The Air Force Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Agency (Air Force ISR Agency or AFISRA) was until 29 September 2014 a

field operating agency This is a list of Field Operating Agencies (FOA) in the United States Department of the Air Force that are active. FOAs report directly to a functional manager in either the Office of the Secretary of the Air Force or the Air Staff (United States) ...

of the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...

headquartered at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas. On that date it was redesignated Twenty-Fifth Air Force and aligned as a

numbered air force A Numbered Air Force (NAF) is a type of organization in the United States Air Force that is subordinate to a List of Major Commands of the United States Air Force, major command (MAJCOM) and has assigned to it operational units such as wings, squ ...

(NAF) of the

Air Combat Command Air Combat Command (ACC) is one of nine Major Commands (MAJCOMs) in the United States Air Force, reporting to Headquarters, United States Air Force (HAF) at the Pentagon. It is the primary provider of air combat forces for the Air Force, and i ...

.McCullough, Amy, "ISR Agency Becomes 25th Air Force", ''Air Force Magazine: Journal of the Air Force Association'', November 2014, Volume 97 No. 11, p. 22 Its primary mission was to provide intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) products, applications, capabilities and resources, to include cyber and geospatial forces and expertise. Additionally, it was the service cryptologic component (SCC) responsible to the

National Security Agency The National Security Agency (NSA) is a national-level intelligence agency of the United States Department of Defense, under the authority of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI). The NSA is responsible for global monitoring, collecti ...

and

Central Security Service The Central Security Service (CSS) is a combat support agency of the United States Department of Defense which was established in 1972 to integrate the National Security Agency (NSA) and the Service Cryptologic Components (SCC) of the United Sta ...

for Air Force

cryptographic Cryptography, or cryptology (from grc, , translit=kryptós "hidden, secret"; and ''graphein'', "to write", or '' -logia'', "study", respectively), is the practice and study of techniques for secure communication in the presence of adve ...

activities. Originally called the United States Air Force Security Service, the Air Force ISR Agency was activated on 20 October 1948, at

Arlington Hall Arlington Hall (also called Arlington Hall Station) is a historic building in Arlington, Virginia, originally a girls' school and later the headquarters of the United States Army's Signal Intelligence Service (SIS) cryptography effort during Worl ...

, Washington, D.C., with a mission of cryptology and communications security. AFISRA was last commanded by Major General John Shanahan. Its Command Chief Master Sergeant was Chief Master Sergeant Arleen Heath. Both continued in their positions upon the creation of 25 AF.

Overview

The agency organizes, trains, equips, presents, and deploys assigned forces and capabilities to conduct intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance for combatant commanders and the nation. It also implements and oversees the execution of Air Force policies intended to expand ISR capabilities. The agency's 17,000 people serve at about 65 locations worldwide. On 14 July 2014, the

Secretary A secretary, administrative professional, administrative assistant, executive assistant, administrative officer, administrative support specialist, clerk, military assistant, management assistant, office secretary, or personal assistant is a w ...

and

Chief of Staff The title chief of staff (or head of staff) identifies the leader of a complex organization such as the armed forces, institution, or body of persons and it also may identify a principal staff officer (PSO), who is the coordinator of the supporti ...

of the Air Force announced that the Air Force ISR Agency would be reorganized into the Twenty-Fifth Air Force (25 AF), a

assigned to

, on 1 October 2014.

Units

Assigned units

Two active duty wings, one group, and two centers were assigned to the Air Force ISR Agency.

Wings

* 70th Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Wing, Fort George G. Meade, Maryland *

480th Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Wing The 480th Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance Wing (480th ISR Wing) is headquartered at Langley Air Force Base, Virginia. Mission The 480th ISR Wing leads Air Force globally networked ISR operations. The wing operates and maintains t ...

, Langley Field, Virginia

Groups

361st Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Group The United States Air Force's 361st Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance Group is an intelligence unit located at Hurlburt Field, Florida. It provides intelligence support to Air Force Special Operations Command. The group was first ...

, Hurlburt Field, Florida

Centers

* Air Force Technical Applications Center,

Patrick Air Force Base Patrick may refer to: *Patrick (given name), list of people and fictional characters with this name *Patrick (surname), list of people with this name People *Saint Patrick (c. 385–c. 461), Christian saint *Gilla Pátraic (died 1084), Patrick or ...

