United States Air Force Office of Special Investigations

Air Force Office of Special Investigations
Abbreviation	AFOSI or OSI
Air Force Office of Special Investigations emblem
Badge of the Air Force Office of Special Investigations
Motto	The Eyes of the Eagle
Agency overview
Formed	August 1, 1948
Employees	2,900 (2007)
Legal personality	Governmental: Government agency
Jurisdictional structure
Federal agency	United States
General nature	Federal law enforcement Military provost
Operational structure
Headquarters	Marine Corps Base Quantico, Virginia
Agency executive	Brigadier General Kevin J. Jacobsen
Parent agency	Department of the Air Force
Units	Several Threat detection Criminal Investigations Technology protection Defense Cyber Crime Center Antiterrorism
Regions	8
Website
www.osi.andrews.af.mil

The United States Air Force Office of Special Investigations (AFOSI, or OSI), is a U.S. federal law enforcement agency that reports directly to the Office of the Secretary of the Air Force. Operating worldwide, AFOSI provides independent criminal investigative, counterintelligence and protective service operations outside of the traditional military chain of command. AFOSI proactively identifies, investigates and neutralizes, serious criminal, terrorist, and espionage threats to personnel and resources of the U.S. Air Force and the Department of Defense, thereby protecting the national security of the United States.

Overview

AFOSI was founded August 1, 1948, at the suggestion of Congress to consolidate investigative activities in the Air Force. Secretary of the Air Force W. Stuart Symington created AFOSI and patterned it after the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). He appointed Special Agent Joseph Carroll, a senior FBI official and assistant to FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, as the first AFOSI commander and charged him with providing independent, unbiased and centrally directed investigations of criminal activity in the Air Force who later became the first director of the Defense Intelligence Agency. As of 2007, the AFOSI has 2,900 employees. After pilot training, OSI remains the second-most requested career choice in the U.S. Air Force. AFOSI capabilities:

• Protect critical technologies and information
• Detect and mitigate threats
• Provide global specialized services
• Conduct major criminal investigations
• Engage foreign adversaries and threats offensively

OSI's Cornerstone is to vigorously solve crime; protect secrets; warn of threats; exploit intelligence opportunities; operate in cyber.

Organization

In addition to the OSI headquarters at Quantico, Virginia, AFOSI has eight field investigations regions. Seven of the Regions are aligned with Air Force major commands:

• Region 1 with Air Force Materiel Command
• Region 2 with Air Combat Command
• Region 3 with Air Mobility Command
• Region 4 with Air Education and Training Command
• Region 5 with United States Air Forces in Europe
• Region 6 with Pacific Air Forces
• Region 7 with the Office of the Secretary of the Air Force
• Region 8 with Air Force Space Command

While the regions serve the investigative needs of those aligned major commands, all AFOSI units and personnel remain independent of those commands. In the OSI chains of command each region is directly under the AFOSI Headquarters. Such organizational independence is intended to ensure unbiased investigations.

The single region not aligned with a major command is Region 7, the mission of which is to provide counter-intelligence and security-program management for special access programs under the Office of the Secretary of the Air Force.

At the regional level are subordinate units called field investigations squadrons, detachments, and operating locations. There are more than 160 AFOSI units worldwide including Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Iraq, Afghanistan and other Middle East locations.

Operations

Several OSI agents at a US Air Force base.

Threat detection

AFOSI manages offensive and defensive activities to detect, counter and destroy the effectiveness of hostile intelligence services and terrorist groups that target the Air Force. These efforts include investigating the crimes of espionage, terrorism, technology transfer and computer infiltration. This mission aspect also includes providing personal protection to senior Air Force leaders and other officials, as well as supervising an extensive antiterrorism program in geographic areas of heightened terrorist activity.

Criminal Investigations

The vast majority of AFOSI's investigative activities pertain to felony crimes including murder, robbery, rape, assault, major burglaries, drug use and trafficking, sex offenses, arson, black market activities, and other serious criminal activities.

Economic crime investigations

A significant amount of AFOSI investigative resources are assigned to fraud (or economic crime) investigations. These include violations of the public trust involving Air Force contracting matters, appropriated and nonappropriated funds activities, computer systems, pay and allowance matters, environmental matters, acquiring and disposing of Air Force property, and major administrative irregularities. AFOSI uses fraud surveys to determine the existence, location and extent of fraud in Air Force operations or programs. It also provides briefings to base and command-level resource managers to help identify and prevent fraud involving Air Force or DOD resources.

