FORT POLK, La. -- Imagine these scenes: It starts as a normal workday and becomes a nightmare when an explosion rips through an office building on Fort Polk. As emergency personnel respond to the scene and pull bodies from the wreckage, word of the disaster spreads across post as fast as the fire which engulfs the building.
A Family member remembers seeing a suspicious vehicle parked outside the office several times in the past week. A Soldier recalls a heavily loaded truck parked near the building just an hour before the explosion. One of the victim's friends recollects that a delivery driver asked pointed questions about office schedules three days before...
The Main Post Exchange is busy: It's lunch hour and hundreds of Soldiers, civilians, contractors and Family members wait in line at the food court and enjoy their lunch in the expansive dining area. The hectic scene turns tragic when three men pull guns out of their overcoats and methodically pick off victims in the crowd. One Soldier shields his Family and regrets not mentioning the suspicious looking men to a passing military policeman minutes before. A food vendor ducks behind the counter and remembers thinking an overcoat is an odd thing to wear in the summer in Louisiana...
Three buses of Soldiers are sideswiped on their way to Fort Polk from the airport in Alexandria. The Soldiers have just returned from a deployment to Afghanistan, and are killed one by one as they lay wrecked on the roadside in the middle of the forest. A few Soldiers make it to the wood line and escape, each one wondering if his "I'm landing in Alexandria at 11 p.m." comment on Facebook helped the terrorists plan their attack...
Fortunately, none of these disasters have taken place at Fort Polk, but the threat of terrorism is ever present. Each of the community members who noticed something out of place in the weeks leading up to the attacks in these scenarios could have helped prevent it if they had notified the proper authority. Alone, the facts may seem benign, but combined, law enforcement officials can often see a "big picture" of an impending terrorist act and prevent it.
Terrorism is an enduring, persistent, worldwide threat to the U.S. and the Army according to the Fort Polk Antiterrorism Office. That's why in August the Army is introducing iWatch, a new initiative to promote community involvement in antiterrorism efforts.
iWatch is an Armywide version of neighborhood watch that encourages and enables members of the community to help protect themselves by identifying and reporting suspicious behavior that is known to be associated with terrorist activities. iWatch requires individual awareness of one's surroundings and taking action to report suspicious activities to law enforcement for further investigation. iWatch emphasizes that every member of the Army community needs to be a sensor to help identify and prevent potential terrorist acts.
The program is sponsored by the Fort Polk AT Office, which operates the local antiterrorism hotline, analyzes terror threats and provides training for the Fort Polk community.
Roger Leslie, who works in the AT office, explained the new program. "iWatch is simple: If you see something, say something," he said. "We want people to stay alert and stay alive. Most terrorist activities that have been detected weren't discovered by investigators, it was people on the street who saw something out of place and reported it." In May, a plot to ignite a car bomb in Times Square in New York City was thwarted by passersby who noticed smoke coming from an abandoned sport utility vehicle. When the authorities were alerted, the area was evacuated and tragedy was averted.
Leslie was careful to point out that Fort Polk has not experienced any terrorist activity.
"We don't have any data showing that Fort Polk has been specifically targeted," he said. "But the national terrorism threat level is elevated and the foreign intelligence threat is high."
Leslie explained that foreign intelligence services are actively seeking sensitive information and that Soldiers and Army civilians should be careful about the use and disposal of information.
"Off-post computer networks may not have the security that military installations do," he said. "We have firewalls on post, but home networks may be more vulnerable."
Overall, the enemy can use seemingly unimportant bits of information to build a picture of U.S. assets and plans, just like friendly intelligence and law enforcement agencies lean about terrorist plans from small pieces of data.
Those small pieces of data are the focus of iWatch. Community members' awareness and reports to local law enforcement help predict and prevent attacks before they happen. "We want to get the support of the community," Leslie said. "Let's watch out for each other."
For more information visit www.army.mil and search for iWatch.
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