, Florida * National Air and Space Intelligence Center, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio

Supported units

AFISRA is responsible for mission management and support of signals intelligence operations for one

Numbered Air Force A Numbered Air Force (NAF) is a type of organization in the United States Air Force that is subordinate to a List of Major Commands of the United States Air Force, major command (MAJCOM) and has assigned to it operational units such as wings, squ ...

and three wings.

Numbered Air Forces

Sixteenth Air Force The Sixteenth Air Force (Air Forces Cyber) (16 AF) is a United States Air Force (USAF) organization responsible for information warfare, which encompasses intelligence gathering and analysis, surveillance, reconnaissance, cyber warfare and ele ...

, Lackland Air Force Base, Texas

Wings

* 9th Reconnaissance Wing, Beale Air Force Base, California *

55th Wing The 55th Wing is a United States Air Force unit assigned to Air Combat Command. The wing is primarily stationed at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska, but maintains one of its groups and associated squadrons at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Ariz ...

Offutt Air Force Base Offutt Air Force Base is a U.S. Air Force base south of Omaha, adjacent to Bellevue in Sarpy County, Nebraska. It is the headquarters of the U.S. Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM), the 557th Weather Wing, and the 55th Wing (55 WG) of the Air ...

, Nebraska *

432d Wing The 432nd Wing is a United States Air Force unit assigned to Air Combat Command at Creech Air Force Base near Indian Springs, Nevada. It flies General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper and RQ-170 Sentinel Unmanned aerial vehicles. The group operates unmanne ...

, Creech Air Force Base, Nevada

Air National Guard units

* 102d Intelligence Wing, Otis Air National Guard Base, Massachusetts *

181st Intelligence Wing The 181st Intelligence Wing (181 IW) is a unit of the Indiana Air National Guard, stationed at Terre Haute Air National Guard Base, Indiana. If activated to federal service, the Wing is gained by the United States Air Force Intelligence, Surv ...

Terre Haute Air National Guard Base Terre Haute Regional Airport is a civil-military public airport in Terre Haute, in Vigo County, Indiana, east of the city center. The FAA's National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2011–2015 categorized it as a ''general aviation'' f ...

, Indiana *

184th Intelligence Wing The 184th Wing (184 WG) is a unit of the Kansas Air National Guard, stationed at McConnell Air Force Base, Wichita, Kansas. If activated to federal service, the Wing is gained by the United States Sixteenth Air Force. The 127th Command and Contr ...

, McConnell Air Force Base, Kansas

History

United States Air Force Security Service

The Air Force ISR Agency was established as the United States Air Force Security Service (USAFSS) on 20 October 1948. The service was headquartered at

, a former girls' school and the headquarters of the United States Army's

Signals Intelligence Service The Signal Intelligence Service (SIS) was the United States Army codebreaking division through World War II. It was founded in 1930 to compile codes for the Army. It was renamed the Signal Security Agency in 1943, and in September 1945, became th ...

(SIS) cryptography effort during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. The USAFSS was tasked with the cryptology and communications security missions of the newly formed

. The USAFSS moved to Brooks Air Force Base, in

San Antonio ("Cradle of Freedom") , image_map = , mapsize = 220px , map_caption = Interactive map of San Antonio , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = United States , subdivision_type1= U.S. state, State , subdivision_name1 = Texas , s ...

, Texas, in April 1949, and then to "Security Hill" at nearby

Kelly Air Force Base Kelly Field (formerly Kelly Air Force Base) is a Joint-Use facility located in San Antonio, Texas. It was originally named after George E. M. Kelly, the first member of the U.S. military killed in the crash of an airplane he was piloting. In ...

in August 1953. During the

Korean War , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...

, the USAFSS personnel provided

United Nations Command United Nations Command (UNC or UN Command) is the multinational military force established to support the South Korea, Republic of Korea (South Korea) during and after the Korean War. It was the first international unified command in history, an ...

units with intelligence on the movements of major Korean People's Army forces from

Manchuria Manchuria is an exonym (derived from the endo demonym " Manchu") for a historical and geographic region in Northeast Asia encompassing the entirety of present-day Northeast China (Inner Manchuria) and parts of the Russian Far East (Outer Manc ...

Wonsan Wŏnsan (), previously known as Wŏnsanjin (), Port Lazarev, and Genzan (), is a port city and naval base located in Kangwŏn Province, North Korea, along the eastern side of the Korean Peninsula, on the Sea of Japan and the provincial capital. ...