An AFOSI interview.

Information Operations

The Air Force is now countering a global security threat to our information systems. Our role in support of Information Operations recognizes future threats to the Air Force, and our response to these threats, will occur in cyberspace. AFOSI's support to Information Operations comes in many facets. AFOSI's computer crime investigators provide rapid worldwide response to intrusions into Air Force systems.

Technology Protection

The desires of potential adversaries to acquire or mimic the technological advances of the U.S. Air Force have heightened the need to protect critical Air Force technologies and collateral data. The AFOSI Research and Technology Protection Program provides focused, comprehensive counterintelligence and core mission investigative services to safeguard Air Force technologies, programs, critical program information, personnel and facilities.

Specialized Services

AFOSI has numerous specialists who are invaluable in the successful resolution of investigations. They include technical specialists, polygraphers, behavioral scientists, computer experts and forensic advisers.

Defense Cyber Crime Center

The Defense Cyber Crime Center (DC3) was established as an organic entity within the Air Force Office of Special Investigations in 1998. DC3 provides digital and multimedia forensics, cyber investigative training, research, development, test and evaluation, and cyber analytics for the following DoD mission areas: information assurance and critical infrastructure protection, law enforcement and counterintelligence, document and media exploitation, and counterterrorism. DC3 is a national cyber center and serves as the operational focal point for the Defense Industrial Base Cybersecurity and Information Assurance Program (DIB CS/IA Program).

AFOSI and Operation Urgent Fury

Operation Urgent Fury marked the largest American military action since the end of the Vietnam War in 1975, and for most of the AFOSI personnel who participated it marked their first combat-related deployment ever. During the operation, a total of 28 AFOSI personnel deployed to locations that included Grenada, Puerto Rico, Barbados, Antigua, Florida and North Carolina.

Some AFOSI personnel deployed on little as a 24-hour notice, many without the ability to tell their families exactly where they were going, not necessarily due to operational security, but due to the fact that they themselves were not immediately aware. Others deployed without the approved battle dress uniforms having to borrow those from military members at the stateside bases where they worked.

Despite these initial challenges, these Special Agents did what Special Agents do best and they improvised solutions to the problems they faced, all the while remaining mission focused. Arriving in country with no transportation and no communication tools, they acquired vehicles and radios. Some of these resources were obtained through the AFOSI chain of command back in the U.S., while many of the resources were garnered locally through military channels or on the ground by personal ingenuity. The latter included salvaging parts from inoperable vehicles and communications equipment to keep AFOSI resources operational.

The reasons they were successful, as one agent put it: “Everyone had enough nerve, common sense, and perhaps overblown self-confidence to take it on.”

Once combat operations began, Headquarters AFOSI, Operating Location-G was established in a command post that was adjacent to the U.S. Embassy in St. George.The primary job of Special Agents deploying to Grenada was to provide tactical counterintelligence support to the various Air Force elements involved in the operation. During Operation Urgent Fury, Air Force aircraft and personnel conducted a wide range of missions, including reconnaissance, close air support, troop and cargo delivery, casualty and evacuee transportation, air refueling, psychological warfare, communications and air traffic control.

Special Agents established an area source network with local business and community leaders in country, conducted surveys of airports, hotels, restaurants, shopping areas and shipping and port facilities across the island, and collected and reported information on potential threats. Special Agents coordinated their collection and information sharing efforts regularly with Air Force Security Police, Army Military Intelligence and Central Intelligence Agency officers.

Throughout the region, Special Agents provided multiple daily briefings to on-scene Air Force and ground defense commanders and other senior military leaders keeping them informed of real-time conditions. The Air Force is dependent upon an airbase as its primary operating location. The survivability of that base is paramount. The physical task to defend a base rests with the security police air base ground defense forces. Administrative support personnel who deployed to Grenada supported operations by establishing files, preparing and releasing messages, operating communications equipment, and securing equipment and vehicles for Special Agent use in the field.

