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The Military Source Operations Branch (MSOB) is responsible for training Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines, and civilian personnel in the conduct of MSO. The MSOB conducts five courses: Source Operations Course, Advanced Source Operations Course, Joint HUMINT Officer's Course, Joint Source Validation Course, and Joint Foreign Materiel Acquisition Course.
These courses present new concepts and principles in the classroom, and then use exercises to provide experiential training. The principles are exercised in realistic training environments where students can safely learn from mistakes in a series of controlled situations. Training and evaluation are conducted by instructors who are both trained and experienced in the conduct of source operations at the appropriate levels for the individual courses.
Source Operations Course
The Source Operations Course (SOC) trains students to conduct MSO in a kinetic threat environment as part of a team. Students are prepared to conduct secure human source operations to collect positive intelligence information against terrorist, insurgent, and criminal organizations and personnel, and other hostile elements and activities that may pose a threat to friendly forces deployed to a theater of operations. SOC has received Joint Certification for its program of instruction.
The SOC is seven weeks long, and is used by some Defense HUMINT Executors to certify graduates to conduct MSO Category 2 operations. The class size is 42 students with ten courses held each fiscal year. An expansion campus in Tucson, Arizona, trains an additional twelve students six times per year. The SOC does not conduct training assistance visits or offer mobile training teams (MTTs).
Upon graduating, U.S. Army students are awarded the Additional Skill Identifier (ASI) S7. The SOC provides one third of the Army's training for Area of Concentration (AOC) 35F, HUMINT Officer. The other two required courses are the Joint HUMINT Officer Course, part of the MSOB, and the Joint Interrogation Management Course (JIMC), which is managed by the HT-JCOE Interrogation Branch.
Students are placed in two-person teams when they arrive at SOC. They are briefed on the live problem that will govern their behavior through the rest of the course. The SOC maintains a high operational tempo and students' time management, work prioritization, and organizational skills are stressed. They receive classroom instruction in MSO techniques, then immediately implement and practice these techniques...