(For the record, I spoke with the author of this letter before publishing it to be sure he was comfortable with this. He was fine but did ask me to remove his name, phone number and email, as he was concerned about an overload of possible correspondence. This seemed reasonable to me and I have complied with this request. Paz, John)
Mr. Amidon,
I read your recent article "Air Force Paranoia at Creech," and I wanted to take this opportunity to engage with you on a direct level. You're absolutely right in stating we as an institution are "paranoid;" however, please understand that any paranoia isn't in regards to peaceful demonstrators practicing their Constitution-given right to freedom of speech. As you're well aware, our installation has received considerable attention from both sides of the spectrum: those who support the mission out here, and those who oppose it. That said, we have also received a considerable amount of attention from those who wish to cause us harm, and it is that threat that has heightened our vigilance.
As the person responsible for protecting the men, women, resources, assets, and facilities here at Creech AFB, it is difficult for me to easily determine who is friend and who is foe...since terrorists rarely wear giant embroidered shirts that say "I'm a Terrorist," my goal is to attempt to determine the intentions of anyone engaging in potentially suspicious behavior.
Now, I understand you might be wondering how taking photographs could be considered "suspicious behavior," and I understand your concern (trust me, I've always been a firm believer in "right to be, right to see," as the legal-folks might say). My concern rests in case studies from every previous terrorist attack that have shown that prior to commencing an attack, terrorists engage in seven observable behaviors:
- Surveillance
- Elicitation
- Tests of Security
- Gathering Supplies
- Suspicious Activities (i.e., clusters of odd behavior, exhibiting observable paranoia in routine situations)
- Dry Run
- Deploying Assets
Photography can fall under "surveillance," especially when photographs are taken of typically non-photogenic items (like infrastructure, security protocol, etc). Whenever our Security Forces or passers-by report individuals on the perimeter clearly taking photographs of aircraft, that's a non-issue: people have a right to photograph, and we understand plenty of people consider aircraft watching or "tailspotting" a hobby. We take this into consideration whenever people take generic panoramic photographs of our base from the highway.
Now, let's reverse roles here, and pretend I've come over to your house and started to take photographs. If I'm photographing the front of your house, or your yard, or flowers/trees you may have decorating your property, your level of concern would most likely be non-existent since I'm taking photographs of photogenic things; however, would you start getting concerned if I were to take detailed photographs of your door locks, your vehicles' license plates, people coming and going (and their vehicles), or visible security measures? Hopefully you understand where I'm coming from here.
Whenever we've had a demonstration here at Creech, my focus has never been on the demonstrators themselves; my focus has been watching for behaviors that appear "out of the ordinary;" as such, you had the misfortune of being "flagged" because your behaviors stuck out from the crowd (so to speak). One of my biggest fears is that a person who wishes to cause us harm will use a peaceful demonstration group as "cover" to prepare for and initiate an attack.
If in the future you'd like to come back to Creech to take photographs, I'd like to ask that you give me a call first. Seriously. I'll even give you a windshield tour of Creech if you'd like. It's not that I'm trying to keep tabs on you or anything (please understand that's not my goal), but when we know who's taking photographs outside of base (and when we understand the intentions behind taking said photographs), we will have that clear understanding that you are not a threat and we will let you photograph in peace.
Semper Vigilare,
(Name)
//SIGNED//
(name), YA-2, DAF
Chief, 432d Wing Force Protection
Creech AFB, Nevada
Office: (Phone number) (DSN 384)
SIPR e-mail: (email address)