The combat phase of Operation Urgent Fury was completed on Nov. 2. AFOSI personnel remained in country until Dec. 15. AFOSI operations in Grenada lasted for 50 days, with an overall total of eight Special Agents and four administrative support personnel deployed to the island at one time or another. With the departure of the last AFOSI personnel from Grenada, Headquarters AFOSI, Operating Location-G was inactivated. By the conclusion of operations, Air Force aircraft safely returned more than 6,000 military personnel to home stations and transported more than 700 American medical students and other American citizens to the United States, all protected and guided by AFOSI efforts.

As a command, there were several lessons learned by AFOSI during Operation Urgent Fury which were later applied to future operations. Many of the deployed agents credited prior participation in exercises for helping them to prepare for real-world operations. [x]

Task Force Black

OSI special agents are well known for providing criminal investigations and counterintelligence support at Department of the Air Force bases around the world. However, OSI’s charter also provides warfighting support in deployed theaters of operation, including Afghanistan.

From executing CI support to force protection, OSI special agents in deployed theaters find, fix, and neutralize hostile adversaries targeting Air Force expeditionary bases, helping to “keep the airfield green” and ensuring freedom of movement for vital Air Force equipment and personnel.

One of OSI’s flagship units conducting that pivotal mission was EDet 2413. The unit was a true Task Force, combining the efforts and expertise of OSI Special Agents, intelligence specialists, Air Force Security Forces, linguists, and Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance operators. [x]

Mission

As the U.S. and NATO allies and partners realign mission focus in southern Afghanistan, OSI ends an era. Task Force Black (TFB), also known as Expeditionary Detachment (EDet) 2413, has reached its End of Mission.

TFB began as an Operating Location (OL) to EDet 2405 Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan in 2005. The need for the OL to become its own detachment was quickly recognized, and EDet 2413 was stood up in 2008.

Early members of EDet 2413 worked tirelessly to mold a lethal collection team capable of interoperability with U.S. and allied forces to maximum effect. This dogged effort drew attention from the battle space owner, after the capture of a high value target (HVT) utilizing partner-country special operations forces, resulting in long term custody. This tradition of flexibility and outside the box thinking continued to manifest itself when EDet 2413 helped secure two of the largest drug seizures in history, conducted jointly with the Drug Enforcement Agency and attached U.S. Special Forces.

EDet 2413 solidified a respected and self-executing mission capability unrivaled at the time. It took large steps toward normalizing OSI operations throughout southern Afghanistan with both inside- and outside-the-wire operations. These steps led to EDet 2413 officially becoming Task Force Black in 2009, which institutionalized the revered Tactical Security Element (TSE) Defenders, forever changing the way TFB did business.  

In 2013, TFB realized it was outgrowing its support capabilities and worked with the 24th Expeditionary Field Investigations Squadron (24 EFIS) at Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar, to secure dedicated intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance assets. A robust ISR team quickly followed these developments, cementing TFB as an unstoppable OSI Task Force.

TFB made the protection of the airfield, and everyone on it, their sole purpose in life, carried out in the most professional way. Throughout its history, TFB assisted Afghan partners to respond to countless rocket and mortar attacks, complex ground assaults, improvised explosive device ambushes, while pursuing those who wanted to defraud the airfield and limit wartime capabilities.

TFB is responsible for the destruction of thousands of tons of explosives, ammunition and weapons used by the enemy. TFB is also responsible for countless HVT neutralizations. TFB often supported partners to ensure overall success of not just the war effort, but also the reconstruction effort of Afghanistan. Throughout its storied history, TFB tallied thousands of outside-the-wire missions, resulting in countless intelligence reports given to the Intelligence Community and battlespace owners. [X]

EDet 2413/Task Force Black also known as “Lucky 13.”

The Task Force Black team worked together with joint, Afghan, and international partners to identify, deter, and stop threats to Kandahar Airfield. Operating both on and off-the installation, Task Force Black personnel supported Afghan partners in enforcing Afghan law and deterring terrorism.

Through their efforts, Task Force Black provided commanders with a better understanding of the local area and local threats. In cooperation with international partners also working to ensure the stability and rule of law in Afghanistan, Task Force Black forged and furthered operational cooperation to safeguard the local battlespace from terrorism.

Upon mission stand-down, Task Force Black handed off their Force Protection responsibilities, ensuring that key U.S., Allied and Afghan missions continue securely and efficiently.

