Gate interdiction operation

  • Published
  • By James C. Dillard
  • Headquarters, Air Force Office of Special Investigations
SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill --  On a recent chilly Friday evening, Det. 301 arrived shortly before midnight at the Scott Air Force Base main gates to conduct a gate interdiction operation.

The operation was conducted in conjunction with the Scott AFB Drug Demand Reduction office. Every active duty member, regardless of service, was required to provide a urine sample after their vehicle was searched.

To help ensure OPSEC, each person was also given a written lawful orderfrom the wing commander stating that they were to cease any communications in reference to the gate interdiction operation.

Special Agent Gary Meek, the agent in charge of the operation, said one of the most important components of this task was preplanning.

"Since AFOSI was the lead agency in preparing for the interdiction, we were responsible for all the coordination and planning," he said. "This consisted of a majority of planning being done at last
minute for OPSEC purposes."

Det. 301 utilized the Demand Reduction staff (for urinalysis), securityforces, six first sergeants, the legal office and members of the wing staff, all working together to ensure the operation went as smoothly as possible.

"Getting everyone on board for such an event was a daunting task," SA Meek said.

There was a pre-brief to the operation at 10:30 p.m. The aforementioned offices attended, along with the wing commander and command chief.

"We highlighted to them that this was a joint total force Scott operation," said SA John Nottestad, Det. 301 commander.

"AFOSI helped coordinate it, but this was a team effort by all the various law enforcement and force protection agencies of the installation."

Each gate had five special agents and one SFS investigator, along with two regular SFS members to help with the searches. One K-9 unit moved between the two gates as necessary.

"We began searching every vehicle that came through Scott's vehicle entry gates," SA Nottestad said. "We do not know how many vehicles we searched, but it was well over a hundred, based on
the number of active duty members directed to submit to urinalysis testing, which was 97."

There were no DUIs recorded and none of the urinalysis tests came back positive for illegal narcotics. Plus, none of the searches turned up any firearms or illegal narcotics.

"I thought this operation went exceptionally well," said SA Brad Maxwell, Det. 301 superintendent. "We had outstanding support from the 1st Sergeants Group, which gave us a huge in with the
multiple units here on Scott AFB. This became especially important when dealing with the Army, Navy and Marine units here on Scott. By utilizing this resource of high-ranking first sergeants, it virtually eliminated any problems that might arise during the operation with potential objection to submit to the urinalysis or vehicle search."

Special Agent Maxwell also said that getting the base command chief on board with the operation early is key to its success, as there are many issues that they can help resolve.

"The other thing I would suggest would be to encourage the host base unit to run this operation and have AF OSI as a supporting agency," he said. "Scott had not done this type of operation in more
than four years, so to get the operation moving, Det. 301 took the lead to demonstrate how to effectively perform this so the Wing could handle it in the future.

Detachment 301 also received some useful local intelligence, as a side benefit to the operation.

"Every vehicle we stopped, the natural question to the driver and passengers was, 'Where are you coming from tonight?'" SA Nottestad said. "We learned of a new night spot where the young military members are spending their time. This goes to support our narcotics and criminal threat assessment."

As with any other operation, several challenges presented themselves through the evening.

"Our most challenging hurdle came with our priority on-base personnel that requested to be released from the urinalysis requirement for work purposes," SA Meek said. "We simply told them that it was a mandatory appointment, and that they had 30 minutes to alert their duty section that they would not be returning on time. If there were any more issues, they could bring it to the attention of their first sergeant, who was waiting for them at Demand Reduction."