Vol. 8 No. 6

J u l y / A u g u s t 2 0 1 1

Vol. 9 No. 4

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On My Mind

Partnerships—Fostering Community and 

Driving GEOINT Success

The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency’s (NGA) partnerships are broad, from domestic 

to international, from academic to industry. Partners—our allies and associates—strengthen 

our ability to provide geospatial intelligence (GEOINT). Our collective success in carrying out our 

mission demonstrates that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

Partnership among Intelligence Community (IC) and Department of Defense agencies was key to 

success in the Osama bin Laden operation. NGA applied a range of GEOINT capabilities, including 

imagery, geospatial and targeting analysis, along with imagery sciences and modeling—capabilities that, combined with the work of the CIA and the National Security Agency, helped ensure 

mission success.

To achieve this success NGA employees worked behind the scenes for more than a decade, 

providing crucial GEOINT for our warfighters and our nation’s decision makers. We will continue 

to build on their work and that of our IC partners in fighting the war against radical extremism.

Many other partnerships drive NGA’s mission success. Key among them is NGA’s international 

relationships. The Office of International Affairs and Policy (OIP) manages NGA’s foreign partnerships and ensures that they are operating in a manner consistent with U.S. foreign policy, with the 

guidance that we receive from the Director of National Intelligence and the Secretary of Defense, 

and with our own NGA objectives.

You will learn more about several successful partnerships in our OIP feature articles, including 

one that focuses on the collaborative effort by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey, along with their international partners, to build the 

Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS). The GEOSS “system of systems” will link 

existing and planned Earth observation systems; it is just another illustration of one of the key 

benefits of partnership: Sharing information—as well as sharing the responsibility for collecting 

information—is advantageous to all.

NGA, along with its Canadian partners, fosters a geospatial training and development program 

through its partnership with the Afghan Geodesy and Cartography Head Office (AGCHO). The recent 

opening of a new Geospatial Production Facility in Kabul was a milestone in modernizing Afghan 

mapping capabilities and builds on the success of the Geospatial Training Center opened just 

a few years ago. Our support for AGCHO is an important part of our country’s stabilization and 

development effort in Afghanistan. 

Bilateral and multilateral agreements are critical to foundation GEOINT production. The 

Multi-national Geospatial Co-production Program, in which member nations are responsible for 

geospatial data produced for specific areas of the world, is just one of several examples featured.

NGA’s support to domestic partners, as they respond to natural disasters, is an important 

part of our ongoing GEOINT mission. This issue touches on our work with the Federal Emergency 

Management Agency and others during the recent floods and tornadoes, work which demonstrates 

the importance of GEOINT in providing a common operating picture for first responders.

While NGA’s contribution to the Osama bin Laden operation may serve as this year’s most 

recognized GEOINT and IC success, it is the day-to-day collaboration and cooperation among 

agencies, among organizations and among people in our own backyard that form the basis for 

success in our GEOINT mission.

Letitia A. Long

Director

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Pathfinder ›› July/August 2011 ›› Vol. 9 No. 4

3 Pathfinder ›› July/August 2011

6

On the Cover

The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency partnerships 

span the globe, from domestic to international, academic 

and industry. Partners—our allies and associates—

strengthen our collective provision of geospatial intelligence 

and demonstrate that the whole is always greater than the 

sum of its parts.

Cover design by Amy Battison using DOD and IC images

Published by the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency 

Office of Corporate Communications 

Telephone: (301) 227-9123 

DSN 287-9123 

E-mail: pathfinder@nga.mil

Director

Letitia A. Long

Deputy Director

Lloyd Rowland

Office of Corporate Communications, Director

Jennifer Schnarre, Acting

External Communications Branch, Chief 

Karen A. Finn

Editor 

Susan H. Meisner

Graphic Artist 

Amy Battison

The Pathfinder is the National Geospatial-Intelligence 

Agency publication that promotes public awareness and 

understanding of geospatial intelligence. The Pathfinder 

is an authorized Department of Defense publication for 

members of the Department of Defense. Contents of this 

publication are not necessarily the official view of, or 

endorsed by, the U.S. government, Department of Defense 

or NGA. Articles in the Pathfinder may be reproduced 

in whole or in part without permission, unless stated 

otherwise. If reproduced, credit the author and the “National 

Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, the Pathfinder magazine.” 

Any reproduction of graphics, photographs and imagery is 

subject to the original copyright.

2 On My Mind: Partnerships—Fostering Community 

and Driving GEOINT Success

5 NGA in the News 

›› F E A T U R E S

6 Christchurch, New Zealand, Earthquakes—

A GEOINT Perspective

8 GEOINT: A System of Systems Approach

10 Creating Partnerships Around the World

12 Afghan Mapping Modernization Program

Reaches Milestone

13 Canadian Geomatics Specialists Join Kabul

Mentoring Team 

14 NGA’s Geospatial Partnerships 

15 Nobody Gets Left Behind

16 Standardizing Our Strategic Planning Development to Advance Putting GEOINT in Your Hands

18 Penn State’s Geospatial Revolution Features

NGA Experts

20 NGA Shares Home With Protected Flora and Fauna

›› D E P A R T M E N T S

22 Our Heritage: Remembering Vietnam 3:

Dealing With Anti-Aircraft Batteries

Contents

New Zealand Aerial Mapping image of a cathedral in Christchurch

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NGA Photo by Tony Boone

NGA Reaches Halfway 

Mark in Move to New 

Headquarters 

The number of employees working 

at the National Geospatial-Intelligence 

Agency Campus East (NCE), NGA’s 

new headquarters in Springfield, 

Va., passed the 4,000 mark in May. 

