A day in the life of Barksdale AFB OSI agents

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Micaiah Anthony
  • 2nd Bomb Wing Public Affairs
OSI HQ QUANTICO, Va. --  Air Force Office of Special Investigations agents around the world conduct a variety of services in support of the Air Force; Barksdale Air Force Base, La. agents are no different.

But, because of the often secretive nature of OSI's work, there might be some misconceptions about the mission.

"We have certain duties that we can't let everyone know about," said Special Agent Robert Binns, AFOSI Detachment 219, Barksdale AFB. "If we did, it could give the bad guys a cue on what we are doing. We are simply criminal investigators and our main focus is counter intelligence and force protection."

OSI has career fields or areas of specialties similar to other major criminal investigation agencies.

"We have investigating agents, calligraphers, polygraph agents, cyber investigators, technical agents that work with electronic surveillance and forensic science consultants," Binns said.

OSI's mission is to identify, exploit and neutralize criminal, terrorist and intelligence threats to the Air Force, Department of Defense and U.S. government.

"In the big picture, we can investigate anything in DoD," Binns said. "If a civilian off base tries to target or sell drugs to an Airman, we can run an investigation on them with local authorities."

Det. 219's mission can take them far beyond the local Barksdale area.

"We cover 42 parishes in Louisiana and 41 counties in eastern Texas, so we have a very large area of responsibility," said Special Agent Bill Messina, Det. 219 special agent in charge. "It's not just Barksdale Airmen that we support either, we support all Air Force assets."

Due to the detachment's large jurisdiction, working with other law enforcement agencies is vital.

"We work with security forces, local police departments, the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Agency, the Joint Terrorism Task Force, Internet Crimes against Children, the U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement - pretty much any law enforcement agency," Messina said.

Airmen and their families all around the world can help keep their bases safe by reporting any suspicious activity through the Eagle Eyes program.

"If we get help from everyone on base we would have roughly 17,000 pairs of eyes to help us identify threats," Binns said. "If you see something, report it. Don't think that any information is insignificant because it may be the piece of the puzzle we need."