Black Ops

[Bruce Dykes]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Joseph McCollum" <prez234 at JUNO.COM>
To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Sent: Monday, October 08, 2001 14:16
Subject: Re: Black Ops


> >
> > > BLACK OPS
> > >
> > >     I've been hearing a lot about "black ops" and "sleeper cells."  We
talked about the latter.  The former means "black operations."  It seems a
bit clumsy, like military trying to be hip-hop.  But it
> should be recorded.
> >
> > "Ops" as a verbal abbreviation for "Operations" goes back a ways.  In
World War II the SHAEF (Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force) had
an
> office known as "Ops B SHAEF" which was in charge of deception operations.
>
> Would the Black part be related to Herbert Yardley's
> Black Chamber?  I don't have the sources in front of me but it was
America's cryptology agency which operated from ~1917 to ~1929.
>

Aside from all the traditional black=nefarious associations, the agencies
who are expected to engage in "Black Ops" generally have "Black" budgets,
which are only available to line item reviews by their oversight committees.
Everybody else only gets to see the grand total of expenditure.

bkd