Mitigating risks focus of training | News

Soldiers all across Fort Hood have been learning about the different forms of antiterrorism, how to report something and where to report something during Antiterrorism Awareness Month training every Tuesday in August at Howze Auditorium.

“Any job in the Army is going to have access to some information,” Special Agent Timothy Sellers, a counter intelligence officer with the Fort Hood Field Office, advised Soldiers attending Tuesday’s Threat Awareness and Response Program training.

To help mitigate the risk of Soldiers and their families becoming the target of terrorism, the Fort Hood Force Protection office is conducting a series of training opportunities throughout the month. Classes are designed to prepare people for threats they might face.

The major theme among the guest speakers during Tuesday’s training was to advise Soldiers that threats may be seen or unseen, and may come in a variety of different ways. Remaining vigilant is always the best bet and if something seems wrong, say something before something goes wrong.

“Patience and persistence are the watchwords for defeating terrorists. They are patient and cunning, and are waiting for you to let down your guard or settle into a pattern of predictable behavior,” Master Sgt. Akinola Oladipo, force protection specialist with Fort Hood’s Directorate of Plans, Training, Mobilization and Security Force Protection office, told the audience. “Don’t be a tempting target.”

Physical threats are not the only prevention discussed during the training. Brian Lynch, director of the Fort Hood Network Enterprise Center, discussed the unseen threat of cyber security. While computer threats are a common form of cyber threat, unknown forms include counterfeit devices, smart TVs and appliances, web cams, smart watches, drones, personal devices, wireless devices, GPS and even vehicles.

“All the vehicles right now are all computerized,” Lynch said, explaining that a single vehicle has more than a million lines of code. “That is a huge area for them (terrorists) to exploit.”

Lynch presented a short video about the owner of a car dealership who hired a cyber security company to…