The Air Force Security Forces Center traces its lineage to Sept. 1, 1979, as the Air Force Office of Security Police when it was activated as an Air Force Separate Operating Agency at Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico.
On Feb. 5, 1991, its status changed from a Separate Operating Agency to a Field Operating Agency. Later that year, it was redesignated as the Air Force Security Police Agency on Aug. 1, 1991.
On March 17, 1997, it was redesignated as the Air Force Security Forces Center and concurrently its status changed from a Field Operating Agency to a Direct Reporting Unit.
In October 1997, the unit moved from New Mexico to Lackland Air Force Base (now Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland), San Antonio, Texas, where it remains today.
A year later, the unit was again redesignated to a Field Operating Agency.
On Oct. 1, 2014, the center was aligned under Air Force Materiel Command as part of a reorganization and attached to the Air Force Installation and Mission Support Center-Provisional as one of its primary subordinate units.
It was directly aligned under AFIMSC April 6, 2015, as a primary subordinate unit.
(Current as of March 2023)