For 19 years, Task Force Black proudly represented the best of what OSI brings to the fight. [x]

Training and physical requirements

All new AFOSI special agent recruits—whether officer, enlisted or civilian—receive their entry-level training at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in Glynco, Georgia. The training requires that each recruit meet physical requirements that are located on the FLETC web site at www.fletc.gov. The candidates attend a mandatory, 11-week Criminal Investigator Training Program with other federal law enforcement trainees. That course is followed by seven weeks of AFOSI agency-specific coursework. Both courses offer new agents training in firearms and other weapons, defensive tactics, forensics, surveillance and surveillance detection, antiterrorism techniques, crime scene processing, interrogations and interviews, court testimony, and military and federal law. Upon graduation, new AFOSI special agents spend a one-year probationary period in the field. Upon successful completion, some agents receive specialized training in economic crime, antiterrorism service, counterintelligence, computer crimes and other sophisticated criminal investigative capabilities. Others attend 12 weeks of technical training to acquire electronic, photographic and other skills required to perform technical surveillance countermeasures. Experienced agents selected for polygraph duties attend a 14-week DOD course.

Each recruit is expected to participate in each of the following exercises: flexibility, bench press, 1.5-mile (2.4 km) run/walk and agility run. All students are tested to determine their fitness level, and each test is age and gender normed. AFOSI special agents are expected to remain physical fit throughout their employment and must maintain Air Force physical fitness standards as defined by Air Force Instruction (AFI) 36-2905.

Firearms

Air Force OSI agent's primary firearm is the 9×19mm SIG Sauer P228.

Notable Agents

• Arlen Specter, former U.S. Senator for Pennsylvania and OSI special agent
• Herb Bateman, former member of the U.S. House of Representatives for Virginia's 1st congressional district and OSI special agent, who passed away 11 Sept. 2000.

Fallen Agents

During the height of the Iraq & Afghan wars, OSI Special Agents conducted counterintelligence, protective service and force protection operations. These operations involved running sources in combat zones, tracking down IED cells, protecting senior leaders and regular collections "outside the wire." [x] OSI combat deployments resulted in the injury & death of several Special Agents as a result of mortar attacks, IEDS and suicide bombers. Consequently, OSI has had the unfortunate distinction of the highest casualty rate among 1811 agencies during that time-frame.

Seal specifications and symbolism

The light blue shield, directly below a wreath, bears a winged Air Force blue sphere with wings and detail lines in silver (usually depicted as white) between two upright swords that are white with gray (steel) outline and shaded area and gold (yellow) hilts. On the shield above the sphere is a silver (white) lamp of knowledge with a red flame. The white scroll with Air Force yellow lettering located under the shield and the shield are edged in Air Force yellow. The wreath above the shield is made up of six alternate folds of silver (white) and light blue that repeat the metal and color used in the shield.

The light blue field of the shield symbolizes the sky, the primary theater dominating all air activities. The winged Air Force blue sphere indicates OSI's air mission is world-wide. The spreading wings, above the sphere, imply protection of all qualities of virtue underlying the rights of free people. The upright swords symbolize the power of law and order and military justice. The lamp symbolizes light and learning. As in the Air Force seal, the light blue of the wreath represents the sky and the white represents the heraldic metal silver.

As is customary with Air Force heraldry, the emblem has not changed since its inception in 1955. [x]

Interesting OSI Facts

• It was an OSI agent who first alerted Gen. Douglas MacArthur's HQ of the attack from North Korea that began the Korean War in June of 1950.
• OSI welcomes more than 230 new special agents into the organization each year.
• OSI is the second-most requested career-field choice in the Department of the Air Force.

In popular culture

Rosario Dawson fires a M11 pistol at the firing range at Andrews Air Force Base, while researching her role in Eagle Eye

• In the (2008 film) Eagle Eye, actress Rosario Dawson played OSI Special Agent Zoe Perez.
• In the 2013 film Mirage Men, Richard Doty, a retired OSI special agent, played himself in a documentary about the OSI investigation into UFOs between 1952 and 1969.
• In the seventh episode of Season 8 in the (1997 television series) Stargate SG-1, SG-1 team member Teal'c has been given permission to live off-base by the OSI in general, but is subsequently investigated by OSI officer 'Colonel Kendrick' for stopping or otherwise becoming involved with crimes in his neighbourhood.
• In the first episode of Season 2 in the (2013 television series) The Americans, KGB Agents Phillip Jennings (Matthew Rhys) and Emmett Connors posed as "United States Air Force Security Forces" and wore OSI badges.