NGA began moving increments of the 

workforce into the new 2.4 million 

square foot campus in January 2011. 

The consolidation of NGA’s 

facilities in the Washington, D.C., 

metropolitan area to Fort Belvoir’s 

North Area is due to the Defense 

Base Realignment and Closure 

Commission requirements of 2005. 

NCE was designed to enhance 

mission performance, facilitate 

physical and virtual collaboration, and 

promote greater information sharing 

both internally and across the broader 

Intelligence Community.

The move will be completed in 

September 2011 and will accommodate 

8,500 NGA employees and contractors.

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5 Pathfinder ›› July/August 2011

S, P Offices Merge to Improve GEOINT 

Support for Customers

5

NGA IN THE NEWS

The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) is supporting the 

Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and other agencies in 

responding to the flooding and tornadoes that have caused catastrophic 

damage in the United States. 

In the aftermath of the tornadoes, NGA has provided damage 

assessments and other geospatial intelligence products crucial in 

disaster response and debris cleanup in Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, 

Mississippi, North Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia. NGA is providing 

daily updates in support of FEMA requirements.

In connection with the Mississippi River flooding, NGA has been 

producing both predictive analyses and damage assessments as water 

levels rise and diversion efforts proceed along the river. 

NGA supported FEMA, the Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. 

Army Corps of Engineers by producing models predicting the effects of 

releases from the Morganza Spillway in Louisiana.

NGA’s analyses include predicted and actual effects on critical 

infrastructure including roads, railways and airports; hospitals, Red Cross 

and other emergency facilities; power plants; pier and port facilities; 

petroleum refineries and other industrial facilities; schools; and water 

supplies.

“NGA provides a common operating picture that enables FEMA and 

emergency responders to work together more effectively and efficiently,” 

said Philip J. Plack, NGA liaison to FEMA. 

NGA IN THE NEWS

Over 1,000 NGA employees from the Analysis and Production (P) and 

the Source Operations and Management (S) directorates merged 

May 1 to form a one-stop shop for geospatial information aimed at 

providing greater, more efficient access to GEOINT.

The new Foundation GEOINT Group (S2) combines the mission 

responsibilities of the former Foundation Based Operations Group, 

the Office of Global Navigation (PV) and the Political Geography 

Division of the Office of Targeting and Transnational Issues (PRP) and 

provides a single infrastructure aimed at eliminating redundancies in 

product development and day-to-day administration.

“We’re always looking for ways to improve NGA’s efficiency in both 

our day-to-day operations and in the GEOINT support we provide,” 

NGA Director Letitia A. Long said. “This consolidation is another way 

we are strengthening our impact and support to our customers by 

making it easier for them to access and meet their GEOINT needs.”

Acting Director of S2 Jack Fahey added that the new group will 

maintain and improve both NGA’s safety of navigation and 

foundation-based operations products and services. The group will 

reside under S.

“Combining these missions into one organization will enable our 

workforce to better meet our mission needs,” Fahey said. “Our new 

organization will also give our workforce many opportunities to 

broaden their careers.”

NGA Aids Relief Efforts

NGA Highlights Vision at USGIF 

Technology Day

National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) 

members discussed the agency vision and what 

it means to geospatial intelligence (GEOINT) 

users from across the GEOINT community during 

the U.S. Geospatial Intelligence Foundation’s 

(USGIF) May 12 Technology Day in Reston, Va.

Keith Barber, lead for the online, on-demand 

services goal, talked about the new user 

experience for the National System for 

Geospatial Intelligence (NSG) members. He 

described the future state environment and 

how it will change the community’s interaction 

with NGA.

Evelyn Thai, GEOINT officer and lead for 

the Ender’s Battle School team, and Chris 

Rasmussen, lead for the Living Intelligence 

team, walked through their respective 

presentations from the NGA Vision Online 

Services Contest. They provided audiences with 

a range of interesting concepts that may be 

translated into the operational space.

Marshall Harper, then lead for the vision 

business operations team and presently chief of 

the Program Analysis and Evaluation Division, 

Financial Management Directorate, shared how 

vision implementation is impacting business 

operations right now.

John Goolgasian, lead for the analytic depth 

goal, and Barber, additionally participated 

in Friday’s USGIF Workshop on Analytic 

Transformation. Joining Goolgasian and 

Barber from NGA were Ted Cope, director of 

GEOINT Research, InnoVision Directorate, and 

key members of industry representing tool 

development, commercial satellite providers 

and information, process and analytic services.

Keith Barber, the NGA vision 

lead for online, on-demand 

services, talked about goals 

for the new user experience 

at the U.S. Geospatial 

Intelligence Foundation’s 

May 12 Technology Day in 

Reston, Va.

