Naval security force shuffle planned

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Sailors at Naval Station Mayport, Fla., practice vehicle inspections as part of a three-week auxiliary security force training class conducted by civilian contractors. The Navy will shift security force sailors over the next few years, with the most highly trained specialists placed at the most sensitive installations.


Naval security force shuffle planned
By Andrew Scutro - Staff writer
Posted : Saturday Nov 8, 2008 9:43:31 EST

NORFOLK, Va. — Naval security force sailors will be shifted over the next few years, with the most highly trained specialists placed at the most sensitive installations while sailors with basic security experience are made readily available in times of emergency.

The upcoming changes, announced in an Oct. 30 message, follow the identification of a “current imbalance of manning” that includes more than 9,000 masters-at-arms, as well as Navy civilian police and contract security guards.

Navy installations are being assessed by mission “tiers,” and protective forces gradually will be reassigned proportionately, said Capt. Sam McCormick, director of fleet anti-terrorism at Fleet Forces Command.

“It’s tiering them according to the significant operational mission, the assets assigned and the criticality of the base,” McCormick said. “So obviously the bases that have our strategic nuclear forces are at the top end of the tier, and our bases that are a Navy Exchange out in town are probably the smallest, or the recruiting center in a small town somewhere.”

There had been some 4,880 masters-at-arms just prior to Sept. 11, 2001, but that number jumped quickly. At the end of September 2008 there were 9,056 MAs, including those assigned as shipboard security, according to Fleet Forces Command.


Rest of article at: http://www.navytimes.com/news/2008/11/navy_securityforces_110808/%2e