OSI says military members help secure bases with Eagle Eyes

  • Published
  • By Office of Special Investigations
  • Det. 806
MALMSTROM AIR FORCE BASE, Mont. --  With a limited number of Air Force Office of Special Investigations agents and Security Forces members, it is up to Airmen and their families with Eagle Eyes to help make sure the area they live in is safe. 

The U. S. Air Force Eagle Eyes program provides a single point of contact to report suspicious activity at Malmstrom and every military installation worldwide. 

While keeping an eye out for suspicious patterns of behavior, OSI officials recommend reporting the situation and not confronting the people involved. 

People should avoid confronting an individual they think is suspicious. If they look suspicious, they may also be dangerous. If you have a camera phone, that's a great way to get a description but don't try to make yourself a target by doing that. Write down what you can, get to a phone and contact the law enforcement desk as soon as possible. 

A great example of the Eagle Eyes program in action occurred recently. While eating dinner at an off-base restaurant frequented by members of the military community, a staff sergeant assigned to Malmstrom overheard a conversation between two individuals sitting at a nearby table. The two were discussing anti-military protests they had been previously involved with. The staff sergeant observed as much information as he could then he contacted the Security Forces Law Enforcement Desk as soon as he left the restaurant. The following morning, an OSI Agent contacted him to follow up on the information. It turned out to be non-threatening, but the base would have been prepared for a possible demonstration or protest thanks to the efforts of the observant staff sergeant who acted on something that just didn't seem right to him.
Family members may be more important to the Eagle Eyes program than active-duty members. For instance, while the active-duty member is out of the neighborhood, their family is who sees the activity at the bus stops and other houses. They're the ones who are going to notice the little differences. 

According to OSI officials, there are seven patterns of behavior in particular to keep an eye out for. 

Surveillance: Someone recording or monitoring activities. This may include the use of cameras (either still or video), note taking, drawing diagrams, annotating on maps or using binoculars or other vision-enhancing devices. 

Elicitation: People or organizations attempting to gain information about military operations, capabilities or people. Elicitation attempts may be made by mail, fax, telephone or in person. Examples include being approached and asked about what's happening at the base, troop strength numbers, the number of airplanes on base, etc. 

Tests of security: Any attempts to measure reaction times to security breaches or to penetrate physical security barriers or procedures in order to assess strengths and weaknesses. For example, a person grabs the base fence and shakes it and sees how long it takes for police to respond. Also, perhaps a driver approaches the front gate (without ID or car sticker) and pretends to be lost or to have taken a wrong turn just to learn the procedures of how he is dealt with and how far into the gate he can get before being turned around. Another example includes a person who places a "smoke bomb" near the fence or throws it over the fence, just to learn how quickly police respond and what affect that has on front-gate operations. 

Acquiring supplies: This includes purchasing or stealing explosives, weapons, ammunition, detonators, timers, etc. It also includes acquiring military uniforms, decals, flight manuals, passes or badges (or the equipment to manufacture such items) or any other controlled items. 

Suspicious people out of place: People who don't seem to belong in the workplace, neighborhood, business establishment or anywhere else. This includes suspicious border crossings and stowaways aboard ship or people jumping ship in port. This category is hard to define, but the point is that people know what looks right and what doesn't look right in their neighborhoods, office spaces, communities, etc., and if a person just doesn't seem like he or she belongs, there's probably a reason for that.
 
Dry run: Putting people into position and moving them around according to their plan without actually committing the terrorist act. This is especially true when planning a kidnapping, but it can also pertain to bombings. An element of this activity could also include mapping out routes and determining the timing of traffic lights and flow. Take note of people moving around from place to place without any apparent purpose and doing it, perhaps, many times. The appropriate example here is the 9/11 hijackers, who are now known to have actually flown on those exact flights several times before 9/11. 
Their purpose was to practice getting their people into position, working out arrival times, parking, ticketing, going through security, boarding, etc. By taking note of everything around them, in one sense they were conducting surveillance and testing security, but they were also doing a dry run of the actual activity. 

Deploying assets: This inlucdes people and supplies getting into position to commit the act. This is a person's last chance to alert authorities before the terrorist act occurs. Look for people loading up vehicles with weaponry or explosives, etc., or parking that vehicle somewhere. Also, look for people in military uniforms (who don't look right) approaching an installation or getting into a vehicle, or even people who seem out of place at a certain location, as if waiting for something to happen.  

Every Airman can make a difference and the first step is knowing what to look for.
Anyone can make a report by calling AFOSI Det. 806 at 731-3558 or the 341st Security Forces Dispatch 24 hours a day at 731-3895. Suspicious activity can also be reported to local, county, state or federal law enforcement.