USGIF Photo

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Christchurch, New Zealand, Earthquakes— 

A GEOINT Perspective

By Rupert Dash, Deputy Director, Geospatial Intelligence Liaison and Partnership, New Zealand Defence 

Force Geospatial Intelligence Organisation

Sept. 4, 2010 at 4:36 a.m.: A 7.1 magnitude 

earthquake centered 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) 

beneath Darfield shook Christchurch, New 

Zealand, approximately 40 kilometers 

(24.8 miles) away.

The earthquake sent shock waves of emotion 

around the country and introduced the little 

known and frightening phenomenon of 

liquefaction—a phenomenon in which earthquake 

shaking or other rapid loading reduces the 

strength and stiffness of a soil—into the everyday 

lexicon of New Zealanders. 

Miraculously no deaths occurred.

New Zealand gratefully received offers of 

assistance from all quarters, as New Zealand 

Defence Force’s Geospatial Intelligence 

Organisation (GIO) stood to. Remote analysis 

offered no tangible benefit under the 

circumstances owing to the flood of information 

from onsite assessment activities and media 

coverage. However, there was a pressing need 

for a coordinated approach to baseline imagery 

provision in support of broader assessment and 

situational awareness. This was a void that GIO 

was well placed to fill with its organic skillsets and 

contacts across the national and international 

defence communities, government agencies, 

commercial partners and academia. In the case of 

the latter, access to a high bandwidth academic 

network played a crucial role.

Surveying the damage

Whilst New Zealand has a dynamic datum—a 

standard position or level that measurements are 

taken from—due to its underlying plate tectonics 

(a scientific theory that describes the large-scale 

motions of Earth’s crust and upper mantle), with 

earthquake activity as an underlying norm, the 

fault line that led to the September earthquake was 

both unknown and unpredicted. Orthorectifying 

(removing distortions) postquake satellite imagery 

could only rely on arbitrary control at best, but this 

was sufficient for immediate response purposes. 

6Pathfinder ›› July/August 2011

Institute of Geological and Nuclear Science New Zealand

CB_jul_aug_Pathfinder.indd 4 6/23/2011 9:41:52 AM
multibeam system. Defence forces additionally 

collected GIO handheld imagery, Royal New 

Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) P-3 Orion surveillance 

aircraft imagery and full-motion video. Timely 

analysis by GIO and the RNZAF Integrated Mission 

Support Squadron provided situational awareness 

to agencies involved, presenting a clear view of the 

challenges to be addressed.

Commercial satellite providers collected imagery 

where cloud coverage permitted for GEOINT 

community-wide analysis. This provided the 

basis for broad area assessment until deliberate 

aerial collection at 10 centimeters (3.9 inches) 

ground sample distance could be planned, flown 

and processed. The end result was, as expected, 

excellent and in high demand for open release. 

The difference in GEOINT response between 

Sept. 4 and Feb. 22 was marked and expected. 

The similarities were the need for coordinated 

provision of baseline information and the limited 

value to be gained from remote analysis, when 

onsite assessments are feasible. However, the 

thirst for information from within government 

and internationally was significant. Under such 

circumstances all foundation and analytical 

activities are vital. They not only provide support 

to operational and strategic level planners but 

also alleviate the pressure at the tactical level 

and allow ground-level activities to proceed with 

less interruption. 

Planners are compiling lessons learned for 

future humanitarian aid and disaster relief 

operations, noting that every situation is different. 

Christchurch was not a remote, inaccessible 

location with limited government resources 

to respond. The availability of resources and 

effective cross–government coordination meant 

that the response to the crisis was well managed. 

Geospatial and GEOINT support were, as always, 

key enablers, and whilst collaboration was vital, 

there will always be room to improve coordination 

and information sharing for the next time—where 

the scale of destruction and loss of life could be 

significantly worse. Our thoughts are now also with 

the people of Japan whose struggle continues.

7 Pathfinder ›› July/August 2011

The undermining effects of liquefaction on 

all aspects of infrastructure were clear to see, 

creating serious issues for central and regional 

administrations to address. 

Aftershocks from the September earthquake 

were frequent. Statistical analysis of historical data 

supports the hypothesis that major aftershocks 

can occur to a magnitude of within 1.2 of the 

original quake, and a six-month time separation is 

not unusual. 

Feb. 22, 2011 at 12:51 p.m.: A 6.3 magnitude 

aftershock shook Christchurch. The energy was 

one-twentieth that of the Sept. 4 quake but 

crucially only 6 kilometers (3.72 miles) from the 

central business district and during the middle of 

a working day. The net effect was devastating and 

captured global headlines for many days to come. 

The initial death count was 182, with damage 

estimated at $20-30 billion New Zealand dollars 

($15-24 billion U.S.)

A similar GEOINT community collegiate response 

occurred as that of Sept. 4. However, unlike its 

predecessor, the Feb. 22 quake required a much 

more intense and integrated all-of-government 

approach. The scale of both the damage and 

the search and rescue operation as well as the 

administration of displaced persons took time to 

comprehend. The government declared a state 

of emergency and mobilized significant military 

resources. International offers of urban search and 

rescue (USAR) teams were gratefully accepted, as 

were offers of quick response products like National 

Geospatial-Intelligence Agency USAR atlases.

