KAISERSLAUTERN, Germany –
In an official letter to the Army workforce, Secretary of the Army Christine Wormuth reminded everyone to maintain vigilance at home and overseas in order to combat terrorism, extremism, insider threats and to address cybersecurity vulnerabilities.
For the more than 6,000 Soldiers, Army civilians, local national employees and contractors assigned to the 405th Army Field Support Brigade, their home is overseas – making it extremely important to remain vigilant and to maintain a robust threat awareness posture in order to deter, detect and mitigate risks.
August is the Army’s 12th annual observance of Antiterrorism Awareness Month, and the 405th AFSB has taken this opportunity to remind its employees that being aware and vigilant of possible threats is important every day.
“We want to take this opportunity – Antiterrorism Awareness Month – and instill a heightened awareness and vigilance in our entire workforce to help prevent terrorist attacks and protect resources from acts of terrorism and extremism,” said Cpt. Ashley Dailey, the 405th AFSB protection branch operations chief.
“Our end state? We want our Soldiers, Army civilians, local nationals, contractors and all their families to understand the key antiterrorism concepts, principles, responsibilities, protection measures and suspicious activity reporting procedures, and we want to strengthen military, civilian and host nation partnerships focused on preventing terrorist attacks,” Dailey said.
In her letter, Wormuth said lessons learned from past terrorist and extremist attacks reveal that one or more bystanders observed pre-attack indicators but failed to report them to law enforcement authorities. The success of Army-wide threat awareness and reporting depends on our entire team knowing what, when and how to report suspicious activities or behaviors. Tips from the public remain one of law enforcement's most powerful tools to combat these threats.
Cybersecurity is also an important component of Army readiness. Cybersecurity attacks persistently target U.S. and partner-nation critical infrastructure and have the potential to negatively impact Army missions.
Cybersecurity awareness and training are vital to building a culture of security, critical to protecting information in telework-centric environments, and key in ensuring warfighter readiness, Wormuth stated in her letter. Army leaders at all levels, in all components, must understand cybersecurity and enforce its protection standards in every aspect of the Army's operations.
Being aware and reporting concerns can help identify and prevent threats to national security and to the host nations. There are some things everyone can do to help prevent terrorism:
- Be observant and attentive
- Remember details about people, places, conversations and vehicles
- Report concerns to authorities – installation military police, local police or Army CID Crime Tips: www.cid.army.mil/report-a-crime.html
How to report – iSALUTE: www.inscom.army.mil/isalute. When reporting something, remember the acronym SALUTE. Tell authorities the:
- Size (number and types)
- Activity (what is suspicious)
- Location (address, vicinity)
- Unit (what unit they belong to; markings/insignia)
- Time (what day and time observed)
- Equipment (weapons, vehicles, communications)
The 405th AFSB is assigned to U.S. Army Sustainment Command and under the operational control of the 21st Theater Sustainment Command, U.S. Army Europe and Africa. The brigade is headquartered in Kaiserslautern, Germany, and provides materiel enterprise support to U.S. Forces throughout Europe and Africa – providing theater sustainment logistics; synchronizing acquisition, logistics and technology; and leveraging U.S. Army Materiel Command’s materiel enterprise to support joint forces. For more information on the 405th AFSB, visit the official website at www.afsbeurope.army.mil and the official Facebook site at www.facebook.com/405thAFSB.
(Portions of this article came from an Army News article by Christine Mitchell from the U.S. Army Material Command Public Affairs Office and localized to the 405th Army Field Support Brigade)