Loose lips, sink ships

by BRIAN LOCKHART

There was a saying during the Second World War that went – “loose lips, sink ships.”

The idea behind the saying was that if you had information pertaining to the war effort, you should keep it to yourself.

That friendly guy at the bakery down the street could very well be a Nazi spy, and by casually mentioning a ship would be leaving port at a certain time, you could very well doom that ship when the spy passes on that information to his keepers, who then pass it on to a patrolling submarine.

Secrecy during wartime is vital to the effort. You don't send notice to your enemy that you just built an ammunitions depot at these coordinates with a big red arrow pointing to it on a map.

As the war in Ukraine rages on, it is no secret that the Ukraine defence forces are being armed and supplied by western countries. If it were not for western involvement, they would have already run out of ammunition and equipment.

Supplying them is one thing, making a media event out of it every time you do it is careless and dangerous.

The Canadian government has already made several announcements regarding shipments of supplies to Ukraine. Several other governments have also announced how they are supplying Ukraine forces.

A few days ago, the government announced it had secured more than 20,000 155-millimetre artillery rounds that will be sent to the Ukraine.

I'm pretty sure high-level officials in Russia have made note of this announcement and are actively trying to find out how those 20,000 rounds will be arriving in Europe.

Any military person knows that part of the plan to defeat your enemy is to cut off supply lines, and that includes sinking ships, attacking supply convoys, and shooting down aircraft.

The Russians don't want 20,000 artillery rounds arriving in Ukraine that will be used against their troops.

There's no doubt Russian intelligence will be working hard to find out how, when, and where, those rounds will be leaving, and where they will be landing in Europe.

Top military leaders will be working with intelligence agencies to find out whatever they can about arms being transported to be used against their troops.

Most likely that amount of heavy material will be arriving by ship. Even if escorted by surface warships, there is little that can be done to stop a torpedo launched from miles away by a submarine that simply disappears into deep water.

Now the U.S. has announced it is considering sending long-range missiles to Ukraine.

Terrific, another government supplying information to the enemy.

This war is already dangerous enough, and not only for the people in Ukraine. It is a threat to the entire western world due to the possibility of things escalating – especially since Russian officials have already warned that they will consider using nuclear bombs if things don't go their way or if any western government becomes directly involved the fighting.

If western governments are going to send military supplies and arms to Europe, they have to start making certain restrictions on the details.

Yes, we have the right to know if our tax dollars are paying for arms for another country, but we don't need to know specific details like numbers and type of munition – at least not right now – and not in a public forum which pretty much gives the enemy more information than they need to know.

By giving out too much information, you make members of our military and even private citizens, potential targets.

So far, Russia has pretty much failed in their effort to invade Ukraine. They have met a lot more resistance than they thought they would receive and have not had the success the military leaders predicted.

As Russian losses continue to mount, they are more likely to try to stop supplies coming into the country.

If the west wants to continue the effort of supplying arms and medical equipment, it's time to remember the WWII approach and keep your mouth shut rather than announce every time military supplies are procured and being sent to a theatre of war.