Keep Calm and ███████:the CIA's declassified OpSec posters

Keep Calm and ███████:the CIA’s declassified OpSec posters

From cartoons to casual racism, here’s how the Agency urged employees to think about security

Written by
Edited by Michael Morisy

In 1973, still coming down from the harshed mellow of Watergate, a Central Intelligence Agency officer came up with what they felt would be the perfect solution to lagging morale and lackluster operation security: a motivational poster contest.

The results, apparently produced in-house, were exceedingly a product of a their time and environment …

right down to the cringe-worthy casual racism.

For the most part, however, the submissions were pretty adorably dorky, and we’ve cleaned them up a bit in case you were in the market for a new desktop background.

It’s unclear which poster ended up winning, but my personal choice, included in a separate release, has to be this gem.

Move over Dogs of OpSec. That is delightful. The full collection, hashmarks and all, is embedded below.