The Secretary of Defense, the Honorable William Cohen, finished his recent visit to the Air Intelligence Agency in front of building 2000.

I wanted to emphasize to him that AIA is an integral part of the operational force, manned by information operators. It seemed fitting to do so while within sight of the EC-47 in our parking lot.

Since the organization began as the U.S. Air Force Security Service, AIA personnel have been working as "operators" on a constant basis, and in turn have been vulnerable to "operational" risks and dangers.

AIA members were shot down over Laos in 1973 and we awarded 16 purple hearts to AIA personnel wounded in the Khobar Towers explosion in 1996.

Most people aren't aware that the people of this command have always been on the front lines. The EC-47 is an obvious reminder, yet there are other subtle tributes all around us. Our main thoroughfare on Security Hill is called Hall Blvd., to honor the memory of Staff Sgt. Elmore Hall, an EC-47 crewmember killed when his plane went down in South Vietnam in 1969. Building 2013, now Leftwich Dormitory, was memorialized for Tech. Sgt. Raymond Leftwich, another EC-47 crewmember killed in action in Vietnam. (Now you may have a better understanding why the EC-47 is prominently displayed in front of our building.)

This is not to say that our sacrifices as a service and command are ancient history. As recently as 1995, a cryptolinguist and 15-year veteran of AIA, Tech. Sgt. Ernest Parrish, was lost in an E-3 Airborne Warning and Control System aircraft accident out of Elmendorf Air Force Base, Alaska.

From 1947 to 1994, there were 420 known air reconnaissance casualties. Of that number, just over 33 percent were killed in action, being either in battle or enroute to or from a combat mission. Nineteen percent of our airmen lost their lives due to hostile acts by another country without a formal declaration of war.

From those statistics, it is clear that flying reconnaissance missions, so important to our past and current mission of gaining and exploiting information, has been an extremely dangerous profession throughout much of the Air Force's history.

The airmen who gave their lives while performing the many missions of air reconnaissance were as varied as the aircraft and locations in which they flew and "fought." They performed in a variety of positions and specialties that indicated both direct and indirect links to air reconnaissance. Many were associated with similar disciplines, such as electronic combat or electronic warfare or intelligence, while others were obviously tied to critical roles dealing with the operation or maintenance of the aircraft and its systems.

The advent of information operations only gives a new dimension to our active participation in this nation's defense.

The point that stands out loud and clear is that although we have only recently articulated our core values for the Air Force, it is obvious they were manifested in the actions of the men and women who have served us so well, embodying the tenets of service before self, integrity first and excellence in all we do. We give of ourselves every day by working long hours, going on deployments and finding the extra energy for additional projects and outside activities. In doing so, we commemorate the achievements of everyone in the past who have worked and fought and lost their lives for our continuing mission to our nation's defense.

As Secretary Cohen concluded his visit, he was absolutely focused on what I was saying and looked me square in the eye as I recounted those incidents. He understood and appreciated the history of sacrifice and devotion to duty which has made our nation and our organization so successful and effective. You should be proud, too.

May Spokesman On-Line