Civil Air Patrol transitions under to new administrative agency

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) - The Civil Air Patrol is also referred to as the U.S. Air Force’s civilian arm, and previously operated under the Department of Public Safety.

However, two months ago the Alaska Civil Air Patrol switched administrative agencies.

“They have moved us over under the Department of Veterans and Military Affairs,” said Civil Air Patrol Col. Kevin McClure. “Which we think is going to be a good fit to the overall mission of Civil Air Patrol and we are hoping that we can work really well with them. We’ve worked hard with our troopers doing search and rescue.”

For over 65 years, the Civil Air Patrol has helped the inland search and rescue functions for the Air Force. The transition under this department, officials said, is something they are excited about and feel CAP will heavily succeed under.

“Because we have all those missions and they integrate, much better with the department. So we are excited about the partnerships and the opportunities to explore those as we go forward,” said CAP Lt. Col. Brian Porter said.

The new arrangement was made possible due to a $250,000 grant that was awarded to CAP by the Division of Homeland Security and Emergency management.

The organization said that they believe this new partnership will open doors for CAP. They hope it will allow them to gain more support from the bases and additional support when working closely with the Air National Guard.

“They do search and rescue and we partner with the guard rescue center, Air Force rescue center, and being under General Saxe, it’s going to come in really handy when we want to ask for special requests when we’re looking for support from them,” McClure said.

Copyright 2022 KTUU. All rights reserved.