Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Ariz., hosts 34 unique mission partners that are critical to national security, including the Tucson Sector of Customs and Border Protection.
CBP is tasked with safeguarding America’s borders thereby protecting the public from dangerous materials while enhancing the nation’s global economic competitiveness by enabling legitimate trade and travel.
Similarly, the 355th Security Forces Squadron is responsible for ensuring the safety of the base to protect military members, assets and resources so the 355th Wing can stay ready to train, deploy and win our nation’s wars.
These similar mission sets complement each other in such a way that they are able to even work together from time-to-time.
“We executed a periodic airborne security sweep of the base,” said Keith Kincannon, U.S. CBP supervisory air interdiction agent. “This augments the base security forces mission capability.”
This interoperability allows both SFS defenders and CBP agents to accomplish their missions while working together and learning about each other’s career fields.
“This allows us to secure the base and mitigate any potential vulnerabilities we see so we have situational awareness on everything going on,” said U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Megan Sullivan, 355th SFS investigator.
With the help of CBP, SFS defenders protect and secure approximately 10,600 acres across the installation to include the large area housing the aircraft belonging to the 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group, as well as the base’s flight line, 12th Air Force Headquarters and other valuable assets and resources.
“This highlights the partnership as it allows for CBP Air & Marine Operations to contribute as a base tenant to the safety and security of Davis-Monthan,” said Kincannon.
Davis-Monthan plays a critical role in the execution of our national security in multiple facets including hosting the Tucson sector of CBP and the various mission sets of the 355th Wing that are defended while enhancing Airmen’s interoperability by executing joint training.