JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO, Texas –
Have you ever noticed something that just didn’t look right, but weren’t sure what to do?
In an effort to highlight the importance of reporting suspicious behavior, the Air Force Office of Special Investigations and security forces officials across the Air Force are urging all base personnel to remember: “If You See Something, Say Something.”
If you “see something” that you know shouldn't be there, or someone's behavior doesn't seem quite right or is troubling, then “say something.” This type of reporting is part of an integrated base defense program called the AFOSI Eagle Eyes program.
The Eagle Eyes program is an Air Force anti-terrorism initiative that enlists the eyes and ears of all Air Force members in the war on terrorism. Eagle Eyes teaches all military members about typical activities terrorists engage in to plan their attacks.
Armed with this information, anyone can recognize elements of potential terror-planning when they see them. The Eagle Eyes program provides a network of local 24-hour phone numbers to call whenever a suspicious activity is observed.
"Our number one priority is the safety and welfare of our service members, their families and our local communities," said Col. Jeff Carter, 502nd Security Forces Group commander. "Every Joint Base San Antonio service member, civilian, family member, and visitor – as well as every citizen in our local communities – can be that set of eyes and ears who first discovers something that could threaten the security of our installation, our neighborhoods and our nation. If you see something … say something."
To report suspicious activity, contact your local installation security forces. To help you describe specifically what you have seen, use the acronym SALUTE:
- Size: How many people?
- Activity: What was the individual(s) doing?
- Location: Where did it occur?
- Uniform: What was the individual(s) wearing?
- Time: When did you see it?
- Equipment: Were they driving a car or carrying equipment?
To report suspicious behavior, base residents are asked to call 210-671-9465 at JBSA-Lackland, and 210-295-0594 at JBSA-Randolph and JBSA-Fort Sam Houston during duty hours. After hours, call the Base Defense Operations Centers at 210-221-2244, 210-671-2018, or 210-652-5700. If there is an emergency, dial 911.
According to the AFOSI Eagle Eyes program, categories of suspicious behavior include:
- Surveillance: People standing around observing activities or people looking through binoculars and taking notes, drawing maps or taking pictures.
- Elicitation: Attempts to gain information about military operations, capabilities, or people. Examples are: being approached at a gas station, mall, airport or library and being asked about the base; getting a fax, e-mail or telephone call asking for troop strength, the number of airplanes on base, deployment procedures, how a trash-collection truck gets on base, the location of the headquarters building or other information.
- Tests of security: A person grabs the base fence and shakes it to see how long it takes for police to respond. A driver approaches the front gate (without ID or a car sticker) and pretends to be lost or to have taken a wrong turn just to learn the procedures of how he or she is dealt with and how far into the gate he or she can get before being turned around. A person places a "smoke bomb" near the fence or throws it over the fence to learn how quickly police respond, and what effect it has on front gate operations.
- Acquiring supplies: This includes noticing the movement or acquisition of any of the tools terrorists use, such as fake IDs, guns, ammunition, military uniforms, explosives, detonators or timers.
- Suspicious people who don't belong: This is hard to define, but people know what looks right and what doesn't. If a person just doesn't seem like he or she belongs, there's probably a reason.
- Dry run: People moving around from place to place without any apparent purpose and doing it, perhaps, many times. That may involve taking notes and timing things. An example is the 9/11 hijackers, who are now known to have actually flown on those exact flights several times before actually crashing them. Their purpose was to practice getting their people in position, working out arrival times, parking, ticketing, going through security, boarding and other processes. By taking note of everything around them, they were conducting surveillance, but they were also doing a dry run.
- Deploying assets: 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, and/or parking that vehicle somewhere, or people in military uniforms (who don't look right) approaching an installation or getting into a vehicle, or people who seem out of place standing by at a certain location as if waiting for something to happen.
For more information on the AFOSI Eagle Eyes program, visit http://www.osi.af.mil/Home/Eagle-Eyes/.