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23 IS conducts virtual PAI training

  • Published
  • 655th ISR Wing Public Affairs

Reserve Citizen Airmen from the 23rd Intelligence Squadron organized and executed a first-ever, unit-wide Publicly Available Information (PAI) training session June 6, 2020. The goal of the training was to educate 23 IS Airmen with PAI best practices and highlight the capabilities that PAI brings to intelligence operations. The training was part of the squadron’s first-ever virtual unit training assembly.

Unit members Master Sgt. Leslie Lawrence and 1st Lt. Gwendolyn Leon-Guerrero created and hosted the training, which consisted of officers, enlisted, and all of the unit’s Air Force Specialty Codes (AFSCs).  The customized training adapted portions of the Air Combat Command PAI Executive and Fundamentals courses, while also including PAI tool demonstrations and vignettes.

Topics covered during the one hour and a 30 minute session included: Defining PAI and Open Source Intelligence (OSINT), legal authorities, and various PAI tools that are available to intelligence analysts.

In October 2019, the 23 IS hosted and organized the Air Force’s Quarterly PAI Working Group which included attendees from across the Air Force and Department of Defense. Since then, the unit has dedicated efforts into developing a future PAI Center of Excellence at Joint Base San Antonio.

The 23 IS also continues to prioritize PAI and integrate OSINT into its daily activities in support of assigned cyber missions.

1st Lt. Leon Guerrero stated, “It’s very important that all analysts first understand all of the legal requirements expected of them, and that they receive this baseline training, so that they can fully bring to bear the power of this resource.”

Master Sgt. Lawrence, the 23 IS DOK flight chief and the squadron’s PAI lead said, “This was our first squadron-wide PAI event that we made available to all unit members over a drill weekend. Our next steps will be to offer the full PAI Fundamentals course and then move on to PAI tradecraft training.”

The 23 IS PAI training comes at a time when the Air Force is increasingly integrating PAI into more of its operations and multi-intelligence fusion analysis. The 23 IS continues to be at the forefront of that focus.

Maj. Nicholas Herald, 23 IS director of operations, said, “It was exciting to see the PAI expertise that we are developing within our squadron. Master Sgt. Lawrence and 1st Lt. Guerrero put together a succinct training session that exposed a lot of our Airmen to PAI for the first time, and got them excited about using PAI in the near future. PAI will increasingly become an indispensable part of our Squadron’s impact on our cyber mission.”  

The 23rd IS delivers premiere cyber intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance expertise through Total Force Integration, driving the employment of offensive cyber capabilities in support of Combatant Command objectives and priorities. To learn more about exciting and rewarding career opportunities in the 23rd IS, please contact your local Air Force Reserve recruiter or call 210-977-2671 for more information.