. USAFSS personnel received

Korean Language Korean ( South Korean: , ''hangugeo''; North Korean: , ''chosŏnmal'') is the native language for about 80 million people, mostly of Korean descent. It is the official and national language of both North Korea and South Korea (geographic ...

training at

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...

, and flew on the

Douglas C-47 Skytrain The Douglas C-47 Skytrain or Dakota (RAF, RAAF, RCAF, RNZAF, and SAAF designation) is a military transport aircraft developed from the civilian Douglas DC-3 airliner. It was used extensively by the Allies during World War II and remained in ...

to relay communications to allied ground forces on the

Korean Peninsula Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...

. During the early days of the

Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...

, USAFSS crews flew missions on several aircraft converted for intelligence missions, including the

Boeing B-29 Superfortress The Boeing B-29 Superfortress is an American four-engined propeller-driven heavy bomber, designed by Boeing and flown primarily by the United States during World War II and the Korean War. Named in allusion to its predecessor, the B-17 Fl ...

, the Lockheed C-130A-II Combat Talon, and the

Strategic Air Command Strategic Air Command (SAC) was both a United States Department of Defense Specified Command and a United States Air Force (USAF) Major Command responsible for command and control of the strategic bomber and intercontinental ballistic missile ...

Boeing RB-50 Superfortress The Boeing B-50 Superfortress is an American strategic bomber. A post–World War II revision of the Boeing B-29 Superfortress, it was fitted with more powerful Pratt & Whitney R-4360 radial engines, stronger structure, a taller tail fin, and ot ...

and Boeing RC-135. The USAFSS established communications stations in Germany, Pakistan, the Philippines, and Scotland, and later installed

AN/FLR-9 The AN/FLR-9 is a type of very large circular "Wullenweber" antenna array, built at eight locations during the cold war for HF/DF direction finding of high priority targets. The worldwide network, known collectively as "Iron Horse", could locate H ...

"Elephant Cage" radar sites in Alaska, England, Italy, Japan, the Philippines, and Turkey. The USAFSS became involved in the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...

when the

Pacific Air Forces Pacific Air Forces (PACAF) is a Major Command (MAJCOM) of the United States Air Force and is also the air component command of the United States Indo-Pacific Command (USINDOPACOM). PACAF is headquartered at Joint Base Pearl Harbor–Hickam (fo ...

asked it to establish an Air Force Special Security Office at

Tan Son Nhut Airport Tân Sơn Nhất International Airport ( vi, Sân bay quốc tế Tân Sơn Nhất or Cảng hàng không quốc tế Tân Sơn Nhất) is the busiest airport in Vietnam with 32.5 million passengers in 2016 and 38.5 million passengers in 2018 ...

near

Saigon , population_density_km2 = 4,292 , population_density_metro_km2 = 697.2 , population_demonym = Saigonese , blank_name = GRP (Nominal) , blank_info = 2019 , blank1_name = – Total , blank1_ ...

in 1961. By the following year, a USAFSS squadron and three subordinate detachments were operating in Vietnam and Thailand, and USAFSS personnel supported College Eye threat warning operations. USAFSS crews also flew on Douglas EC-47 Skytrain missions to search for aircrew shot down in North Vietnam and additional SAC RC-135s deployed to Kadena Air Base, Japan.

Electronic Security Command

On 1 August 1979, the Air Force redesignated the USAFSS as the Electronic Security Command (ESC), reflecting the organization's additional mission of improving the Air Force's use of

electronic warfare Electronic warfare (EW) is any action involving the use of the electromagnetic spectrum (EM spectrum) or directed energy to control the spectrum, attack an enemy, or impede enemy assaults. The purpose of electronic warfare is to deny the opponen ...

technology in combat. In 1985, the Air Force tasked ESC with computer security, in addition to its intelligence and electronic warfare missions. ESC provided intelligence support to the

United States invasion of Panama The United States invasion of Panama, codenamed Operation Just Cause, lasted over a month between mid-December 1989 and late January 1990. It occurred during the administration of President George H. W. Bush and ten years after the Torrijos– ...

in 1989 and were among the first U.S. military personnel to arrive in

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...

for the

Gulf War The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Iraq were carried out in two key phases: ...

. During that conflict, ESC personnel operated at three different locations in Saudi Arabia and Turkey.

