Our Incident Command Center continues to monitor the situation closely and how it will impact Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. We are watching any significant changes in positive cases and want to ensure the truly worst is behind us before any installation decisions are made. Because of this, I am extending our Public Health Emergency declaration for an additional 30 days. All the guidance given to our community remains in place.
Here locally, Gov. Mike DeWine said the Ohio state economy will begin the process of reopening on May 1. That is some much-needed good news. He also said people should prepare themselves as masks and social distancing may be the new normal.
Our Air Force and Department of Defense leadership is looking at all options—keeping in mind the No. 1 priority in the COVID-19 response is the protection of our service members, civilians and their families. We do know the DOD stop movement order has been extended from May 11 to June 30 and are awaiting additional guidance and will share that broadly as it may impact a number of us.
We must expect that we won’t go back to business as usual. Our telework capability has been enhanced to such a degree that it may be larger part of the new normal. Our leadership is reviewing how we as an Air Force will conduct operations in the future and apply the lessons learned so our military can continue to be effective in a post-COVID-19 operating environment.
To meet with DOD force protection guidance, we made changes to base entry procedures. In response to COVID-19 and our current health protection condition, only personnel with a valid Department of Defense identification card, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base visitor pass, or other base-issued pass will be allowed entry to the installation.
We will not be able to accept state-issued drivers’ licenses, passports and other government-issued identification cards previously accepted for access with an escort. Guests age 16 or older without a valid ID will need to obtain a visitor pass.
Visitor passes may be obtained from the Visitor Control Center, which is currently open Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. After those hours, visitors may receive a pass from Gate 12A (Air Force Materiel Command HQ gate) for Area A and Gate 19B (National Road gate) for Area B. Please be patient and allow for extra time at the gates as the entry controllers conduct 100 percent identification checks for all vehicle passengers entering the installation. For the safety of our workers and yourselves, anyone entering the visitor center is required to wear a face mask.
Good news for our uniformed population is that the DOD has released its guidance for special leave accrual to account for the current movement restrictions in place. Anyone performing active service between March 11 and Sept. 30 are authorized to accumulate annual leave in excess of 60 days—not to exceed 120 total days. The leave can be retained for use until the end of fiscal 2023 (Sept. 30, 2023).
One caveat is this authorization does not apply to those who are authorized to accumulate leave in excess of 60 days as of Oct. 1, 2020. To the greatest extent possible, leaders and supervisors will encourage to use the leave in the year it was earned.
For our civilian workforce, I can tell you that discussions are ongoing, and the details have not been released yet. We will ensure the information is shared with the community as soon as we receive it.
Our current environment has caused an even bigger reliance on cyberspace capabilities. Our adversaries will try to take advantage of this increased reliance, so it is more important than ever to stay vigilant. One of the easiest attack vectors to gain access to our networks is through phishing. I’m relying on everyone to be on the lookout for phishing attempts and help ensure the security of our information and capabilities.
The following are some quick ways to help identify a phishing attempt:
- Suspicious sender’s address: Verify the sender’s address is from a legitimate business or organization. Cybercriminals often use an email address that closely resembles one from a reputable company by altering or omitting a few characters.
- Generic greetings and signature: Both a generic greeting—such as “Dear Valued Customer” or “Sir/Ma’am”—and a lack of contact information in the signature block are strong indicators of a phishing email. A trusted organization will normally address you by name and provide their contact information.
- Spoofed hyperlinks and websites: If you hover your cursor over any links in the body of the email, and the links do not match the text that appears when hovering over them, the link may be spoofed. Malicious websites may look identical to a legitimate site, but the URL may use a variation in spelling or a different domain (e.g., .com vs. .net). Additionally, cybercriminals may use a URL shortening service to hide the true destination of the link.
- Spelling and layout: Poor grammar and sentence structure, misspellings, and inconsistent formatting are other indicators of a possible phishing attempt. Reputable institutions have dedicated personnel that produce, verify, and proofread customer correspondence.
- Suspicious attachments: An unsolicited email requesting a user download and open an attachment is a common delivery mechanism for malware. A cybercriminal may use a false sense of urgency or importance to help persuade a user to download or open an attachment without examining it first.
If you suspect a phishing attempt, contact your organization’s cybersecurity liaison, your local help desk or the 88 CS Cyberspace Operations Center (comm.focal.point@us.af.mil). For more information on how to identify and combat phishing, please visit the National Cyber Awareness System or the DoD Cyber Exchange.
You are our most important priority. The health, well-being and safety of your family members – those that call Wright-Patterson home and those who work here –are our utmost priority. Please stay up to speed with the latest information on Wright-Patterson. I encourage you to stay connected to our website: www.wpafb.af.mil/coronavirus . Our Facebook page is also a good platform as well: www.facebook.com/wpafb/.
After some much appreciated feedback from all of you, we made an adjustment to the time of our town hall to prevent a conflict with the White House Press Briefing. Please tune in to our weekly FacebookLive town hall on Wednesday at 4:30 p.m. We look forward to taking your questions and you can submit them anytime to our Public Affairs office at 88ABW.PA@us.af.mil.
As I started at the beginning of the message, our collective efforts are working, and we are tackling the mission in the process. This is a tremendous example of our grit. Grit is an almost raw-sounding word, but it means so much. Grit is our perseverance through any adversity. It the courage and resolve to succeed in the long game.
Our collective grit is crafting a driving force throughout Wright-Patterson that we will overcome any obstacle, that we will triumph in beating this and that we will come out stronger because of it. Ultimately, our grit has created a powerful motivation that we WILL get through this and our unbeatable spirit guarantees that we will get through this together!
I sincerely hope that you have a safe, enjoyable and healthy weekend.
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