Eagle Eyes program

[Arjan]

Hi Guys,

Was much surprised yesterday to be approached by three USAFE officials whilst standing near the fence of Ramstein Air Force Base on a cold Tuesday afternoon.
These, by the way very friendly men, are part of the OSI and trying to get spotters aware of the Eagle Eyes program. Such programs are not new, being incorporated by civil authorities at some airports earlier but it was news to me that the USAF is running such a program as well.

They handed out some flyers about this program (also see http://www.osi.af.mil/eagleeyes/index.asp) and in short it means that they ask you to keep your eyes open and report suspicious activities directly to them or the German police. They have a 24/7 phone number open (06371-472050).

During our short chat they appeared to be very welcoming to our hobby and spotters in general, they knew our hobby and appreciated it. Offcourse it is not an official USAF statement, but they told us of no restrictions of taking pictures (infrastructure etc.) or hanging around the field. But it is advisable to do this out in the open in stead of hiding in the bushes for example. Suspicious behavior will much sooner attract attention and please note, that base personnel is often required to report this immediately and alert security forces.
On the other hand, a video is out on the Mildenhall/ Lakenheath website telling about spotters and our hobby. So maybe things will become more easier in the future.

Meanwhile I think it is a step forward and to be open to such programs. They men told us that they make these rounds around the field regularly to hand out leaflets and to get to know who is around but also to let us know who they are. So don't be surprised if you are approached by one of the men, they are not there to chase you away!

Best regards,

Arjan

[Oscar01]

If you have any official base visit inside the usa, they tend to run a check on you through OSI. At least that was what they did with me 2 years ago (I got quite an extensive explenation on how that worked at Barksdale).

But nice that it was a pleasant talk....
Oscar

[Bennie]

Hi Guys,

Was much surprised yesterday to be approached by three USAFE officials whilst standing near the fence of Ramstein Air Force Base on a cold Tuesday afternoon.
These, by the way very friendly men, are part of the OSI and trying to get spotters aware of the Eagle Eyes program. Such programs are not new, being incorporated by civil authorities at some airports earlier but it was news to me that the USAF is running such a program as well.

They handed out some flyers about this program (also see http://www.osi.af.mil/eagleeyes/index.asp) and in short it means that they ask you to keep your eyes open and report suspicious activities directly to them or the German police. They have a 24/7 phone number open (06371-472050).

During our short chat they appeared to be very welcoming to our hobby and spotters in general, they knew our hobby and appreciated it. Offcourse it is not an official USAF statement, but they told us of no restrictions of taking pictures (infrastructure etc.) or hanging around the field. But it is advisable to do this out in the open in stead of hiding in the bushes for example. Suspicious behavior will much sooner attract attention and please note, that base personnel is often required to report this immediately and alert security forces.
On the other hand, a video is out on the Mildenhall/ Lakenheath website telling about spotters and our hobby. So maybe things will become more easier in the future.

Meanwhile I think it is a step forward and to be open to such programs. They men told us that they make these rounds around the field regularly to hand out leaflets and to get to know who is around but also to let us know who they are. So don't be surprised if you are approached by one of the men, they are not there to chase you away!

Best regards,

Arjan

In Japan, intelligence personnel will stop by to ask questions about who you are, what you're doing and what your plans are. Sometimes they may want to take a picture of you.
If you hand them a copy of your passport and your itinerary you'll make them very happy!

The big advantage of this approach (to me) is that you will be monitored during your visits to other bases, but that you don't have to so through this 'circus' every day. They know who you are and what you're up to!

[jp 74]

Hi Guys,

Was much surprised yesterday to be approached by three USAFE officials whilst standing near the fence of Ramstein Air Force Base on a cold Tuesday afternoon.
These, by the way very friendly men, are part of the OSI and trying to get spotters aware of the Eagle Eyes program. Such programs are not new, being incorporated by civil authorities at some airports earlier but it was news to me that the USAF is running such a program as well.

They handed out some flyers about this program (also see http://www.osi.af.mil/eagleeyes/index.asp) and in short it means that they ask you to keep your eyes open and report suspicious activities directly to them or the German police. They have a 24/7 phone number open (06371-472050).

