How will "Cyber Command" fit into the Air Force ISR Agency?
"Cyber Command," or 24th Air Force, has been re-defined and will now be a numbered air force under Air Force Space Command. While we work with 24th AF, this re-alignment does not directly impact our mission.
Is the Air Force ISR Agency a total force agency, meaning does it incorporate active duty, Guard, Reserve as well at civilian personnel?
Yes. Of the nearly 17,000 people assigned to the agency worldwide, more than 1,600 are Reservists, nearly 200 are Guardsmen and more than 2,100 are civilians. The outstanding collaborations between the active-duty members, Reservists, Guardsmen and civilians allows us to maintain ISR superiority and successfully carry out missions worldwide.
Is there talk of expanding or changing the makeup of the agency in the near future?
Enhancing mission areas may identify future needs, but we cannot speculate if any reorganization will occur.
What command does the Air Force ISR Agency fall under?
The Air Force ISR Agency is a field operating agency aligned directly under the Air Force's directorate for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance. This directorate is known in the Air Force as A2.
We previously fell under Air Combat Command as the Air Intelligence Agency. After being redesigned as the Air Force ISR Agency in June 2007, we became an independent field operating agency, or FOA.
FOAs are subdivisions of the Air Force headquarters and report directly to an Air Force functional manager. Such field operating agencies perform field activities beyond the scope of any of major commands. Such activities are often specialized or associated with an Air Force-wide mission.
What is the Air Force ISR Agency, and why are you here?
We provide America's warfighters and national leaders current and predictive battlespace awareness and all-source ISR through trained forces and effective capabilities.
Our mission is to organize, train, equip and present assigned forces and capabilities to implement and oversee execution of the Air Force Intelligence Directorate's policy and guidance to expand Air Force ISR capabilities to meet current and future challenges.
What is the difference between intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance?
Intelligence is the product resulting from the collection, processing, integration, evaluation, analysis and interpretation of available information concerning foreign nations, hostile or potentially hostile forces or elements, or areas of actual or potential operations. There is also applied to the activities that results in the product and to the organizations engaged in such activity.
Surveillance is the systematic observation of aerospace, surface or subsurface areas, places, persons or things by visual, aural, electronic, photographic or other means.
Reconnaissance is a mission undertaken to obtain, by visual observation or other detection methods, information about the activities and resources of an enemy or adversary, or to secure data concerning the meteorological, hydrographic or geographic characteristics of a particular area.
While all different, the Air Force recognizes that intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance are tightly integrated. When we became the Air Force ISR Agency in the summer of 2007, ISR capabilities can now be managed together, end-to-end in one organization.
What is the size of the Air Force ISR Agency?
Our headquarters is at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas, but we have 17,000 specialists serving in 65 locations around the world
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