Protecting Those who Protect the Nation

PROTECTING THOSE WHO PROTECT THE NATION

The Pentagon Force Protection Agency

By Eric Tegler

The notion that the United States military needs protection is not one that routinely pops up in the popular imagination. But the need to protect the people who protect America is a reality, nowhere more so than at the nerve center of the armed forces.

As its history demonstrates, the Pentagon is the ultimate command and control center, a news-maker, policy-generator, political football, landmark, and symbol of the nation. Its role in American and world affairs brings with it the attention of those who would aim to disturb, disrupt, or destroy it.

But every day, the Pentagon draws a vastly greater number of Americans and guests of America who simply wish to visit and better understand the international icon. They too need assistance and protection, and their interest is equally vital to the men and women who protect the institution: the Pentagon Force Protection Agency (PFPA).

FROM GENERAL SERVICE TO FORCE PROTECTION

PFPA oversees the daily protection and safety of a population of about 26,000 military, Department of Defense (DOD) civilians, and contractors on the Pentagon Reservation. Its work goes on in the midst of the greater Washington, D.C., metropolitan area, home to approximately 6.1 million people, according to the 2016 U.S. Census.

Like the D.C. metro area population, the number of people dedicated to securing the Pentagon has expanded dramatically over 75 years. But as their numbers have grown, their focus has changed.

When the federal General Services Administration (GSA) was established in 1949 it, in turn, established the United States Special Policemen (USSP) to protect and secure a variety of institutions in Washington, D.C., and the Pentagon.

Initially, USSP managed and executed a relatively straightforward “guard-watchman” operation at the Pentagon‚ focusing on the protection of property. As the Pentagon grew in stature and American foreign policy gained increasing attention in the decades that followed, the building became a tourist attraction in its own right, drawing crowds to its grounds and inner courtyard.

Paramedics from Fairfax County, Virginia, Fire and Rescue move a casualty from a gurney to a stretcher for transportation to a local hospital during Exercise Gallant Fox outside of the Pentagon. The purpose of Gallant Fox was to enable the Pentagon Force Protection Agency (PFPA) to exercise emergency response units in a real world scenario and provide valuable training for PFPA to better serve occupants of the Pentagon.

U.S. Marine Corps Photo by Cpl. Eugene Clarke

The Pentagon Reservation also became the scene of a variety of increasing public free-speech and clandestine actions. With the United States’ increasing commitment of resources and forces to the Vietnam War came public opposition. In October 1967, approximately 35,000 antiwar protesters gathered at the Lincoln Memorial and marched across the Memorial Bridge toward the Pentagon.

They were met by more than 2,000 federal troops and USSP personnel in and around the building. When the crowd pressed toward the structure, soldiers repelled them with tear gas and fixed bayonets. The protest and associated clashes continued overnight with many arrests. However, there were no deaths and not a single shot was fired.

The antiwar movement continued to ferment, and in May 1972 a group called the Weather Underground placed a bomb in a women’s restroom inside the Pentagon. It detonated at 1:00 a.m. No one was injured and the $75,000 of damage done was relatively minor, but viewed through 21st century eyes, it is arguably the first high-profile act of terrorism against the Pentagon.

The Weather Underground bombing, protests, and other incidents forced the GSA to take another look at Pentagon security. The existing focus on protection of property was expanded to include comprehensive protection of the Pentagon Reservation and its personnel. The change was manifest with the establishment of the Federal Protective Service (FPS) in 1971. FPS continued the USSP Pentagon mission with the new, expanded emphasis.

The next reorganization came in 1987 when GSA Administrator Terence Golden delegated authority for protecting the Pentagon Reservation to the Department of Defense. DOD established the Defense Protective Service (DPS) – a new element within the Washington Headquarters Service (WHS) – to carry out the mission. DPS also took on security responsibilities beyond the 280- acre Pentagon Reservation, overseeing other DOD activities and facilities within the National Capital Region. During the early 1990s‚ the various security and security-related functions located within WHS were transferred to the DPS.

Pentagon renovations begun in the mid-1990s were nearly complete when a hijacked American Airlines (Flight 77) Boeing 757 slammed into the Pentagon’s first-floor west wall on Sept. 11, 2001. The Pentagon portion of the worst terrorism attack in American history took place 70 years to the day after construction of the building was begun in 1941.

By May 2002, reconstruction was well underway. Anthrax incidents in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks shook the Pentagon workforce still further. In light of these, Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz established the Pentagon Force Protection Agency as a DOD agency under the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD). The new agency absorbed and replaced DPS, taking on and further broadening its role of providing law enforcement and security for the Pentagon. crisis prevention‚ consequence management‚ counterintelligence‚ antiterrorism‚ Hazmat and explosives‚ protection of high-ranking DOD officials‚ information technology, and administrative issues.