Fortuitously significant military forces were 

already on hand and appropriately prepared with 

geospatial intelligence and geospatial support 

due to a joint exercise they were conducting in 

the area. Had they not been in situ, the geospatial 

preparation in support of deploying forces would 

have been intense and on the critical path to 

achieve an effective and timely response. 

Her Majesty’s New Zealand Ship (HMNZS) 

Resolution was also surveying off Lyttleton 

and therefore able to confirm the safety of the 

main navigation channel using her new RESON 

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GEOINT: A System-of-Systems Approach

By Michael Hales, Technical Executive, International Group, Office of 

International Affairs and Policy

Imagine an architecture where 87 countries and

61 organizations pulled their Earth-observing 

resources and satellites together to share data and 

expertise to support decision making. 

Imagine if these partners worked together to 

develop a common infrastructure, accessible 

through a Web-based portal that allowed them 

to collectively access, search and utilize the data 

using Web-based tools. 

Imagine if they agreed to specific standards so 

they could increase data interoperability on both 

current and future missions. 

Imagine if the stakeholders adopted open 

data policies.

Lastly, what if they worked together to build a 

global network of satellite-based dissemination 

systems designed to distribute satellite and 

airborne data to users in near-real time?

Does an undertaking like this seem possible? 

While this level of transparency would present 

challenges in the Intelligence Community, there 

is something very appealing about leveraging 

existing and planned space platforms on this 

scale. It would provide trusted users rapid access 

to the best Earth observation data the world 

has to offer. 

Today, U.S. civil agencies like the National 

Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NASA 

and U.S. Geological Survey are working with 

international partners and organizations through 

a new intergovernmental body, the Group on 

Earth Observations (GEO). Together they are 

building the first Global Earth Observation System 

of Systems (GEOSS).

GEOSS is proactively linking together existing 

and planned Earth-observing systems to achieve 

specific societal benefits, such as reducing the 

loss of life and property from natural disasters, 

improving management of energy and water 

resources, and supporting sustainable agriculture, 

among other benefits. 

To become a member of GEO, participating 

nations must demonstrate commitment at the 

ministerial or cabinet levels of their government. 

Non-space-faring countries who have yet to launch 

satellites contribute to GEOSS by providing in-situ 

data (observations made from the Earth’s surface) 

and other Earth-observation knowledge or content. 

David J. Hayes, Deputy Secretary of the Interior, 

said at the Nov. 5, 2010, GEO Beijing Ministerial 

Summit, “No one nation can bear the cost of 

building GEOSS alone; but even if we share the 

costs and risks, we will not succeed if we do not 

share our insights. For the Earth-observation 

community, this means sharing our data.” 

The construction of GEOSS is taking place over 

a 10-year period from 2005 to 2015, allowing 

nations to make informed decisions about their 

own requirements and contributions. GEOSS even 

supports the coordination of new Earth-observing 

systems among members where collection gaps 

currently exist or are expected.

So what does GEOSS have to do with GEOINT? 

Why is it important to NGA?

GEOSS is not the result of an academic exercise; 

it was born of and shaped by a self-evident need 

for data among nations whose Earth-observation 

budgets continued to shrink even as the 

challenges they faced continued to grow. GEOSS 

exists because nations realized they were better 

off sharing information along with the burden of 

collecting it, rather than simply keeping their data 

to themselves. GEOSS works because stakeholders 

share its governance and no single country owns 

the process. These lessons should not be lost 

on NGA. 

In fact, the GEOSS model may shed light 

on future geospatial cooperation efforts as 

other nations continue to expand their GEOINT 

capabilities in ways that address mutual geospatial 

needs. For example, Canada is developing C-band 

radar systems optimized for northern hemisphere 

ocean surveillance. Germany is developing a 

8Pathfinder ›› July/August 2011

CB_jul_aug_Pathfinder.indd 6 6/23/2011 9:41:53 AM
standards, formats and building infrastructure 

that supports interoperability is more comparable 

to the part of the iceberg that remains hidden 

underwater. To make matters more challenging, 

one can’t tell the shape of the bottom part of the 

iceberg by simply looking at the top part. In other 

words, some data may be easier to integrate 

and disseminate than others. Depending on the 

format, standards, data policies and existing 

architecture, a seemingly simple data set can 

be surprisingly more difficult to work with than a 

more complex data set. It all depends. That is why 

GEOSS stakeholders were smart to maintain strong 

leadership, require senior participation, share the 

governance burden among nations, and agree to a 

10-year vision implemented through two-to-threeyear work plans. Indeed, these lessons should also 

not be lost on NGA.

9Pathfinder ›› July/August 2011

truly global digital elevation model from a single 

sensor at High Resolution Terrain Information 

3, something that has never been done before. 

Soon to be space-faring nations like Spain and 

Turkey will operate their own satellites in the 

years to come. These capabilities and more are on 

the way. In a new data-rich world, perhaps NGA 

needs to rethink the way it has thought about its 

own data and systems. Perhaps this is one of the 

reasons the new National Space Policy encourages 

agencies to “...augment U.S. capabilities by 

leveraging existing and planned space capabilities 

of allies and space partners.”

