NCIS - 2020 Year in Review

NAVAL CRIMINIAL INVESTIGATIVE SERVICE

In 2020, Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) Sigonella continued its mission of supporting the NAS Sigonella community, albeit with some changes that became necessary in a COVID-19 operating environment. Our organization’s guiding principles are agility, integration, and impact, and throughout the year we have had to embrace new ways to remain faithful to those ideals. As always, we were focused on three things: preventing terrorism, protecting secrets, and reducing crime.

As the “Hub of the Med,” NASSIG remains a potential target for extremist groups and foreign adversaries. Our job here is to identify, analyze, investigate and counter threats to our community. In 2020, part of that responsibility included providing protection to senior leaders visiting the area. To support this mission, in February we welcomed a new intelligence specialist with the language skills and experience to help us keep a pulse on what’s happening in our area of responsibility.

During the strict lockdown measures imposed in March and April of 2020, we saw a sharp decrease in incidents of crime, both within our DoD community and across the local area. Overall, though, the number of reports we received in 2020 remained relatively comparable to previous years. What was different about this year was how we conducted investigations. COVID-19 safety became a paramount concern, and as a result we conducted more remote or virtual interviews, practiced social distancing, and put a greater emphasis on the use of personal protective equipment (PPE).

Increasing integration with NASSIG commands and our host nation counterparts was one of our top priorities in 2020. Our agents routinely met with commanders to discuss emerging threats and the proactive steps were are taking to minimize any potential negative impacts to their respective missions. We worked with the Security Department to provide training to patrol units and collaborate on areas of shared interest. We worked closely with our partners from the Sexual Assault Prevention and Response team and Family Advocacy Program. Our office also grew our relationships with host nation law enforcement agencies such as the Carabinieri and Polizia di Stato. Working together, we were able to curb criminal activity outside the fence line that impacted our community.

Earlier this month we said “fair winds and following seas” to our colleague, Special Agent Veronica Caban de Gracia from the Air Force Office of Special Investigations. Though her primary focus was supporting U.S. Air Force personnel and assets, she was a strong advocate for the entire Sigonella community and a dedicated law enforcement partner. She will be missed.

In all, 2020 challenged us all to find ways to accomplish our mission with minimal interpersonal interaction and an increased reliance on digital communication. Despite these hurdles, we like to think that our efforts have helped make Sigonella a safer and more secure community. All of us are grateful to continue to support the NASSIG mission in 2021.