Photo By Erin Thompson | An OV-1D Mohawk on the flightline at Fort Huachuca. Note the USAICS insignia on the tail.... read more read more
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by Lori S. Stewart, USAICoE Command Historian
OPERATION HAWKEYE BEGINS SUPPORT TO CUSTOMS SERVICE
In October 1983, the U.S. Army Intelligence Center and School (USAICS) at Fort Huachuca, Arizona, launched Operation HAWKEYE, a training exercise for the 96H Aerial Sensor Specialist and the F19 OV-1D Aviator Combat Surveillance Qualification courses. Not only did the exercises offer more realistic training for students, but the effort also helped the U.S. Customs Service’s Border Patrol in its efforts to curb drug smuggling in southeastern Arizona.
In early 1983, Capt. Daniel Cull, chief of the Imagery Exploitation Division (IED) of USAICS’ Department of Surveillance and Systems Maintenance (DSSM), and Sgt. Maj. Robert Spires, chief of the Department of Tactics, Intelligence, and Military Science’s Enlisted Training Division, collaborated on a method to inject realism into courses under their charge. Specifically, they wanted to incorporate training exercises that approximated real-world missions for Cull’s OV-1D Mohawk pilots and Spires’ 96H aerial observers (the Mohawk’s right seaters). Their counterparts in DSSM’s Ground Surveillance Division were already in discussions with local Border Patrol offices about a mutually beneficial training proposal for the Ground Surveillance Radar course. Cull and Spires believed their students could provide equally beneficial support to the Border Patrol’s drug interdiction efforts while enhancing aerial reconnaissance training.
On Jul. 7, 1983, Deputy Under Secretary of the Army John W. Shannon briefed Vice President George H. W. Bush’s drug interdiction committee. Shannon highlighted USAICS’ training initiatives, including the proposed aerial reconnaissance exercises dubbed Operation HAWKEYE. With the committee’s enthusiastic backing and intense scrutiny, Secretary of the Army John O. Marsh approved USAICS’ request to conduct off-post training. Over the next several months, USAICS and Customs Service representatives met regularly to discuss and refine the operations.
The first Operation HAWKEYE flights began in October 1983. HAWKEYE required no increase in funding and very little change to the existing training exercises for the courses. The OV-1D Mohawk and its KS-113 camera system were already being used to take panoramic photos of the terrain around Fort Huachuca. Instead of flying the usual loop north of Fort Huachuca, however, the flight path was shifted to the south and extended off-post between the Arizona border towns of Douglas to the east and Nogales to the west.
Because the Posse Comitatus Act prohibited the military services from conducting any autonomous drug interdiction activities, the photographs taken during the exercises were passed to the Border Patrol for interpretation and analysis. Captain Cull’s division took a series of aerial photographs of the border to establish an imagery baseline and identify “hot spots”. The Border Patrol used this imagery intelligence database to compare later images taken by USAICS students to find any alterations in the terrain, such as broken fences or evidence of increased activity on trails and roads.
By mid-1984, USAICS was flying six HAWKEYE missions per month. The Customs Service, “pleased and impressed” with the results, shared the effort with the National Narcotics Border Interdiction System (NNBIS), which then began funding unprogrammed flights by USAICS aviators not associated with training. This garnered USAICS national attention. At that time, DSSM began to incorporate the Mohawk’s side-looking airborne and infrared radar systems into the training exercises, and aircrews were taught how to identify low-flying aircraft penetrating U.S. airspace. This information was passed in real time to Customs officials in Tucson. As the mission continued to expand, DSSM began discussions with the U.S. Air Force to contribute support to Operation HAWKEYE.
Operation HAWKEYE, which continued throughout the 1980s, proved successful for both USAICS training and Border Patrol drug interdiction activities. Col. (Ret.) Charles Atkins, who at one time led the program, recalled that the realistic training better prepared students for similar missions they would fly, such as those along the demilitarized zone in Korea. For the Border Patrol, in a single year representative of the results, the operation identified 518 suspicious movements, which led to the detention of 176 individuals.
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| Date Taken: | 09.26.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 09.26.2025 17:01 |
| Story ID: | 549460 |
| Location: | US |
| Web Views: | 32 |
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