GEOSS partners know that gaining access to 

other nations’ data is no easy task. Still, many 

GEOSS stakeholders feel that agreeing to share 

data is really only the tip of the iceberg, and 

that implementing collective decisions about 

The Global Earth Observation System of Systems is proactively 

linking together existing and planned Earth-observing systems 

to achieve specific societal benefits, such as reducing the loss of 

life and property from natural disasters, improving management 

of energy and water resources, and supporting sustainable 

agriculture, among other benefits.

Group on Earth Observations image 

CB_jul_aug_Pathfinder.indd 7 6/23/2011 9:41:54 AM
10Pathfinder ›› July/August 2011

Creating Partnerships Around the World

By Joel Itskowitz, Communication Officer, Source Operations and Management Directorate

The U.S. government participates in many 

international relationships around the world, 

such as NATO, the International Civil Aviation 

Organization (ICAO) and the International 

Hydrographic Organization (IHO). 

But did you know that the National GeospatialIntelligence Agency (NGA) has many bilateral and 

multilateral agreements that help us leverage 

partnerships to produce and share data?

These agreements are critical to foundation 

geospatial intelligence (GEOINT) production as 

more and more partners create standardized 

geospatial data that can be shared across the 

community and used to create maps and charts for 

topographic, aeronautical and maritime domains. 

NGA works closely with its commonwealth partners 

(Canada, United Kingdom, Australia and New 

Zealand) in the Allied System for Geospatial 

Intelligence (ASG) as well as in the Multi-National 

Geospatial Co-production Program (MGCP), which 

includes 28 member countries, including the 

members of the ASG. 

The MGCP is an important part of NGA’s 

geospatial production plan as each member nation 

is responsible for specific areas of the world and 

the geospatial data produced over that region. 

Each nation that contributes to the MGCP data 

warehouse is eligible to use other countries’ 

MGCP data per the rules of the agreement. For 

NGA, this provides substantial cost avoidance and 

time savings because NGA can use MGCP data to 

quickly and efficiently produce products in high 

current interest areas from readily available, highquality standard data. 

“The catalyst for Canada to participate in the 

MGCP program was the need for better data to 

support tactical operations with high density 

(1:50,000 or 1:100,000 scale equivalent) digital 

mapping with global coverage,” said Canadian 

Army Lt. Col. Michael L. Cairns, Commanding 

Officer, Mapping and Charting Establishment. “In 

particular, the MGCP program has greatly assisted 

Canadian Forces’ operational effectiveness 

in Afghanistan and in response to the Haiti 

earthquake and has improved interoperability and 

cooperation with our allies.”

At a Multinational Geospatial Co-production Program (MGCP) meeting 

held in Italy, participants from Czech Republic, Slovakia, Greece, 

Netherlands, Hungary, Spain, Latvia, Sweden and Poland exchange 

information and ideas on the output of their data to create MGCP derived 

graphics. The goal of the exchange is to standardize the final product. NGA Photo by Marzio Dellagnello

CB_jul_aug_Pathfinder.indd 8 6/23/2011 9:41:58 AM
11Pathfinder ›› July/August 2011

“In today’s economic climate it is impossible for 

a single nation to take care of all the GEOINT needs 

on their own,” said Lt. Col. Sabato Rainone, Chief, 

Geospatial and Meteorological and Oceanographic 

Section, Information and Security Division, Italian 

Defence General Staff. “MGCP makes it possible for 

participants to share the burden of production.”

“The standardized MGCP data allows for a 

faster turnaround time to generate products which 

proved invaluable in recent military operations,” 

added Rainone. 

NGA is currently expanding the MGCP concept 

to other areas of the world, with MGCP-like 

agreements with some African and Latin 

American countries. NGA also provides tools 

and training to assist partner countries with 

producing standardized data that meet our quality 

requirements. Training programs are already under 

way in many African and Latin American countries 

on how to produce data to NGA specifications so 

they too can contribute maps and data to help fill 

our shared needs. 

NGA has also provided significant training 

to the Afghan Geodesy and Cartography Head 

Office (AGCHO). AGCHO is Afghanistan’s civil 

national mapping organization, responsible 

for national map production in Afghanistan. 

NGA training and mentorship helped AGCHO 

modernize and contribute valuable map 

production in Afghanistan. 

Another interesting partnership NGA has for 

producing geospatial data is with the country of 

Mongolia. Much like AGCHO and the African and 

Latin American countries, NGA has been providing 

tools and training to the Mongolian Ministry of 

Roads, Construction, Transportation and Urban 

Development. In addition to producing geospatial 

data for map features, NGA has also worked closely 

with the Mongolians to share geodetic information 

such as gravity data over their country. This helps 

NGA produce more complete and accurate gravity 

models essential to navigation.

Although there is a Maritime ASG relationship, 

bilateral arrangements typically control the 

exchange of marine data. This is driven by a 

combination of intellectual property rights of 

the foreign hydrographic offices and the United 

Nations Convention on Law of the Sea prohibition 

on systematic collection of data within a foreign 

nation’s coastal waters without permission from 

the host nation, which is seldom granted. 

Until 1997 there was free exchange of data 

between national hydrographic offices; this ended 

due to issues concerning international copyright. 

