Air Forces Northern launched a new command hub to handle non-airborne threats to the United States. The Domestic Operations Desk is located within the 601st Air and Space Operations Center at Tyndall AFB, Fla. It is continuously staffed with liaison officers to quickly assemble response experts and to alert command authorities in case of domestic attack, states a March 28 base release. “Before we established DOMOPS, senior leadership would receive operational and awareness updates from multiple agencies,” said John Brooks, chief of force protection. “With this concept, all routine, non-air-domain operational reporting to the AFNORTH commander will route through DOMOPS” and pass up the chain, if needed, he said. DOMOPS’ primary taskings include chemical, biological, nuclear, and radiological events; terrorism; land-based threats; cyber attack; aiding civil authorities; and theater security cooperation. AFNORTH stood up the desk on March 24. The command expects it to reach full operational capability by the end of May. (Tyndall report by Mary McHale)
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