Air Force Intelligence Command

On 1 October 1991, the Air Force redesignated ESC as the Air Force Intelligence Command (AFIC) and consolidated Air Force intelligence functions and resources into a single command. AFIC merged ESC with the Air Force Foreign Technology Center at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, the Air Special Activities Center at Fort Belvoir, Virginia, and elements of the Air Force Intelligence Agency, Washington D.C. With the combined missions, AFIC was tasked with intelligence, security, electronic combat, foreign technology, and treaty monitoring.

Air Intelligence Agency

The organization was redesignated again when it became the Air Intelligence Agency on 1 October 1993. During the 1990s, AIA personnel deployed to support

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

operations during the

Bosnian War The Bosnian War ( sh, Rat u Bosni i Hercegovini / Рат у Босни и Херцеговини) was an international armed conflict that took place in Bosnia and Herzegovina between 1992 and 1995. The war is commonly seen as having started ...

and

Kosovo War The Kosovo War was an armed conflict in Kosovo that started 28 February 1998 and lasted until 11 June 1999. It was fought by the forces of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (i.e. Serbia and Montenegro), which controlled Kosovo before the war ...

, and as part of Operations

Southern Watch Operation Southern Watch was an air-centric military operation conducted by the United States Department of Defense from Summer 1992 to Spring 2003. United States Central Command's Joint Task Force Southwest Asia (JTF-SWA) had the mission of mon ...

and

Northern Watch Operation Northern Watch (ONW), the successor to Operation Provide Comfort, was a Combined Task Force (CTF) charged with enforcing its own no-fly zone above the 36th parallel in Iraq. Its mission began on 1 January 1997. The coalition partners ...

in Southwest Asia. In February 2001, the Air Force assigned AIA to

, where it provided support to combat operations in the

War on Terror The war on terror, officially the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT), is an ongoing international Counterterrorism, counterterrorism military campaign initiated by the United States following the September 11 attacks. The main targets of the campa ...

, the War in Afghanistan, and the

Iraq War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Iraq War {{Nobold, {{lang, ar, حرب العراق (Arabic) {{Nobold, {{lang, ku, شەڕی عێراق (Kurdish languages, Kurdish) , partof = the Iraq conflict (2003–present), I ...

Air Force ISR Agency

In August 2006, General

T. Michael Moseley Teed Michael "Buzz" Moseley (born September 3, 1949) is a retired United States Air Force general who served as the 18th Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force. He is a fighter pilot with more than 3,000 flight hours in fighters and trainer ...

, the

Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force The chief of staff of the Air Force (acronym: CSAF, or AF/CC) is a statutory office () held by a general in the United States Air Force, and as such is the principal military advisor to the secretary of the Air Force on matter pertaining to th ...

, directed that the Air Force intelligence efforts stress intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities. AIA was eventually redesignated the Air Force ISR Agency (AFISRA) on 8 June 2007. The organization change included transforming AFISRA into a field operating agency and reassigning it from Air Combat Command to Headquarters Air Force. With the change, AFISRA reported to the Air Force Deputy Chief of Staff for Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance. Beginning in 2009, AFISRA personnel deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan to support MC-12 aircraft as part of Project LIBERTY.

25th Air Force

In July 2014 the Air Force announced that the Air Force Intelligence Surveillance and Reconnaissance Agency was being realigned from Headquarters Air Force as a Field Operating Agency to become part of a new operational numbered air force under Air Combat Command. AFISRA became 25th Air Force on 29 September 2014 at a ceremony held at JBSA-Lackland. Chairman of the Senate Armed Forces committee

John McCain John Sidney McCain III (August 29, 1936 – August 25, 2018) was an American politician and United States Navy officer who served as a United States senator from Arizona from 1987 until his death in 2018. He previously served two terms ...

would later call this move "a shell game" designed to comply with a DoD requirement to cut excess staff, without actually cutting any positions or saving any money at all.

Lineage

* Established as United States Air Force Security Service on 20 October 1948 : Organized as a major command on 26 October 1948 : Redesignated: Electronic Security Command on 1 August 1979 : Redesignated: Air Force Intelligence Command on 1 October 1991 : Redesignated: Air Intelligence Agency on 1 October 1993 : Redesignated: Air Force Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance Agency on 8 June 2007 : Redesignated: Twenty-Fifth Air Force on 29 September 2014 : Redesignated: Sixteenth Air Force on 11 October 2019

Assignments

* United States Air Force, 26 October 1948 *

, 1 February 2001 * United States Air Force, 8 June 2007 *

, 29 September 2014

Components

Wings

* 6900th Security Wing, Landsberg AB, Germany, 1 August 1954 – Unknown * 6903d Electronic Security Group,

Osan AB Hanja:) , partof = , location = , nearest_town = Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province , country = South Korea , image = Osan Air Base 51 FW F-16 A-10 Flyby.jpg , alt = US Air Force F-16C Fighting Falcon and A-1 ...