In the interest of the safety of navigation, however, 

many nations continue to voluntarily exchange 

nautical chart data with NGA. Additionally, NGA’s 

Maritime Office has entered into bilateral chart 

agreements wherein the foreign nation provides 

a print file to NGA which NGA uses to print charts 

and compile Digital Nautical Charts for U.S. 

government customers only. The foreign chart, 

which must be in English and include World 

Geodetic System (WGS) 84 and meter depths, is 

the public sale chart. NGA no longer compiles a 

hard copy chart for public sale. 

Other maritime bilateral agreements provide for 

recognition of intellectual property rights through 

arrangements such as quid pro quo (something 

for something) exchange. NGA Maritime plans to 

transition to the new IHO S-100 data format in the 

post 2012 timeframe so that exchanged digital data 

will be in a common format and coalition partners 

will have the same displays both ashore and at 

sea. This will allow for more efficient sharing of 

data and increase the benefits of our partnerships.

The world is a 24/7 online, on-demand, global 

environment. The international partnerships 

that NGA participates in help meet the needs 

of warfighters and first responders in an 

efficient, cost-effective manner. Adherence to 

internationally agreed-upon standards and 

specifications enables NGA and its international 

partners to work in an interoperable, burdensharing environment where all share can in the 

synergy of increased production.

Map at top: Canada’s Mapping and Charting Establishment produced 

Haiti maps from Multinational Geospatial Co-production Program data in 

response to the Haiti Crisis. 

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12Pathfinder ›› July/August 2011

Afghan Mapping Modernization Program 

Reaches Milestone 

By Eric Sandegren, International Officer for Afghanistan, Office of International Affairs and Policy

On March 13, 2011, the Afghan Geodesy 

and Cartography Head Office (AGCHO) and 

National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) 

celebrated a significant milestone in modernizing 

Afghanistan’s geospatial capability—they 

inaugurated the new Geospatial Production 

Facility (GPF) at the AGCHO headquarters building 

in Kabul. 

AGCHO, NGA and the Combined Security 

Transition Command-Afghanistan (CSTC-A) 

collaborated on the construction and outfitting 

of the facility. In April 2011, AGCHO’s Afghan 

cartographers began producing maps and 

geospatial data, achieving a longstanding goal of 

the NGA-AGCHO relationship. 

Since 2006, NGA and AGCHO have pursued a 

vision of Afghan production of geospatial data 

and maps in a modern, digital process. The 

shared intent is for AGCHO to deliver geospatial 

information to support Afghan National 

Security Forces (ANSF) and the ministries of 

the Government of the Islamic Republic of 

Afghanistan in providing security, stability, 

governance and essential services to the country. 

NGA and AGCHO began planning the milestones 

necessary to achieve Afghan digital geospatial 

capability in 2006. In June 2007, NGA and AGCHO 

established a formal relationship through a 

Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement. 

The agreement promotes sharing of products 

between NGA and AGCHO and allows NGA to 

provide training and on-site mentoring to cultivate 

AGCHO’s emerging capability. 

In August 2008, NGA, AGCHO and CSTC-A 

opened a new Geospatial Training Center (GTC) 

on the AGCHO headquarters property. Since 

then, NGA has deployed multiple mentors to 

AGCHO; these mentors provide basic courses 

in the training center on cartographic topics, 

geographic information systems, geodesy and 

geographic names management. In addition, the 

NGA College has deployed multiple mobile training 

teams for short durations to present focused 

topics to the Afghans. 

One key element of the mentoring program 

was extensive training in digital cartographic 

production of Image City Maps and Afghan Image 

Maps. After NGA training, a cadre of AGCHO 

personnel produced sets of these map products 

in Dari and English, representing an important 

outcome of the joint effort. AGCHO’s ministry 

customers, particularly at the working level, use 

these local-language maps.

The founding of the GPF is a major milestone 

in the program to modernize AGCHO’s geospatial 

capability. Renovations completed in March 2011 

included upgrading the GPF room’s electrical 

infrastructure to support the new workstations, 

server and plotter comprising the NGA-provided 

production system. Installation was a joint effort 

between NGA and AGCHO information technology 

specialists—from running cables and configuring 

workstations to installing software and testing the 

system.

NGA Director Letitia A. Long congratulated 

AGCHO on the occasion of the ribbon cutting in 

a letter stating, “NGA remains committed to our 

partnership and looks forward to working with 

AGCHO as you assume lead responsibilities for 

digital geospatial production in your new facility.” 

AGCHO is leading the GPF effort through a 

dedicated program manager and NGA-trained 

geospatial production personnel. 

With the founding of the GPF, AGCHO is 

transforming the mission of the GTC. Previously, 

in the GTC a core group of AGCHO cartographers 

trained for more than two years on cartographic 

production. Now AGCHO has changed the GTC to be 

an á la carte training center serving a wider base of 

personnel from AGCHO, ANSF and other ministries. 

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13Pathfinder ›› July/August 2011

The GTC will operate similarly to the NGA College in 

providing short-term geospatial courses to a diverse 

spectrum of Afghans.

