing should include a summary of the hostile threat and the vulnerability assessment developed during the planning phase. The staff should be asked to comment on the validity of this assessment. Results of previous OPSEC surveys of similar activities may be summarized.

3. Data Collection and Functional Outline Refinement
   (1) Data Collection
   (a) During the field survey phase, data are collected through observation of activities, document collection, and personnel interviews. Data may also be acquired through concurrent ongoing empirical data collection such as SIGSEC monitoring.

   (b) Team members must be alert to differences between what they have read, what they have assumed to be the situation, what they have been told in the command briefing, and what they observe and are told by personnel participating in the operation. Conflicting data are to be expected.

   (c) While observations can verify the occurrence, sequence, and exact timing of events, much essential information must be gathered from interviews.

   1. Functional outlines should be reviewed before and after interviews to ensure that all pertinent points are covered. Specifics on how, when, and where people accomplish their tasks, and how these tasks relate to the planned and observed sequence of events, are recorded in order to document activities in a logical sequence.

   2. Team members should assure interviewees that all sources of information will be protected by a nonattribution policy.

   3. Interviews are best conducted by two team members.

   4. Facts to be recorded during or soon after The interview normally include:

   a. Identification and purpose of the interview.

   b. Description of the positions occupied by the persons being interviewed.

   c. Details of exactly what tasks the individuals perform and how, when, and where they perform them with a view toward determining what information they receive, handle, or generate, and what they do with it.

   d. Whether the individuals' actions reflect an awareness of a hostile intelligence collection threat.

   (2) Functional Outline Refinement
   (a) As indicated earlier, each team member should have a basic functional outline to direct data collection efforts at the beginning of the field survey phase. The basic outline will be modified during this phase to reflect new information obtained by observation and interview and will ultimately become a profile of actual events.

   (b) Each team member should be familiar with the outlines used by the other members of the survey team and should be alert for information that might affect them. An interview in the communications area, for example, might disclose information that would result in a change to the outline being developed for operations; or an observation in one geographic location could affect an outline being followed up in another. Also, to permit followup elsewhere, all outlines should try to reflect the information generated and the flow at each location where data are collected.

   (c) As data are accumulated through observation and interviews, incorporation of such data into the basic functional outline changes the original list of projected events into a profile of actual events. The functional outline then becomes a chronological record of what actually was done, where, who did it, and how and why it was done. The outline should also reflect an assessment of the vulnerability of each event to the known or suspected hostile intelligence threat.

   (d) Tentative findings will begin to emerge as data collection proceeds and information is reviewed and compared. The findings should be confirmed and fully documented as quickly as possible.

   (e) If a finding is considered to have serious mission impact, it should be made known to the commander responsible for the operation in order to permit early corrective actions.

   (f) Development of findings during the field survey phase ensures access to supporting data and precludes the need to reconstruct evidence after the team has left the scene. Following this procedure, the basic findings and supporting data of the final survey report will be well developed before the end of the field survey phase. Final development and production of the survey report can then proceed immediately upon the team's return to home station.

4. Team Employment
   (1) The complexity, size, and duration of the surveyed operation or activity will determine the general employment of the survey team. Tentative locations for data collection, developed during the planning phase, provide initial indications of how and where to employ the team.

   (2) It is rarely possible, however, to plan employment in detail before the field survey phase. A limited, short duration operation with few participating elements may permit concentrating the team in one, or a very few, locations. Larger and longer operations may require complete dispersal of the team, movement of the entire team from one location to another, or both, over a substantial period of time. The most reliable guideline for the team chief in determining how to employ the team is to reassemble it daily to assess progress, compare data, and coordinate the direction of the survey.

   (3) The duration of the field survey phase is established during the planning phase and depends on how rapidly data are collected. Many surveys have required 30 days or more in the field. Less comprehensive ones might require a week or 10 days. The proximity of data collection locations to each other, number of such locations, transportation

   availability, and degree of difficulty experienced in resolving conflicting data are some of the factors affecting duration of the field survey phase.

5. OPSEC Survey Team Exit Briefing
   (1) An exit briefing should be presented to the commander before the team leaves a command, regardless of previous reports or tentative findings. Like the entrance briefing, the exit briefing can be an informal discussion with the commander or a formal briefing for the commander and the staff.

   (2) The tentative nature of survey findings should be emphasized. Even those that appear to be firm may be altered by the final data review as the survey report is prepared. Because preparation of the written report may take some time, the exit briefing can serve as an interim basis for further consideration and possible action by the commander.

   (3) The distribution of the final written report should be clearly stated during the exit briefing. Normally, the report will be provided directly to the commander. Some commands have found it useful to forward an interim report to the surveyed commander for comments before proceeding with the final version.