What does AFOSI do?

I have a friend that I was in AFROTC with in college that is now working in OSI. I found this out through a web search. I was just trying to reconnect with him but was unable to. I am not in the military so I asked a guy I work with who is in the Air Guard. He got really hush-hush and wanted to know my interest in OSI and why I was asking. After I told him, all he said to me was "they investigate stuff."

Is there something secret that they do or is it like IA to cops?

Thanks for the help.

a google search of AFOSI gives a plethora of official and unoifficial sites which explain - in varying degrees the AFOSI mission , structure , organisation and operations .

on the specific issue of your freind - i would suggest that finding his parents would be easier - then drop them a note - requesting that they pass the message that < insert your name > from college wants to get back in touch , and can be reached at < insert your phone / email >

i have no first hand data on AFOSI - but i know how UK units with similar remits are staffed and opeate

and 90% of thier work is going to be VERY mundane

Yeah, I also did a web search of AFOSI and I got a bunch of general info, official websites, and other stuff. I do seem to remember hearing that OSI was in charge of Prject Blue Book but did not see any info on that in my search.

I dunno, maybe I am reading into my work-buddie's reaction a little too much.

The AFOSI is the Air Force investigative wing (no pun intended) for criminal, espionage or terrorist threats.

NCIS (mostly civilian agents) serves the same function for the Navy and Marine Corps.

CID does it for the Army.

The Coast Guard has the Coast Guard Investigative Service to serve the same functions as mentioned above.

Of course some operations would be "hush-hush" like espionage investigations. Other's are just your basic crime investigations, like blackmarketing, fraud, etc.

Your friend at work was overreacting just a bit, or maybe trying to be cryptic, IMO.

It's the Air Force Office of Special Investigations. The best description is the AF's FBI. They investigate fraud, drug use, theft. Anything to do with AF members. They also assist Security Forces in investigations and security.

There's nothing major about them, another job in the AF.

From AF official site

OSI provides professional investigative service to commanders of all Air Force activities. Its primary responsibilities are criminal investigations and counterintelligence services.

The command focuses on four priorities:

-Detect and provide early warning of worldwide threats to the Air Force;
-Identify and resolve crime impacting Air Force readiness or good order and discipline
-Combat threats to Air Force information systems and technologies; and
-Defeat and deter fraud in the acquisition of Air Force prioritized weapons systems.

In addition to the command's headquarters AFOSI has eight field investigations regions. Seven of the Regions are aligned with Air Force major commands: Region 1 with Air Force Materiel Command, Region 2 with Air Combat Command, Region 3 with Air Mobility Command, Region 4 with Air Education and Training Command, Region 5 with U.S. Air Forces in Europe, Region 6 with Pacific Air Forces, and Region 8 with Air Force Space Command.

The single region not aligned with a major command is Region 7, the mission of which is to provide counterintelligence and security-program management for special-access programs under the Office of the Secretary of the Air Force.

The Region 7 seems interesting.

Generally a very mundane job. Although I'm not in the military, my friends that are don't act like their is anything cryptic about it. They mostly do MP like investigative work with the exception of espionage and terrorist threats to Air Force installations as previously mentioned.

Someone mentioned Blue Book, I would imagine they would definitely have a hand in that since it is related to investigative work.

They look for little green men...so they have to stay super secret about everything

Like someone said above, they are like the Air Force FBI. They all wear civilian clothes and grow their hair out, so they look like regular people. They are used sometimes to go undercover, or to infiltrate drug rings in the military, child porn things, terrorist organizations, etc etc....

Their really was no reason for your buddy to be all hush hush about it....its not like the organization is a secret or anything....they are pretty much just undercover detectives.

AFOSI as an agency is like the FBI of the Air Force because their agents conduct major criminal, fraud and corruption investigations as well as conduct counterintelligence, counterterrorism and counterespionage investigations & operations. OSI agents serve all over the world and those agents deploy to places like Iraq and Afghanistan where they have been credited with the capturing 1000's of terrorism/insurgents and uncovering huge enemy weapons caches, preventing assassinations and attacks on US Forces, Host Nation officials, forces and its citizens as well as other U.S. allies. 90% percent of what the OSI agents do state side is regular investigative work which is somewhat boring work part of the time with dashes of excitment mixed in but when they deploy they are outside the wire day and night doing some very dangerous and important operational activities. That is why seven OSI agents have been killed in Iraq and another 20+ agents have been wounded by suicide bombers, IED, bombings and rocket attacks.