With the stand-up of the GPF and the 

transformation of the GTC, AGCHO is taking the 

initiative to lead production and training in 

accordance with Afghan objectives. AGCHO’s 

ownership of GPF operations and the GTC 

training program will ensure the efforts are 

sustainable. NGA’s way forward is to support 

AGCHO’s leadership in the GPF and work to 

build an Afghan-owned training program, 

which can sustain geospatial development. The 

inauguration of the GPF and transformation of the 

GTC marks significant progress toward achieving 

AGCHO and NGA’s goals. 

Canadian Geomatics Specialists Join Kabul Mentoring Team

By Pierre Simard, Embedded Canadian Geospatial Mentor 

From April 2010 to April 2011, Canadian Mapping 

and Charting Establishment civilian geomatics 

specialists deployed to Afghanistan alongside 

their National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency 

(NGA) counterparts.

The deployments—a first for the Charting 

Establishment—were in response to NGA’s 

request for assistance with its GEOINT Capacity 

Development Program in Afghanistan. The 

Canadian Chief of Defense Intelligence, Maj. 

Gen. J.M.C. Rousseau, agreed to a one-year 

commitment of three consecutive, four-month 

deployments of Canadian mentors to NGA’s 

geospatial support team in Kabul. 

Mentors from throughout the Charting 

Establishment in Ottawa, Canada, competed for 

the assignments.

The NGA support team—part of the Combined 

Security Transition Command-Afghanistan—

trains, mentors, advises and equips the Afghan 

National Security Forces, as well as the Afghan 

Geodesy and Cartography Head Office (AGCHO). 

With the help of NGA, AGCHO’s new Geospatial 

Production Facility, opened in March, will 

introduce digital map production capabilities 

more widely within AGCHO. 

Canada’s contribution to the team mission this 

past year included a quality assurance specialist 

in the Geospatial Training Center, a lead AGCHO 

mentor and spatial data infrastructure advisor, 

and a lead AGCHO Mentor and Topographic Line 

Map production advisor.

“I am extremely appreciative of Canada’s 

dedication to the AGCHO mission,” said NGA 

Director Letitia A. Long during a recent meeting 

with AGCHO deployers in Bethesda, Md. “It was 

a critical nation-building effort that will provide 

Afghanistan with the mapping capabilities 

needed to support security and economic 

rebuilding efforts. The technical expertise 

provided by the Canadian deployers was crucial 

to the success of this mission.”

The NGA-led Capacity Development Program 

contributes to helping AGCHO realize its vision of 

becoming the Afghan leader in the modern age 

of geospatial information. 

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14Pathfinder ›› July/August 2011

After the ink on the agreement is dry and the 

handshakes are exchanged, the real work of 

NGA’s international geospatial partnerships 

begins. The partnerships are the policy 

foundation enabling geospatial burden sharing, 

co-production, capacity building and most 

importantly, coalition operations. 

From NGA’s most adept geospatial partners 

to nations only beginning the transition to 

geospatial intelligence, agreements allow a wide 

range of cooperation and support. 

How do NGA and the Office of International 

Affairs and Policy (OIP) take international 

agreements and make them beneficial to NGA 

and the partners? What is the process for making 

Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreements 

(BECAs) operational? And what are the challenges 

that lie ahead as NGA moves from a hardcopy 

based inventory to a knowledge-based cloud of 

digital data?

While OIP’s International Group (OIPI) vets 

requests from NGA partners for products, many 

organizations have a hand in filling them. The 

international group ensures the geospatial 

request falls within the general scope of the 

agreement. If yes, they check product information 

databases for factors that determine releasability. 

Did another NGA partner—a third party—produce 

the product? What is its classification? If these 

conditions are favorably met, the OIPI officer 

will generate a military standard requisitioning 

and issues procedure—or MILSTRIP—complete 

with specific stock numbers, quantities and 

delivery instructions. He or she passes the 

MILSTRIP to NGA’s mission partner for geospatial 

distribution—the Defense Logistics Agency 

(DLA)—who fills the order. 

NGA also works with DLA to determine what 

quantities of partner-produced maps and charts 

to keep in stock. A partner nation will issue a 

“notice of intent to print” or “NIP.” This is NGA’s 

opportunity to influence the print quantities for a 

particular map or chart. NGA also works with DLA’s 

Defense Logistics Information Service in Battle 

Creek, Mich., to request and assign national stock 

numbers to the foreign-produced sheets. Without 

NSNs, these products would essentially be lost 

to the distribution system, without a means to 

inventory or ship them efficiently.

Another critical NGA mission is support to the 

International Security Assistance Force Theater 

Map Depot (TMD) in Kandahar, Afghanistan. 

The TMD is NATO’s central map depot, used to 

resupply NATO forces within theater and serve as 

a transshipment point to further move maps to 

the forward map depots. Along with thousands 

of standard geospatial products, the TMD also 

stocks tactical products such as the large-scale 

compound maps warfighters use to conduct 

operations. OIPI ensures they have the latest 

editions of maps and charts and communicate 

their support requirements.

Now, as NGA moves to deepen analytic expertise 

and build new technology to ease access to 

this new data, how do international partners 

contribute? Again, BECAs give the foundation 

policy framework to continue to exchange 

geospatial and geographic knowledge and deepen 

understanding of the Earth. OIPI also exchanges 

new software and applications for viewing and 

exploiting the data through the agreements and 

engages with partners to evaluate best practices as 

all parties work to modernize.

