Officers have opportunity to cross-flow into intelligence field

  • Published
  • By Airman David Owsianka
  • 56th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
LUKE AIR FORCE BASE, Ariz. --  For officers in one of the eight over-manned career fields who want to stay in the Air Force, the intelligence field is one of the five fields offered for cross-flow.

"Intelligence is a broad career field," said 1st Lt. Kuang Huang, 56th Operations Group deputy chief of readiness. "When an officer goes through the six-and-a-half-months of training, they are put through all of the aspects in this field. The overarching theme during the training is briefing."

The Air Force website states that intelligence officers support combat operations, perform and oversee the analysis and merging of collected intelligence and provide assessments to meet operational requirements. Responsibilities include exchanging and collecting intelligence with other services, agencies and governments and analyzing data to advise planners of options to accomplish objectives.

Here at Luke, they need to know information on aircraft, as well as anti-aircraft artillery, surface-to-air missiles, and other possible threats against our military, according to Lieutenant Huang.

Intelligence officers are considered generalists who train to take information gathered through various means and make it useful information for nonintelligence personnel.
"Intelligence officers have the distinct privilege of directly influencing the combat environment in highly visible ways," said an officer with the Air Force Special Operations Command. "This field provides an amazing opportunity for men and women with an interest in analysis and a capacity for critical thinking."

Jobs available in the field include operations, distributed common ground station, collections, readiness and targeting.

In operations, officers keep pilots updated on threat knowledge and current events, and prepared for missions.

"We receive briefings from readiness officers on current situations in the world, as well as new and emerging threats and tactics," said Capt. John Harris, 309th Fighter Squadron pilot.

Distributed common ground station officers produce intelligence information gathered from intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance assets.

"When a pilot provides support for International Security Assistance Force, he will receive visual aid from Predators or U-2s," Lieutenant Huang said. "Intel imagery analysts can assist pilots in positive enemy identification."

Collection officers gather intelligence information from ISR assets, human intelligence, signal intelligence, and measure and signature intelligence.

"Airmen deployed to Afghanistan and supporting base defense may put in requests for imagery or other ISR support with the priority associated with force protection," said Lieutenant Huang. "Collections specialists deployed to the Combat Air Operations Center determine if this requirement is important."

Special operations provide intelligence for special operations missions and deal with human intelligence, signal intelligence collection and targeting.

"Intelligence Airmen directly support operations at home and abroad on a daily basis," said the AFSOC officer. "Working in special operations allows us the opportunity to engage with the leading edge of combat operations."

In readiness, officers are in charge of keeping personnel mission ready, able to complete administrative work, and briefing them on aircraft threats, surface-to-air-missile systems, terms to use during flight, and visual recognition.

In targeting, officers develop and prioritize targets to bomb, people to collect information, and high priority military targets.

"Briefing is the part of my job I enjoy the most," Lieutenant Huang said. "It's a chance to display the hard work I put into it while conveying the information. I miss being able to go to the squadrons to brief the pilots and getting to know the people we support."

The deployment cycles are now six months on and 12-to-18 months off, according to Lieutenant Huang.

"About 40 percent of the 24 officers in this field have consistently been deployed since being here at Luke," he said.

This field provides communication skills and opportunities for officers after finishing their Air Force careers.

"I've been in this field for about three years now," Lieutenant Huang said. "I realized no other job gives me access to the same kind of information and processes along with the ability to work on my communication skills in front of people on a regular basis. This field has made me more cognizant of world events, politics, different religions, and military and economic factors that drive the world on a day-to-day basis."