Books

• "Consequences: An Intelligence Officer's War" (2020) by David Grantham: A riveting, behind-the-scenes account of one man's journey as an intelligence officer with the elite and secretive Air Force Office of Special Investigations at the height of the Iraq War. [9] [10]
• “The Air Force Office of Special Investigations 1948-2000”: This book provides a comprehensive overview of the history and operations of AFOSI from its inception until the year 2000. It covers various missions, including counterintelligence, criminal investigations, and anti-terrorism operations.
• Vin Cooper Series by David Rollins: Although a fictional series, the books follow Vin Cooper, an AFOSI special agent, and offer an exciting and detailed look at Air Force special investigation operations. Some titles in the series include “The Death Trust” and “A Knife Edge”.
• "DOD Investigation Programs: Background Data." Washington, D.C.: United States General Accounting Office, 1989. This book provides background data on U.S. Department of Defense investigation programs, including AFOSI.
• Wilson, William. Dictionary of the United States Intelligence Services: Over 1500 Terms, Programs, and Agencies. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 1996.
• "Inside the FBI: The Air Force Office of Special Investigations (AFOSI) and Counterintelligence" by Lynn White
• "Air Force Office of Special Investigations: Criminal Investigations Division" by Paul G. Robinson
• "Guarding What You Value Most: Air Force Office of Special Investigations" by George W. Layman
• "The Agent and The Sword: U.S. Air Force Office of Special Investigations" by Michael F. Harling
• "Never Forget: The U.S. Air Force Office of Special Investigations in Action" by Michelle R. Brins
• "Eyes and Ears: The Story of the Air Force Office of Special Investigations" by James W. Kotera
• "The Silent Warriors: U.S. Air Force Office of Special Investigations" by Deanne Carpenter
• "Honor and Duty: A History of the Air Force Office of Special Investigations" by Richard J. Burke.
• The Hobbyshop Boys: A Story of Technical Agents In The Air Force Office Of Special Investigations by Jack Dyer
• National Security Letters: Air Force Office of Special Investigations National Security Letters: Air Force Office of Special Investigations by The Office of the Secretary of Defense
• Operation Provide Comfort; Review of U.S. Air Force Investigation of Black Hawk Fratricide Incident by GENERAL ACCOUNTING OFFICE WASHINGTON DC OFFICE OF SPECIAL INVESTIGATIONS
• AFOSI (Air Force Office Special Investigations), Friend or Foe? Some Psychological Causes and Recommendations by George M. McKee
• 21st Century Guide to the U.S. Air Force Office of Special Investigations (AFOSI) and Military Intelligence (electronic book) by Department of Defense (Author)
• Training of special agent IMAs assigned to the Air Force Office of Special Investigations: An empirical analysis (Research report) by James R Giermanski
• Abduction of Scorpion 6 by David Jones
• Volunteers: The Betrayal of National Defense Secrets by Air Force Traitors by David J Crawford
• The Air Force, OSI (SuDoc D 301.2:IN 8/5) by U.S. Dept of Defense
• Series Guardians of Rockport by David Jones
• Windows on a War: The Korean War as Seen by Peter Koerner, USAF, 1950-1953 Windows on a War: The Korean War as Seen by Peter Koerner, USAF, 1950-1953 by Peter Koerner and Mark Koerner
• Background To War by Arlan Kinney
• Desert Justice by Robert Solem

Links

• Air Force Office of Special Investigations. <Home> .
• Association of Former OSI Special Agents <Afosisa>

See also

• List of United States federal law enforcement agencies

Military Criminal Investigative Organizations

• United States Army Criminal Investigation Command (USACIDC or CID)
• United States Army Counterintelligence (USAI or CI)
• Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS)

Air Force

• Judge Advocate General's Corps, U.S. Air Force
• U.S. Air Force Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Agency

Federal law enforcement

• Special agent
• U.S. Diplomatic Security Service (DSS)--State Department
• Coast Guard Investigative Service (CGIS)
• Criminal Investigation Task Force (CITF)

External links

• Official website
• Official factsheet
• AFOSI Unit Locations