AFOSI assists personnel traveling abroad via AF Portal

  • Published
  • By Special Agent Kristen Gaulin
  • Air Force Office of Special Investigations Detachment 102
HANSCOM AIR FORCE BASE, Mass. --  All Defense Department personnel can be the target of a foreign intelligence or security service at any time and any place; however, the possibility of becoming the target of foreign intelligence activities is greater while traveling overseas. To manage that threat, the Air Force Office of Special Investigations has created foreign travel training through the AF Portal to mitigate that risk.

Foreign intelligence services have better access to you while overseas and their actions are not restricted within their own country's borders. Understanding this, the Air Force Office of Special Investigations, or AFOSI, has streamlined the foreign travel briefing program to better serve active duty Air Force Airmen and Department of the Air Force civilian employees. These programs include foreign travel pre-brief and de-brief surveys and a streamlined process in reporting foreign travel and obtaining an AFOSI foreign travel briefing.

Personnel who travel to overseas locations shall receive foreign intelligence threat briefings and anti-terrorism briefings from AFOSI prior to their departure.

"Previously, organizations at individual installations would monitor, report and produce internal guidance on foreign travel and complete briefings for those personnel traveling abroad," said Special Agent Peter Van Damme, AFOSI Field Investigative Region 2. "As we communicated with those units, it was apparent the process was not designed to deal with the amount of foreign travel conducted by base personnel. Since AFOSI is chartered to provide foreign travel pre- and de-brief services to protect service members, Air Force technology and Department of Defense assets, we decided to develop a better process."

AFOSI collaborated with Headquarters Air Force to develop a web-based interface accessible through the Air Force Portal. Joint efforts resulted in an unclassified foreign travel pre-brief slide presentation; unclassified pre-brief survey; unclassified de-brief survey and the AFOSI Foreign Travel Guide that can be easily accessed through the Air Force Portal. In addition, the site provides access to key websites in support of travel.

For any Air Force employee who has access to Critically Protected Information (CPI) or Sensitive Compartmentalized Information (SCI), an in-person briefing with AFOSI for foreign travel must be scheduled prior to both official and personal travel.

For any DoD civilian or contractor without access to CPI or SCI, additional training for personal travel is not required. Threats to Air Force personnel are ever-changing and utilizing the pre-brief and de-brief survey allows AFOSI to review data and determine the most appropriate forum for a briefing given current threat postures regarding specific travel destinations.

"The surveys are vital in protecting Air Force personnel and resources and it is extremely important that these surveys are completed each time you travel abroad," said Van Damme. "Exceptions may apply. An example would be if you have multiple overseas travels in a short time frame, then you could include all locations into one pre- and post-survey."

The survey program was developed with the safety of all Air Force employees in mind, military and civilian, as well as protecting Air Force technology and resources. The first step in successfully defending against a threat is to understand the threat. These surveys are a first step in allowing AFOSI to effectively and efficiently ensure personnel are properly briefed based upon current threat postures.

Members of Team Hanscom have completed similar training via the HanscomNet in the past and now the training has changed to the AF Portal. If the link is clicked for foreign travel surveys on HanscomNet, employees will automatically be redirected to the travel surveys on the AF Portal.

The new foreign travel program can be found on the Air Force Portal at https://www.my.af.mil/gcssaf/USAF/ep/globalTab.do?channelPageId=s88B4F00B2D70DF4E012DBE0975FE0BAB) or by typing in "foreign travel" within the portal search filed to locate the webpage.

For further information contact the AFOSI office at 781-225-5861.

Editor's note: Information contained in this article came from AFOSI Field Investigative Region 2