, Korea * 6910th Electronic Security Wing, Lindsey AS, Germany, 1 July 1981 – 15 July 1988 * 6910th Security Wing,

Darmstadt Darmstadt () is a city in the States of Germany, state of Hesse in Germany, located in the southern part of the Frankfurt Rhine Main Area, Rhine-Main-Area (Frankfurt Metropolitan Region). Darmstadt has around 160,000 inhabitants, making it th ...

, Germany, Unknown – 1 February 1970 * 690th Electronic Security Wing,

West Berlin West Berlin (german: Berlin (West) or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin during the years of the Cold War. Although West Berlin was de jure not part of West Germany, lacked any sovereignty, and was under mi ...

, Germany, 15 July 1988 - 12 June 1991 * 6913th Security Wing, Bremerhaven, Germany, Unknown – 1968 * 6917th Security Wing, San Vito AS, Italy, Unknown – unknown * 6920th Security Wing, Wheeler AFB, Hawaii, 1 November 1958 – Unknown * 6920th Security Wing, Misawa AB, Japan, 1 February 1976 – 1 October 1978 * 6921st Security Wing, Misawa AB, Japan, 1 September 1962 – 1 February 1976 * 6922d Security Wing, Kadena AB, Okinawa, then Clark AB, Philippines, 1 July 1963 – 28 January 1973 * 6933d Security Wing, Karamursel AS, Turkey, 1 July 1963 – April 1970 * 6940th Air Base Wing (later 6940th Technical Training Wing and 6940th Security Wing),

Goodfellow AFB Goodfellow Air Force Base is a nonflying United States Air Force base located in San Angelo, Texas, United States. As part of Air Education and Training Command, Goodfellow's main mission is cryptologic and intelligence training for the Air Forc ...

, TX, 1 October 1958 – 1 July 1978 * 6940th Electronic Security Wing, Fort Meade, MD, 1 February 1980 – 1 October 1991 * 6944th Security Wing,

Offutt AFB Offutt Air Force Base is a U.S. Air Force base south of Omaha, adjacent to Bellevue in Sarpy County, Nebraska. It is the headquarters of the U.S. Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM), the 557th Weather Wing, and the 55th Wing (55 WG) of the Air C ...

, NE, 1 April 1974 – 1 March 1979 * 6948th Security Wing, Lackland Annex – Kelly AFB, TX * 6950th Security Wing. RAF Chicksands, UK, 1 July 1963 – 1 April 1970 * 6960th Electronic Security Wing, Kelly AFB, TX, 1 January 1980 – 1 October 1986''See'
Lineage and Honors History of 68th Network Warfare Squadron
. Retrieved 10 September 2012

Centers

* 6901st Special Communications Center (later Air Force Special Communications Center, Electronic Warfare Center, Air Force Information Warfare Center, Air Force Information Operations Center), Lackland AFB, Texas, 8 August 1953 – 1 May 2007

Stations

, Washington, D.C., 26 October 1948 * Brooks Air Force Base,

, TX, 18 April 1949 * Kelly Air Force Base (now Kelly Field Annex), San Antonio, TX, 1 August 1953

References

External links

AF ISR Agency Homepage

AF ISR Agency Fact Sheet

Four-Digit Organizations Belonging Directly Or Indirectly to Air Force Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance Agency Or its Previous Designations
{{DEFAULTSORT:Air Force Intelligence, Surveillance And Reconnaissance Agency Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Agency United States intelligence agencies Military units and formations established in 2007 2007 establishments in the United States

Overview

Units

Assigned units

Wings

Groups

Centers

Supported units

Numbered Air Forces

Wings

Air National Guard units

History

United States Air Force Security Service

Electronic Security Command

Air Force Intelligence Command

Air Intelligence Agency

Air Force ISR Agency

25th Air Force

Lineage

Assignments

Components

Wings

Centers

Stations

See also

References

External links