Photo By Staff Sgt. Crystal Jenkins | Service members attend Counter Intelligence Awareness Training at Joint Base...... read more read more
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Counter Intelligence Awareness Training as well as the Foreign Travel Prebrief and Debrief Program have not changed, but how they are enforced has.
The Air Force Office of Special Investigations Detachment 631 at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson has recently created two separate programs to assist special agents in keeping track of personnel who have completed the mandatory travel pre-briefing survey found on the Air Force Portal as well as conducting a newly arranged Counter Intelligence Awareness Training which is required annually.
“We want to create the mindset that you are a hard target,” said Nicholas Gallo, AFOSI Detachment 631 special agent. “That way you won’t look back and say ‘What could I have done?’ as opposed to ‘What should I have done?’ It’s important for personnel who may have encountered a foreign intelligence entity (FIE) to come back home and report suspicious information that might have been obtained. Even if it may seem insignificant at the time, it could be relevant to something much bigger.”
A travel pre-briefing done on the AF Portal provides personnel the chance to receive general information on counterintelligence, force protection, antiterrorism and what to do in case of emergencies while traveling out of the country.
“The pre-brief survey ensures everybody embarking on foreign travel does the mandatory briefing on the AF Portal,” Gallo said. “Tracking this information allows us to see the details entered by the traveler specific to the times they are traveling and the countries they are visiting. Depending on the information provided, I can schedule a more individualized prebrief and if needed, debrief.”
The individualized briefings provide service members a chance of additional preparedness, giving them up-to-date information on the specific places being traveled to.
“The goal is to inform travelers of possible situations they may encounter,” Gallo said. “Someone might think, ‘I’m just going to Canada.’ What they fail to realize is the opportunity to be exploited exists everywhere, and the knowledge they hold is very valuable. My hope is that some of the information I provide will help open their eyes and make them think of things they wouldn’t have normally thought about.”
While the main purpose of the travel briefings is to develop personnel into becoming harder targets to ensure knowledge isn’t passed on to a FIE, the CI Awareness Training also provides critical knowledge on how to handle situations happening every day.
“The briefings are very important,” said Senior Airman Gilbert Ortiz, radio frequencies technician with the 673d Communications Squadron. “It helps all troops be more aware of what to look for when they’re out with friends or family. Anyone can be trying to grab intelligence, and you have to be on the lookout for that.”
Service members are reminded to stay alert since information gathering could happen at any time, to anyone, anywhere.
For the current fiscal calendar year, the one-hour, in-person CI Awareness Training, is scheduled for the third Thursday of every month at 9 a.m. in the Talkeetna Theater – excluding the month of December.
Signing up in advance is not necessary, just sign-in upon arrival.
To view the prebrief and debrief materials, visit the AF Portal and search ‘AFOSI Travel Brief,’ and select Foreign Travel Prebrief and Debrief.
For more information on the CI Awareness Trainings, foreign travel briefings or to report suspicious activity, contact AFOSI Detachment 631 at 552-7258.
| Date Taken: | 10.24.2017 |
| Date Posted: | 10.24.2017 12:56 |
| Story ID: | 252798 |
| Location: | JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, ALASKA, US |
| Web Views: | 96 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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