Important strategic steps by OSI support USAF and USSF

  • Published
  • By Special Agent Jude R. Sunderbruch
  • OSI Executive Director

The establishment of the United States Space Force offers important opportunities for the country, the personnel who will transfer to the new service, and those elements of the Air Force that will support it. The Space Force will receive criminal investigative and counterintelligence support from the Office of Special Investigations (OSI), which is well-postured to serve as an enduring partner of this new service.

 

For decades, OSI’s 8th Field Investigations Region, along with other OSI units, has supported installations and units focused on space. This region will remain the foundation of OSI’s support to the Space Force. OSI also maintains partnerships with Strategic Command, the Missile Defense Agency, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). As the Space Force evolves, OSI will forge additional partnerships as needed to support the new military service, while maintaining our commitments to the Air Force and Joint partners. These efforts will be aided by two recent decisions by the OSI Commander.

 

First, OSI is developing a new, structured partner engagement team at Headquarters OSI. Tentatively expected to be a new HQ directorate, the partner engagement team will consolidate most national-level liaison officers and detailees under a unified chain of command. This will replace the current system, in which OSI personnel assigned to the same partner agency may report back to different parts of OSI.

 

Personnel expected to transfer to the new team include those at the headquarters of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Intelligence Community, and most combatant commands. Field personnel in Joint Terrorism Task Forces and some personnel abroad will remain under current administrative structures, though the partner engagement team will synchronize their efforts. This new approach will simplify efforts for field OSI units to identify the best points of entry for partners in other agencies, and internationally.

 

Personnel assigned outside of OSI will be integrated into teams based on the agency where they serve (such as FBI) or functional alignment (such as cyber). This will help OSI to speak with one voice about priorities and to quickly take advantage of partnership opportunities. This approach will also allow OSI to organize groups of personnel from around the globe to meet the emerging needs from partners, such as the Space Force.

 

Second, OSI is developing a new, comprehensive OSI Cyber Strategy. It will provide a road map to better support field units with new investigative tools, facilitate new partnerships with Air Force and Space Force, and strengthen OSI’s efforts to work with Air Force, Joint and interagency partners on cyber operations.

 

The coming years present extraordinary opportunities for the Air Force and the Space Force, and OSI is proud to evolve to meet new mission requirements.