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•🧑✈️ Who: Eglin Air Force Base, 96 Air Base Wing, General Jeffrey Geraghty (former commander)
•🚢 What: Closure of portions of Boggy Bayou and Choctawhatchee Bay due to security concerns
•📅 When: Announced earlier this week (exact date not specified)
•📍 Where: Waters near Eglin AFB, including Boggy Bayou and Choctawhatchee Bay
•❓ Why: Base officials cite security threats, using federal authority under 33 CFR Part 334 to restrict access
Eglin Air Force Base announced earlier this week that they would close off a significant portion of the water in Boggy Bayou, Choctawhatchee Bay and other areas due to water and air borne threats.
While they didn’t specify what those threats might be, or if malign actors had made any such statements or taken action – they did tell us what authority they were going to use to close it.
According to Eglin Air Force Base – 33 CFR Part 334 (CFR stands for Code of Federal Regulations, the rulebook of the Federal Government) allows them to close waters near the base for security purposes.
33 CFR Part 334.700.b.1 specifically says, “All persons, vessels and other craft are permitted access to the restricted area described in paragraph (a) of this section. Any person or vessel within the restricted area will be subject to identification checks by U.S. Air Force patrol boats. During times of high-security threats against Eglin AFB, all entry, transit, anchoring or drifting within the restricted area described in paragraph (a) of this section for any reason is not allowed without the permission of the Commander, 96 Air Base Wing, Eglin AFB, and his/her authorized representative.”
So, long story short, Eglin does have a strong case to be able to shut down waterways near the base for security purposes.
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This is just the latest change to come to Eglin Air Force Base in relation to the outside world in regards to security.
Last year, Eglin changed the rules for getting on base. At the time, then-commander General Jeffrey Geraghty made the change to “help them attain the required level of security for base operations,” according to a press release at the time.
The base also clamped down on access to some on-base thoroughfares in the wake of the death of an Army Special Forces noncommissioned officer in a hunting accident late last year.
