Hanscom team evaluates VAFB

  • Published
  • By 1st Lt Jason Bishop
  • Public Affairs
Vance Air Force Base, Okla. --  A Systems Evaluation Assessment team out of Hanscom Air Force Base, Mass., is here starting Monday to test Team Vance's preparedness.
The three-man team, who works for Synergy Inc., has been contracted by the Air Force to spend six days evaluating the base's response times and vigilance through a number of exercises, said Capt Tim O'Bryan, 71st Security Forces Squadron.
"(The team tests) a lot of controlled areas, anywhere from banks to controlled areas on the flightline," Captain O'Bryan said. However, they are mainly concentrating on the flightline, he said.
The exercises affect all of Vance Air Force Base.
"They will do exercises for the whole base," Captain O'Bryan said. "But they will probably do a section at a time."
The exercises will be both during duty hours and after duty hours, he said.
The evaluation will test a number of different aspects of Team Vance's vigilance, Captain O'Bryan said.
"There will be a lot of timed responses," he said. "Will the aircraft maintainers report a suspicious person, or will this controlled-area monitor recognize someone walking into their controlled area or perform their proper entry-control procedures? Do the alarms at the pharmacy work properly?"
This is not a regular evaluation for Vance AFB, Captain O'Bryan said. Vance normally wouldn't be a place the team evaluates. Typically the team evaluates nuclear facilities and other places with a lot of electronic counter-detection and high priority resources.
Vance also isn't the only installation being evaluated.
"The whole (Air Education and Training) Command has been tasked to have one done," Captain O'Bryan said.
The results of the evaluation are broken down into percentages of effectiveness, Captain O'Bryan said. These percentages aren't necessarily used to assign a grade.
"It's not one of those pass or fail kind of assessments," he said. "They'll give us a lot of recommendations about what we can do to make ourselves more effective. The base can use those recommendations in further requests to beef up security."