Operations Security Group

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

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 Gondola Wish were initially envisioned to support opsec missions, though the unit later transitioned to an offensive spying role under Grill Flame.¹