OSI is also known as the Secret Service of the Air Force and provides security for senior Air Force leaders, Foreign Dignities and supplement the Secret Service when asked to do so. OSI serves as the U.S. Marshall Service of the Air Force because they are charged with tracking down Air Force fugitives. They also are the cyber cops of the USAF and because OSI is a small investigative agency that only handles the more serious criminal investigations they have to be good at processing crime scenes “CSI Types” and they are also very good suspect interrogators. They are the original "Men in Black" who have been providing security for this country’s Special Access Programs (SR-71, U-2, B-2, F-117) since the late 40's. Many Air Force personnel when ask about OSI only know a little of what OSI agents really do because they mainly come in contact with the OSI’s basic criminal investigations mission but the men and women of OSI are the quiet hero's of the Air Force. Its been said of OSI agents by senior Air Forces leaders that pound for pound they are the most lethal weapons in Iraq not Air Force aircraft. The reason is because OSI agents have the ability to gain access to terrorist/insurgent activities and expose their operating locations so that they can be surgical targeted and neutralized without much collateral damage. AFOSI is a unique agency because it is a Military/Federal Law Enforcement Investigative agency with a nice mix of Active Duty and Civilian Special Agents. That is what OSI agents do. I should know I am an OSI agent and if you Google AFOSI and go through all the web site articles you will be able to confirm all that I have outlined above.

they do carry out classified missions but its mostly dignitary protection and things like that. As far as being an OSI member it is somewhat hush hush. OSI members don't give out their real names and on their BDUs/ABUs they don't wear name tags nor do they give out rank. That way they can infiltrate on base dorm parties and bust airmen for drugs and underage drinking.

"its not like they are secret or anything"....

umm OSI agents require a top secret security clearance.. that would make one assume they do more than just handle secret level information, they handle top secret info.

AFOSI agents, like the other military branch equivalents, are considered government federal agents, or "special agents"

As usual, the existence of the AFOSI is not a secret, but the particular identification of specific individuals with that job is rather sensitive. One can imagine many reasons why they don't want to talk about it, reasons that might directly hurt their own job, family or person in some circumstances.

Some of their investigees may be drug dealing losers. Some of them might be accomplished foreign intelligence agents posing as drug dealing losers.

Even civilians working unclassified in national laboratories are told not to wear their work badges outside of the laboratory area. AFOSI is clearly more sensitive.

[edit on 1-9-2008 by mbkennel]

Just wondering if anyone noticed they changed their mission statement from protecting the Air Force to protecting the United States of America? They are doing far more than anyone realizes and it has been said that their special agents are exempt from the Posse Comitatus Act allowing them to arrest US citizens. I was told they are doing some serious stuff out in the remote areas of Iraq and Afghanistan with terrorists as well as serving on terrorism task forces in major US cities. The book Project Beta gives a good account of OSI in the UFO community. OSI ran a disinformation op to deter cold war Russian spies, who were pretending to be UFO researchers, from penetrating Air Force technology programs. There is also supposed to be a movie coming out talking about OSI. It is about terrorism and has Shia LeBouf (sp) in it along with Billy Bob.

As a retired AFOSI agent I can tell you that the reason for not wearing rank insignia is to prevent pressure from above while conducting an investigation. And yes, there are many jobs requiring Top Secret access.
In addition, there are many jobs (especially within Region Seven) that are higher than Top Secret (ie, code word). Most detachments also have Crypto pads that require a higher level of access. There is a long and fruitful association with other government agencies (FBI, DEA, NSA, the other military investigative agencies) as well as with local and state law enforcement agencies. It was a real joy to go to work each and every day because you never knew what was going to happen next.

I know someone that was in the AFOSI for 30 years, they do all types of stuff from investigations to protecting the president. Some of them have top secret clearance higher that the president. We where stationed in Germany for three years and he was gone four days out of the week and could never tell anyone where he was going or what he was doing. I know that he has been places and done things that he can never talk about. they are also the only in-listed people that go to work in a suit and tie.

reply to post by Anonymous ATS


so since you are an OSI sgent...answer me this??? Does OSI also like to interrogate innocent civilians and treat them as suspects and never relay information back to the very person they interrogated???

reply to post by Anonymous ATS


So you're an OSI agent yea? How was the training? I talked to one of the agents and told me i had to take a test but he has no idea what the test will be like since he became an OSI long time ago. I really wanted to crosstrain into OSI. Do you know what's the requirement for ASVAB scores and all that? thanks.

I am an Agent with AFOSI ... to clarify not all OSI agents are bound by posse comitatus (our civilian agents have civilian arrest authority, but are more limited as non-combatants in the AOR). We are no big secret and are always hiring. We investigate felony level crime as well all threats to Air Force property and people to include terrorist threats. We can easily reach out and touch civilian threats to air force bases through memo 5 operations or simply through joint operations with local law enforcement. There are many conspiracy sites around that allege all kinds of crazy stuff like OSI are shady types - that we hide Area 51 among other things. Get a life ... if you're not mollesting little kids or trying to sell secrets to China you have no reason to fear us. BTW having a TS Clearance alone means nothing - you must be read into a program to gain access to secrets - having a TS means nothing only that you're eligible to be given secret info ... not a blank check to all secrets. Also, we are federal agents (all federal agents go by special agent) ... the title Special Agent simply means an agent with special powers to enforce federal law. I hope this helps.

reply to post by scooler1
The AFOSI is the same as the FBI in the civilian world. They are federal special agents.