A member of the Pentagon Force Protection Agency is decontaminated during an exercise at the Pentagon on Wednesday, May 17, 2006. During Exercise Gallant Fox 06, officials from Washington, D.C., area fire, emergency medical service, and police departments; military members; and members of the Pentagon Force Protection Agency participated in the exercise, which included decontamination and medical processing of victims of a simulated anthrax attack at the Pentagon.

U.S. Air Force Photo/Staff Stg. C. Todd Lopez

THE WORK BEHIND THE WELCOME

One of the most remarkable and admirable aspects of the Pentagon is that American citizens and guests of the country are welcome to visit it. The same cannot be said of most national military headquarters around the world. But the openness of American society and its relation to the military demand that this privilege be maintained.

It’s an immensely valuable feature of all that the Pentagon stands for. You can think of the Pentagon Force Protection Agency as the team that makes it possible.

It’s a team that has grown dramatically since 2002. PFPA started life with 340 employees. Today, more than 1,200 PFPA personnel work 24 hours a day to defend the Pentagon’s personnel‚ facilities‚ and infrastructure – and to ensure that Americans can see it up close.

The agency is organized under a single overall director and four subsidiary directors who oversee directorates ranging from police and protective services to antiterrorism force protection.

Jonathan H. Cofer is the director for the Pentagon Force Protection Agency, a position he assumed in November 2016 after serving nine years previously as the deputy director. Prior to his tenure at PFPA, Cofer served as the chief, Advanced Concepts and Technology Demonstration Division at the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA). Basically, he was responsible for ensuring the development and rapid fielding of information technology to the warfighter.

Cofer also served as the chief of staff of the Defense Security Service, where he oversaw the protection of U.S. and foreign classified information and technology as well as security professional education and development for DOD civilians and contractors.

A retired U.S. Army brigadier general, Cofer served as a military police officer for more than 30 years, with assignments including command of a 2,000-strong Army, Marine, and Air Force security and police force.

As PFPA director, Cofer is the DOD’s principal liaison with state and local authorities, and communicates directly with DOD components and other executive departments and agencies in carrying out his responsibilities.

These include not only protection of the people and infrastructure of the Pentagon but also other DOD-occupied facilities in the National Capital Region. As such, Cofer works collaboratively with a host of other federal law enforcement and force protection organizations within the region.

PFPA has four subsidiary directors of law enforcement, security integration and technology, threat management, and mission integration. Their authorities extend over directorates beginning with the Pentagon Police Department (PPD).

The Pentagon police have exclusive jurisdiction within the Pentagon Reservation and share concurrent jurisdiction with other police agencies in an area of approximately 275 acres around the complex. Arlington County, Virginia, also gives Pentagon Police officers conditional police authority throughout Arlington County.

Pentagon police officers are federal law enforcement officers, appointed under Title 10 Section 2674. They receive their initial training at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Centers in Glynco, Georgia.

They welcome visitors overtly and subtly by checking identification, credentials, and personal items, assisting visitors and their sponsors to various designated areas or offices. They patrol the reservation perimeter, facilitate the flow of vehicular and foot traffic, and when problems or incidents arise, they respond to the scene, coordinating their activity with other directorates.

The Anti-Terrorism Force Protection (AT/FP) Directorate advises Pentagon leaders on AT/FP threats, analyzing and disseminating threat information across the Pentagon. The directorate develops AT/FP contingency plans and perhaps most crucially, conducts antiterrorism training for all Pentagon and OSD workers.

AT/FP Level 1 antiterrorism awareness training covers incidents that have taken place and provides insight about terrorist groups that operate in the Pentagon and national capitol area. Given to the tens of thousands of DOD military and civilians at the Pentagon, it not only equips employees to deal with a crisis situation, it effectively crowdsources their ability to recognize anomalies in day-to-day affairs and present information to AT/ FP for analysis or action.

(Left to right) Joseph Odom, facility antiterrorism officer, meets with Pentagon Force Protection Agency antiterrorism integrated vulnerability assessment team members Walter Jones and Howard Gillespie, along with Linwood Barrett, PFPA’s facility antiterrorism officer, to discuss vulnerabilities of the Pentagon executive motor pool, March 23, 2011.

DOD Photo by Shannon Giles

Spotting anomalies is also central to PFPA’s Force Protection Technology Directorate (FPTD) and Security Services Directorate (SSD). The former manages the agency’s computers and networks as well as its sensors and security alarms. FPTD also operates the extensive network of computerized locks that control building access. A segment of its work is administrative, but as its responsibilities suggest, FPTD is keenly attuned to cyber and electromagnetic interference threats, as well as sensor detection of physical activity.

The SSD issues Pentagon building passes. It operates all barriers and gates that control access on the Pentagon campus. It reviews all requests from people to take pictures of the Pentagon.

