OFFUTT AIR FORCE BASE, Neb. -- The 55th Wing passed the Cyber Command Readiness Inspection that ran May 23-27 with one of the highest scores in the Air Force.
The inspection, conducted by the Defense Information Systems Agency, focused on infrastructure, wireless technologies, network defense and network security. Inspectors also inspected offices and interviewed members of Team Offutt at random, testing the 55th Wing’s culture of operational security and information protection.
“It’s something just to pass,” said U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Sarah Cleveland, commander of the 55th Communications Squadron here. “The inspector who did physical security checks said he didn’t find a single unattended common access card or Secret Internet Protocol Router token. For a base this size, that is unheard of. It’s a big deal, and it was noted that it was a team effort – that it wasn’t just the communications squadron doing their thing. It was a wing-wide effort. Everyone they talked to at the wing knew all about the CCRI, knew what they were supposed to be doing.”
Cleveland also credits the pass to the efforts of first-term Airmen within the squadron, many of whom are new to both the base and the career field – including U.S. Air Force Airman First Class Jonathan James, a member of the 55th CS who was named by the inspectors as one of the outstanding performers of the inspection.
“I’ve been working for the past six months on the Protected Distribution System program – getting documentation in place, performing inspections and ensuring that we’re in compliance,” James said. “We’ve definitely come a long way from where we started.”
Despite only having been in the Air Force a short time, Cleveland said James’ efforts directly contributed to the wing’s pass.
“Most wings flat out fail his part of the inspection – they don’t even try,” she said. “But his work was so meticulous, and he did such a good job educating the customer, they couldn’t find anything wrong. So this section, which always gets written up, didn’t. The only reason we passed that portion was because of him. It’s a big deal.”
Despite the praise, James has yet to relax.
“Now we have follow-usp, ensuring that we’re remaining compliant and didn’t just pull stuff off the network just to make it look nice for the inspection,” he said.
The follow ups will occur at 15, 30, 60 and 90-day intervals. Even after those follow-ups have passed, Cleveland said members of the 55th Wing need to stay vigilant.
“In the future, these inspections will be no notice,” she said. “We played within their rules and passed, but next time we may not be so lucky.”
Still, Cleveland is confident Team Offutt will pull through.
“You’ll hear people say, ‘Sometimes you have to make a choice – do you want people to move a molehill a mile, or a mountain an inch?’” she said. “But in preparing for this inspection, we moved a mountain further than most squadrons have ever moved a molehill. And that’s because of our senior airmen and below. I think the important take away in all of this is that you don’t have to have a lot of stripes on your sleeve or a lot of stuff on your collar in order to make a difference. Because they really did.”