http://www.enidnews.com/localnews/local_story_210235627.html By Jeff Mullin Senior Writer July 29, 2006 They look like guys you might see in any office, dressed casually in slacks and polo shirts. But these are no ordinary young men. They serve in the Air Force but wear no uniforms and are referred to by no rank. Their rank, in fact, is kept secret. Describing their job is not easy. Take a big dose of the FBI, mix in a bit of CSI and the Secret Service, with a touch of Special Forces and even the CIA mixed in, and that begins to outline the duties of the men and women of the Air Force Office of Special Investigation. The OSI office at Vance Air Force Base is led by Special Agent in Charge Chris Levendosky. He is assisted by Special Agent Dominick Tripodi. "Each detachment you go to, the mission's unique," said Levendosky, who recently came to Vance after an assignment on Guam. Vance's OSI office primarily focuses on criminal investigations, one of the service's four priorities. The others are detecting threats to the Air Force, combatting computer crime and deterring fraud in Air Force operations or programs. OSI agents investigate mostly felonies within the Air Force, crimes like murder, robbery, rape, drug use and drug trafficking. "That's what differentiates us from the mission that Security Forces have," said Levendosky. "We investigate anything that is to the level of a felony crime." OSI's jurisdiction includes anyone who falls under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, and everyone on federal exclusive property, which includes many areas of Vance. OSI agents have apprehension power within the Air Force. If a civilian suspect is involved, lo-cal, state or federal law enforcement agencies are called in. An OSI special agent's job is obtaining, to quote the old "Dragnet" TV show, "just the facts." "We're not out to find guilty or innocent, we're just out to find the facts and do what it takes to get to the facts," said Tripodi. Once the investigation is complete, the facts are given to the Staff Judge Advocate's office for possible prosecution. Vance's OSI office works closely with the 71st Security Forces Squadron, as well as local and state law enforcement agencies. An Enid Police Department seal hangs on the wall of the OSI conference room, in fact, a testament to the close relationship between OSI and local police. "On a scale of one to 10, it's a 10," said Tripodi. "They are just a phone call away whenever we need something and vice versa. As soon as they get something that affects us, they'll call us, no matter what time of day it is. If we have something we need their help with, we call them, and they come right out." Like the FBI, OSI is a crime-fighting organization. And as the FBI has its own list of the 10 most wanted criminals in the nation, the OSI has its own most wanted list of Air Force deserters and fugitives. Fugitives are deserters who also are charged with a felony. The CSI, or crime scene investigation, piece of the OSI comes through its eight field investigation regions. The field investigation region affiliated with Vance's OSI office, region four, is aligned with Air Education and Training Command located at Randolph Air Force Base in San Antonio. "We have forensic support at our various regions," said Levendosky. Each region has technical agents who possess skills such as covert audio and video surveillance, lock picking and vehicle tracking, as well as polygraph examiners and behavioral scientists. "Any crimes we investigate where we need those services, it's a phone call away," said Levendosky. As the Secret Service helps keep the president safe, OSI provides protective services for senior Air Force leaders, like the Secretary of the Air Force and Air Force Chief of Staff, when they travel. During President Bush's brief visit to Vance in May, Tripodi partnered with a Secret Service agent and shadowed the president during his meet-and-greet session on base. OSI's more than 2,500 personnel include active-duty troops, as well as members of the Air Force Reserve and civilians. Of those, nearly 2,000 are agents, while the rest are support personnel. Active-duty OSI troops come from the ranks of both officers and enlisted. "We have a wide variety coming from all different career fields," said Levendosky. OSI welcomes more than 230 new special agents each year. Recruits go through 11 weeks of training in the Criminal Investigator Training Program. This includes basic law enforcement training and is followed by eight weeks of course work specific to OSI. Training takes place at the U.S. Air Force Special Investigations Academy on the grounds of the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in Glynco, Ga. Agents never wear uniforms, sticking instead to more casual attire. "We don't wear uniforms because of the mission we're completing and the work we do with the local and state agencies," said Levendosky. OSI was formed in 1948 by then-Air Force Secretary Stuart Symington and patterned after the FBI. An OSI agent alerted Gen. Douglas MacArthur about the attack from North Korea that sparked the Korean war in 1950. Among Air Force officers, according to OSI's Public Affairs office, OSI is the second-most requested career field, only behind becoming a pilot. Levendosky joined OSI because of a longtime interest in law enforcement. "It's a career field where I feel we're making a difference, every day," he said. "It's a great opportunity for agents within the career field to get involved in a lot of different areas." It also, said Tripodi, is a job with no ordinary days. "Every day is something different," said Tripodi. "You can't really keep a calendar because you don't know what's going to happen. The phone could ring right now and we'd have to go out somewhere.' OSI special agents are deployed throughout the world, including hot spots like Iraq and Afghanistan. "Typically the mission over there is more of a force protection role," said Levendosky, "to get advanced warning of attacks." OSI is not without its dangers. In the service's 58-year history, there have been four agents killed. The most recent was Special Agent Rick Ulbright, who died from wounds suffered in a rocket attack in August 2004 in Iraq. _________________________________ Attend the Black Hat Briefings and Training, Las Vegas July 29 - August 3 2,500+ international security experts from 40 nations, 10 tracks, no vendor pitches. www.blackhat.com
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