Barber duping the DOPSER process is pure genius
Barber Testimony with Ross Coulhart: About 02:17:34 in Barber describes, essentially, a counterintelligence operation he ran against the DoD’s own Defense Office of Prepublication and Security Review (DOPSER). Instead of quietly submitting a manuscript and waiting for a “rubber stamp,” he fed chunks of fictional and factual data in stages to see which portions they’d redact—and that told him exactly what was truly classified.
It’s like reverse-engineering censorship:
- Invent “fiction” around real classified material.
- Submit it in pieces so the redaction requests reveal which “made-up” parts are dangerously close to reality.
- Rinse & repeat until you can paint a fairly accurate picture of a secret program based on what they blacked out.
Barber’s approach shows why it’s so tough to do permanent coverups when clever operators pull stunts like this. Once you know how to game the system, you can force the powers-that-be to admit what’s real—by using their own systems to reveal exactly what they’re trying to hide.