See something, say something

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Cody Dowell
  • Altus Air Force Base Public Affairs
ALTUS AIR FORCE BASE, Oklahoma --  Deterring and detecting illegal or terrorist activity is a daily responsibility for the Anti-Terrorism Office of Altus Air Force Base, Oklahoma.

The ATO handles anything relating to terrorism and security vulnerabilities and aims to stop terrorist related activity before it is able to be planned and executed.

“An attack could happen in a million different ways, so I’m here to look in areas where it could happen,” said U.S. Air Force Tech. Sgt. Bob Willoughby, 97th Security Forces Squadron anti-terrorism program manager. “I have to get my brain in the mindset of seeing vulnerabilities and how terrorists could exploit them, then take measures to fix them.”

Stopping the bases enemies from exploiting any weakness is the sole reason that the ATO is implemented on bases.

“It’s a whole different world we live in,” said Willoughby. “You need to have someone concentrating completely on where the threat could come from and where someone wouldn’t expect it to come from.”

The ATO also assesses potential vulnerabilities for large events that involve the military.

“We do vulnerability assessments for big events with checklists and subject matter experts,” said Willoughby. “For instance, the air show that we are holding; big events like that will draw large crowds so we must make sure that the base and its visitors are not vulnerable to an attack.”

Two people from every group on base work with the ATO as group anti-terrorism monitors. They track preparedness of base residents by preforming exercises throughout the year called Random Anti-terrorism Measures.

"As the operations group Anti-terrorism Monitor I disseminate threat information to each squadron's facility managers and ensure they conduct their RAM," said U.S Air Force Tech. Sgt. Marcus Cripe, 97th Operations Support Squadron, intel's chief of standardizations and evaluation. "We also conduct quarterly exercises which consist of single-point entry events and active shooter scenarios."

Though the ATO might not be stopping or hearing about a potential terrorist attack every day, they are actively scanning and preparing in case one does. Just like the saying goes “no news is good news”.

“The biggest achievement at the end of the day is that nothing happened,” said Willoughby. “That’s a big thing with this office, security forces and other organizations. Doing a good job means nothing happened and it’s hard to quantify that. We don’t get credit for stopping terrorist attacks, we make sure that they never happen in the first place.”

People are the most important factor when it comes to stopping events before they take place because the Airmen defending the base can only be in so many places at one time.

“A phone call could be the deciding factor between stopping a terrorist attack and watching one happen,” said Willoughby. “Many times when an attack happens people say that they saw suspicious activity and didn’t report it.”

If you see something suspicious or out of the ordinary, say something. To report suspicious activity or for questions, call the Anti-Terrorism Office at (580)481-7350.