Base personnel security specialist helps put right people at the right place

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Olufemi A. Owolabi
  • 47th Flying Training Wing
LAUGHLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Texas --  To some, base security may simply mean guarding Laughlin's gates and protecting lives and property.

But to one Airman here, it's much more than that.

Senior Airman Forrest George is a base personnel security specialist here. He processes all security clearances for the 47th Flying Training Wing, and he says a vital part of base security is about making sure the right people are employed at the right places in order to protect critical information.

"My job is to ensure employees in positions of trust, with access to sensitive information, have proper investigations submitted to make sure only the right people have access to sensitive or classified information," Airman George said. "If employees aren't submitted for investigations with regard to the access they're trying to obtain, critical information could get into the wrong hands."

That's one of the reasons why the security of the base is not only protecting lives and properties, but about protecting critical information, according the personnel security specialist.

"The duties of a personnel security specialist are very critical to the mission," said Staff Sgt. Jovonnie Walter, NCOIC, Information and Industrial Security. "Laughlin Air Force Base and the Air Force's mission could be jeopardized if classified information were compromised or got into the wrong hands."

On a daily basis, Airman George records fingerprints for various types of investigations, and also provides help and guidance to each unit's Security Manager to ensure proper procedures are followed.

Airman George works as part of the Plans and Programs section in the 47th Security Forces Squadron. Plans and Programs, more commonly known now as S-5, is comprised of different areas of security programs such as Industrial Security, Installation Security and Information Security.

Upon entering the work-center, one might think it's a typical customer-service, office job because of the array of office equipment like computers, scanners, printers and fax machines. But the job is anything but an ordinary office job.

In order to perform his duties effectively, Airman George's office is equipped with computers for monitoring and processing security questionnaires and both ink and digital fingerprinting equipment.

According to Airman George, two aspects of the job differentiate it from the typical office job, and he considers them to be critical to the base and the Air Force as a whole.

"The most important part of the job can be narrowed down to clearance submitting or (Security Information Files) which are done on personnel who fail to maintain a status of trustworthiness to keep their clearance, being either secret or top secret," he said. "Personnel security jobs are vital to mission accomplishment and to our nation's enduring security, and they will be for years to come."

He said he always feels a sense of accomplishment doing the job because it helps the Air Force determine whom to trust with critical equipment, multi-million-dollar aircraft and our various weapon systems.

For the many customers Airman George attends to each week, mission accomplished means getting his tasks done in a timely manner and knowing after he's done, the right people are working at the right places on base without compromising the mission.

"Airman George's work ethic is unbelievable," Sergeant Walter said. "He works with every Unit Security Manager on Laughlin to ensure their program is up to par. I receive emails weekly from USMs telling me how good a job he's doing."