MISAWA AIR BASE, Japan -- When Misawa Air Base Airmen are within the Indo-Asia-Pacific region securing partnerships with allies or conducting the “Wild Weasel” mission, constant vigilance is maintained, and when they return to home station situational awareness is heightened for ever-changing threats.
The Eagle Eyes program gives the power of reporting suspicious or unnerving behavior to all active duty, dependents and civilian personnel to the 35th Security Forces Squadron or the Air Force Office of Special Investigations.
“This empowers members of the Misawa Air Base community to be the eyes and ears on security procedures,” said Staff Sgt. Michael Wagner, the 35th SFS assistant antiterrorism program manager. “Different people have different perspectives on things and when they see something out of place or strange, we want them to call it in and be involved with keeping our base secure.”
Being aware of common indicators of suspicious behavior and who to contact can assist in potential attacks.
-Surveillance of on-or off-base activities or areas
-Elicitation or gathering of information in person, phone, fax or e-mail
-Tests of security to identify security weaknesses
-Acquiring supplies such as weapons, identification cards, uniforms or decals
-Suspicious persons seemingly out of place at work or home
-Dry runs practicing a possible criminal or terrorist operation
-Deploying assets such as positioning people or supplies
Wagner stresses most of the Eagle Eye reports from Misawa AB are instances of surveillance, taking photos of obscure locations or gates on base, and elicitation, trying to get important information in a nonchalant way.
“Eagle Eyes reports help AFOSI, because, although singular incidents are insignificant by themselves, once the incidents are assembled and looked at as a whole, they show patterns of suspicious activities and paint a larger picture,” said Special Agent Pang Change, an AFOSI Detachment 623 member.
Although some Team Misawa members may feel like they are stepping out of their lane reporting behavior, the 35th SFS and AFOSI team encourages everyone to be situationally aware and call them--even if it seems small.
“If everyone can come together and take an active role in protecting the base and reporting suspicious activity, it'll help us identify suspicious patterns quickly,” said Chang. “We depend greatly on the support of the community in order to keep the community safe and this will allow us to respond quickly, and mitigate or even neutralize threats in a timely manner.”
To report suspicious behavior, call these numbers:
Security Forces Control Center: DSN 226-3600
Commercial (24 hours a day): 0176-64-3600
AFOSI Detachment 623: DSN 226-3126