Development of the Air Force food defense program; a model for interagencies cooperation

The deliberate contamination of our nation's food supply is a real threat that has dictated the necessity to develop active food vulnerability assessment programs. What is the Department of Defense doing to develop their programs? How can local Air Force bases work with local health departments? The USAF Food Defense Program has been an active program since 2001 and continues to expand with the cooperation with other DOD services as well as non-DoD agencies. The co-operative nature during the on-going development of this program is an example of how to develop a synergistic relationship between multiple agencies to better serve both the DOD populations and the civilian populations. Protecting only Air Force assets is not enough to protect our nation's population. Only through collaborative efforts can we all benefit from each other's programs while minimizing redundancy and maximizing efficiency.