U.S. Air Force Office of Special Investigations

The Air Force Office of Special Investigations (AFOSI, or OSI), is a Field Operating Agency (FOA) of the United States Air Force that provides professional investigative services to commanders throughout the Air Force. AFOSI identifies, investigates and neutralizes criminal, terrorist, and espionage threats to personnel and resources of the Air Force and Department of Defense using Special Agents.

AFOSI was founded August 1, 1948, at the suggestion of Congress to consolidate investigative activities in the Air Force. Secretary of the Air Force W. Stuart Symington created AFOSI and patterned it after the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). He appointed Special Agent Joseph Carroll, an assistant to FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, as the first AFOSI commander and charged him with providing independent, unbiased and centrally directed investigations of criminal activity in the Air Force. As of 2007, the AFOSI has 2,900 employees.

The AFOSI focuses on five priorities:

• Develop and retain a force capable of meeting Air Force needs,
• 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.

Organization

In addition to the FOA's headquarters, AFOSI has eight field investigations...
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