If he talks off the record ... report him! is a cartoon security poster from the OCASC Intelligence Section of the U.S. Army, catalogued at 1941. A man with a beer talks to another while a bartender listens, and the banner tells soldiers to come, call or write to the intelligence officer (NAID 514594).
The bar
A man in a green plaid coat holds a beer and gestures as he talks. The man he is talking to wears a brown suit and cap and has a cigarette. Behind the counter, the bartender is listening. That is the whole scene, and the caption tells the viewer what to do about it.
IF YOU QUESTION IT-REPORT IT!
COME [running figure], CALL 242 [figure with telephone] or WRITE [figure at desk] -INTELLIGENCE OFFICER.
IF HE TALKS
Off the record ...
REPORT HIM!
[imprint: PRODUCTION OF OCASC -INTELLIGENCE SECTION-]
[signature: roundel reading CPL. A.E. [illegible]]
Who it was for
The catalog gives the audience as the issuer's own forces and the issuer type as military. The imprint names the OCASC Intelligence Section, and the record does not expand the initials, so this page leaves them as printed. The artist signed as a corporal; the rest of the name is illegible. The archive calls the top line the standard banner and rates the fear appeal as faint.
The sheet gives a three-digit number, 242, and no place name. The record does not say where it hung.
Talk, and reporting on talk
A soldier's duty to keep military information to himself is a fair demand. The information belongs to the mission, not to him. This sheet goes a step further. It does not ask the viewer to keep quiet; it asks him to report the other man. "Off the record" covers a great deal of what people say in bars, most of it harmless. The banner's rule, "IF YOU QUESTION IT-REPORT IT!", leaves the line wherever the listener draws it.
Inside a military unit that is a command decision, and soldiers live under different rules than civilians. The same habit, carried into civilian life, can end with neighbors reporting neighbors for their opinions. The OWI's A Careless Word... Another Cross asked for self-restraint and told no one to report anyone. The rumor clinics case study covers a different civilian answer to loose talk: printing the rumor and the correction side by side. The Roosevelt administration essay describes the Office of Censorship and the period's security posters.
Sources
- FRAME object record, If he talks off the record ... report him!, 1941. OCASC Intelligence Section (U.S. Army), signed by Cpl. A.E. [illegible]. Rights as recorded: public domain (U.S. government work).
- U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, Record Group 44, World War II Posters, 44-PA-1068D, NAID 514594, retrieved by the archive 4 October 2026.