When an incident or act of crime does arise, the Criminal Investigations & Protective Directorate (CIPD) investigates the matter within the jurisdiction of the agency. PFPA special agents are tasked with responsibility for such criminal investigations. The agents also provide protection during visits by foreign ministers of defense to the United States. Other visits, designated by OSD, enjoy the PFPA special agent protection as well.

CIPD’s Operations Section is responsible for coordinating protection missions and providing around-the-clock support for field agents. Those include agents in the Protective Services Unit (PSU), which provides support for the OSD and the chairman and vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the Pentagon building.

Police officers assigned to PSU cover protection for special events on the Pentagon Reservation, like the dedication of the 9/11 memorial. The officers also provide residence security in hotels while traveling with high-risk personnel both inside and outside of the United States.

The Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear, Directorate (CBRN) guards the Pentagon and other nearby DOD facilities against possible attacks, maintaining timely threat intelligence. CBRN also monitors the environment at the Pentagon and DOD installations to make sure such hazards are not present. CBRN personnel get the call when a suspicious item is found, bomb experts (often with dogs from the Police Canine Division) are sent to examine and sometimes to destroy the item.

All Pentagon mail and deliveries are checked by CBRN at the Remote Delivery Facility. Multiple technologies are used to screen incoming mail and packages, including all overnight deliveries for possible hazards. Every day, the CBRN screens an average of 3,900 pieces of cargo that includes USPS mail, packages, and parcels as well as concessionaire items, such as food and flowers. Approximately 800,000 pieces of mail and 75,000 commercial parcels are screened annually.

In addition to checking incoming material, PFPA is responsible for destroying classified materials. Not surprisingly, a large proportion of the documents, files, and illustrations in use at the Pentagon are classified in nature. Disposing of materials no longer in use or otherwise redundant to ensure they don’t fall into the wrong hands is a critical task.

Above: Then-Secretary of Defense Leon E. Panetta is saluted as he arrives for the Pentagon Force Protection Agency’s 10-year anniversary celebration at the Pentagon May 2, 2012. The agency was established in response to 9/11 and the October 2001 anthrax attacks.

DOD Photo by Glenn Fawcett

Just as critical is coordinating the monitoring and security functions of various PFPA components in real time. That responsibility falls to PFPA’s Integrated Emergency Operations Center (IEOC), the locus of agency awareness and coordination at any time of day, 24/7.

In 2011, Integrated Emergency Operations Center assistant supervisor Patrick Meister offered insight into some of the behindthe-scenes action at the IEOC.

“We have cameras throughout the Pentagon, so any time an event happens on the reservation, I can record it for evidence, or monitor it for officer safety, or ask for backup,” he said. The IEOC also monitors emergency management communications for the Washington area and can use that system to reach out to the 200 emergency response agencies in the region.

“We also monitor [Federal Aviation Administration] communications, so we can listen to aircraft that are coming our way,” he added. “These are all capabilities we didn’t have on 9/11.”

Retired U.S. Marine Corps Cpl. William Kyle Carpenter, center, poses for a photo with Pentagon Force Protection Agency and Arlington County Police Department officers outside Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Washington, D.C., June 16, 2014. Carpenter received the Medal of Honor from President Barack Obama during a ceremony at the White House on Thursday, June 19, 2014.

U.S. Marine Corps Photo by Cpl. Michael C. Guinto

The IEOC watch team includes a section from PFPA’s CBRN directorate. CBRN has a variety of chemical, biological, and radiological sensors internally and externally on the reservation (known as the SENTRY Warning & Decision Support System). If any of these is triggered, an alert will be actuated on IOEC monitors. The team will then follow a set of protocols for notifying PFPA/Pentagon command and control leadership.

The center also monitors the vast array of physical alarms in Defense Department-leased facilities throughout the National Capital Region, a task that significantly increases its workload.

A quarterly exercise gathers all key PFPA directorates and offices around a table to walk through a scenario and discuss how they would respond to given situations. The scenarios examined and the discussion they generate can reveal gaps in antiterrorism awareness, force protection, and planning.

Exercises, including large-scale casualty event simulations, are ongoing at the Pentagon throughout the year. These are often visible from the roads around the Pentagon Reservation. That visibility is a reminder that PFPA never takes a day off and that its vigilance is a central piece of the work behind the welcome to the Pentagon. There’s one more little-known but highly symbolic element of the agency’s work.

FLYING THE FLAG

Ordinary (and extraordinary) Americans can request that an American flag of their own possession may be flown over the Pentagon. The request may be made to fly the flag on a certain date to honor a retirement, birthday, or other significant event. PFPA makes it possible and is the agent through which such a request can be made. Visit www.pfpa.mil/services/flagpnt.html

After flying, the flag is returned to the individual(s) who sent it. It is perhaps the ultimate symbolic privilege given to all Americans by the men and women protecting those who protect the nation.