During our short chat they appeared to be very welcoming to our hobby and spotters in general, they knew our hobby and appreciated it. Offcourse it is not an official USAF statement, but they told us of no restrictions of taking pictures (infrastructure etc.) or hanging around the field. But it is advisable to do this out in the open in stead of hiding in the bushes for example. Suspicious behavior will much sooner attract attention and please note, that base personnel is often required to report this immediately and alert security forces.
On the other hand, a video is out on the Mildenhall/ Lakenheath website telling about spotters and our hobby. So maybe things will become more easier in the future.

Meanwhile I think it is a step forward and to be open to such programs. They men told us that they make these rounds around the field regularly to hand out leaflets and to get to know who is around but also to let us know who they are. So don't be surprised if you are approached by one of the men, they are not there to chase you away!

Best regards,

Arjan

Strange the Americans seem quite jumpey these day's.
I was send away at Wiesbaden (twice) and at Ramstein i had a problem with the polizei they took a compact flash card with only landing aircraft i even offerd to wipe the card myself but the just ignored me.
I've never had a problem Germany until last week.

[Polleke_NL]

Next time suggest you call the number as mentioned; if the USAFE has no problems with it, why should the Polizei... But it would be a safe assumption that the Polizie is not even aware of this program and worked on their own...

Also, Polizie may be slow, but they never stay stupid for long. They now that erased pictures can be found again by using certain programs..

[Ergo01]

Off course we have also seen the recently installed robot eagle eyes on both runways ends.
It may be paranoid, but how do we recognize actual officials of this program from imposters?
On the other hand if any photo, even with infra, is allowed by USAFE officials, and any photo will be erased by Polizei, this will prevent any further heated discussion between spotters, photographers on various fora.

[Polleke_NL]

Actual officials are able, and very much willing to identify themselves, the apparent team leader even gave us his personal "business" card which included all the bells and whistels one could expect from such an official, including his actual badge in his wallet. But one simply has to bear in mind that this programm is rather new and we all know that politics as well as various official bodies don't communicate that well so it takes time for this to arrive at the various echelons.
Besides the apparent awknowledgement of our hobby's intend, for them this is also a cost saving initiative: these robot eyes can't cover the entire area, nor can their own reduced security forces and thus including the good willing spotters, they might still be able to cover both the in- as well as the outside of the fences.
From a personel perspective I think that, although the situation between spotters and officials might always remain a cat and mouse game to a certain extend, we should welcome this initiative and try to make the best out of it.
These guys, 3 in total, did not even bother to look at our cameras, inspite the fact that we were taking pictures of C-17's getting ready for take off at the runway, so through the fences, which normally it totally, utterly not done, so if that's representative for their future attitude, I would surely welcome this with open arms!!

[ATCSpooky]

"Met" the Eagle Eyes program in 2002 in Alaska!
So the program is running for more than 10 years now....

And to my opinion: it is a good thing!
And just like Japan: help them out as best as you can and you will have no problems at all!!

[gortje]

Hi guys,

Here is the link of Lakenheath with an video about aviation spotters: http://www.lakenheath.af.mil/news/story ... =123328178.
On Lakenheath they will organize 2 times a year an "Spotter Watch" for tail and plane spotters.
I hope that some other USAF bases wille follow to accept the plane spotters.

Regards,

Roelof-Jan Gort
http://www.rjgfotografie.com

[perry dirkx]

"Met" the Eagle Eyes program in 2002 in Alaska!
So the program is running for more than 10 years now....

And to my opinion: it is a good thing!
And just like Japan: help them out as best as you can and you will have no problems at all!!

The Eagle Eyes program is also a long running program in Europe as well.
Years ago i went to a chinese restaurant in the Spangdahlem village and there were flyers of the program
for the bennefit of the visitors to take home. Had it in my car for years, you never know if it would be handy,
but threw it away recently when cleaning my car..... Might be a good idea to get a new one.

Last weekend we were almost send away by the german police because the base security had called them, as they had seen us near the fence with our cameras, although not taking any pics.
First we had to go, then they wanted to take our cameras to the policestation to check for pictures taken over the fence.
Finaly it was okay to show them the pics....sic....
It is well known that its possible to restore deleted pics, if no more pics are made on that same data card.
So it might be a good idea to show them your pics, and if that's not enough, make some pics on the spot when they are still with you, and hope they get that as an excuse not to take your card. Just an idea.

Cheers,
Perry