Sill security tightens due to ISIL threat

FORT SILL, Okla. -- Gates were backed up Monday morning as military police used extra measures as part of U.S. Northern Command's directive to raise force protection conditions due to recent activity by the Islamic State (ISIL).

The order came down May 8 and Soldiers and Department of Defense civilians received notice via the Fort Sill AtHoc unified mass warning notification system.

"This change is not a result of a specific threat to Fort Sill, but we are taking prudent steps to ensure the post remains safe," said Maj. Gen. John Rossi, Fires Center of Excellence and Fort Sill commanding general. "With the growing threat of home-grown extremists, we are taking safety precautions to ensure Lawton-Fort Sill remains a safe community for all Soldiers, their families and employees."

Examples of these extremists are John Booker Jr. who entered the Army Delayed Entry Program and tried to detonate a bomb in April at Fort Riley, Kan., posting on Facebook about "the adrenaline rush" of dying in jihad.

Even more recently, Elton Simpson and Nadir Soofi, were killed at a Prophet Mohammed drawing contest in Garland, Texas after Simpson tweeted "May Allah accept us as mujahideen."

"One of the main threats we have is that people are becoming influenced through social media and are starting to believe in the cause of ISIL," said Robert Daul, post anti-terrorism officer.

To thwart any terrorist plot here random antiterrorism measures are conducted at an unpredictable frequency.

"The goal is to disrupt any terrorist planning cycle. One of the first measures in the terrorist planning cycle is surveillance. If someone is looking in on Fort Sill and they see a routine develop then they understand what the routine is and they can plan off that routine. Increasing different random anti-terrorism measures will disrupt that surveillance plan," said Daul.

As the post's posture increased individual units took measures to secure their areas as well.

"Every building is required to have a building manager and every building manager is supposed to develop an emergency action plan that talks about shelter-in-place and evacuation procedures," said Daul.

Fort Sill was previously at FPCON Alpha and is in Bravo until further notice. Daul described the different levels Alpha through Delta as going from normal procedures, to increased security measures based on information and intelligence, to a specific threat has been identified in this area, to a terrorist incident has occurred in Delta.

Training

Daul said the most effective technique to prevent a terrorist attack is training and awareness of all of Sill personnel.

Anti-terrorism training raises awareness of outside forces looking to gather information from post, and operational security teaches individuals how to safeguard information so there's no spillage.

"Your Anti-terrorism Level I training that you do online once a year, and you can do it more than once a year if you want as a refresher, talks about individual protective measures: being aware of your surroundings, varying your routes, don't be stuck in a routine."

Threat Awareness Reporting Program training teaches the signs of someone who is trying to take insider information and feed it to an outside organization that wants to do harm.

All TARP training is from 2-4 p.m. at the Fort Sill Conference Center, Building 6045, on the east side of post.

Training dates are June 1, July 6, Aug. 3 and Sept. 14.

For more information about TARP training call 580-442-3726.

Daul said while ISIL is asking for lone offenders to gather and attack military and law enforcement personnel there are ways of making it harder for them to identify targets:

• Limiting references to the military, government or law enforcement employment on social media and increasing privacy settings.

• Not wearing a uniform during off-duty hours or discussing military information in public.

• Removing license plate holders, stickers, and other visual items that may affiliate you or family members to the military, government or law enforcement.

"I'm not saying don't be proud of who you are: your unit or organization, what you do and that you're a part of DoD, but let's look at the signature you're putting out against the times that we're facing," said Daul.

See something, say something

To report suspicious activity use the iWatch link on the intranet or Fort Sill website, or call iWatch at 580-558-0000.

Other important numbers:

Fort Sill Military Police: 580-442-2102/2103

Lawton Crime Stoppers: 580-355-4636

iSalute: 1-800-CALL-SPY, 1-800-225-5779

Call 911 for all emergencies.