It starts with a paper agreement, but an 

international agreement endures long past the 

ceremony. International geospatial partnerships 

enable closer coordination, better use of resources 

and more effective operations. They are the 

realization of the signatures and commitments of 

NGA’s leaders.

NGA’s Geospatial Partnerships

By Robert Seebald, Deputy Chief, International Group, Office of International Affairs and Policy

NGA supports the International Security Assistance Force Theater Map 

Depot (TMD) in Kandahar, Afghanistan. Pictured from left to right with 

NGA and U.K. products are Romanian Military Maestro 4 Olivia Simion, 

TMD Assistant; U.K. Sgt. Baz Barrett, TMD Chief; and Canadian Cpl. 

Dawn Stefanyk, TMD second-in-command.

Photo by Jessica C.M. Salter

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15Pathfinder ›› July/August 2011

made the ultimate sacrifice. I hope that with my 

retirement this past January, I will have left, to my 

more than able successors, a lasting impression 

of how significant this mission is for thousands of 

American families.”

The primary mission partners for the POW/MIA 

mission are the Defense Prisoner of War (DPMO)/

Missing Personnel Office and the Joint POW/MIA 

Accounting Command, both Department of Defense 

elements. In conjunction with them, the team aids 

in the recovery of remains from around the world. 

Team members carefully analyze hardcopy and 

digitized historical air-breather film to conduct 

this mission. While the primary focus is to locate 

the area of interest, mission partners also need 

to know if the surrounding terrain has changed 

or remained the same over time. To show this 

comparison, the team uses commercial satellite 

imagery extensively. 

Few can contest that the unswerving dedication 

of GEOINT analysts keeps the troops safe during 

combat in Iraq and Afghanistan, but the team’s 

POW/MIA mission serves as a reminder that the 

U.S. mission continues long after combat ends. 

GEOINT is committed to the DPMO vision to 

achieve “the fullest possible accounting of those 

who become missing due to hostile action while 

pursuing U.S. national objectives abroad.”

By Dennis Mesina, Corporate Communicator, Analysis and Production Directorate 

Intelligence consumers in the United States and 

allies abroad have come to expect significant 

contributions from geospatial intelligence 

(GEOINT) in formulating actionable intelligence 

analysis for combat support. The NGA Support 

Team (NST) to the Defense Intelligence Agency 

(DIA) is no exception, providing timely and 

accurate GEOINT to mission partners in the 

battlefield, the Pentagon and the White House. 

Former GEOINT analyst Ed Bauer, now retired, as 

well as current analysts George “Sandy” Sanford 

and Jim Angelakos, use their tradecraft to give 

new meaning to combat support. They use GEOINT 

in support of the mission to recover U.S. service 

members deemed prisoners of war (POW) or 

missing in action (MIA).

From World War II to current combat operations 

in Iraq and Afghanistan, the U.S. government has 

pursued the solemn mission of ensuring that all 

those who serve come home. The DIA NST has 

used imagery, geospatial data and analysis in 

efforts to identify numerous U.S. combat aircraft 

crash sites, grave sites and overrun fighting 

positions from the Vietnam War. GEOINT has 

located numerous grave sites, destroyed or 

abandoned U.S. equipment and fighting positions 

near and around the Unsan and Chosin Reservoir 

battle sites—where about 1,500 service members 

remain missing from the Korean War. Their work 

has also helped find several previously uncharted 

cave entrances into Hill 362 on Iwo Jima, where 

World War II MIAs may have been left. The leads on 

Iwo Jima appeared in imagery the team analyzed in 

recent months.

Said Bauer about his former team’s mission, 

“We are a two-person operation and the only 

office in NGA that supports America’s post-conflict 

accounting mission using historical imagery. So 

far we have met our responsibility to leave no 

stone unturned in our efforts to find those who 

Nobody Gets Left Behind

Ground photo looking north 

from inlet over causeway south 

side on or about Nov. 28 or 

29, 1950 with U.S. service 

members in the foreground Photo courtesy of Ivan H. Long and 

the Army War College

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16Pathfinder ›› July/August 2011

Standardizing Our Strategic Planning 

Development to Advance Putting GEOINT 

in Your Hands

By Odean Serrano, Ph.D., Strategic Planner, Office of International Affairs and Policy

The international geospatial intelligence 

(GEOINT) environment continually changes, 

affecting technology and national security 

climates due to an explosive growth in access 

to data, especially from foreign imagery 

satellites. The expansion of this GEOINT 

landscape relies upon the importance of 

collaboration with our international partners 

to deepen analytic expertise that will foster 

burden sharing and expedite production 

for crises support. The National GeospatialIntelligence Agency (NGA) manages 

international cooperative geospatial programs 

for map exchange, geospatial co-production 

and safety of navigation, and international 

contribution to data content—providing 

expanded GEOINT contributions for the 

National System for Geospatial Intelligence 

(NSG), the Intelligence Community (IC) and for 

our international partners. 

NGA Director Letitia A. Long characterizes 

future foreign partner engagement as:

•	 Increasing value with NGA’s partners;

•	 Maximizing NGA’s Allied System

for Geospatial Intelligence (ASG) 

relationships;

•	 Balancing combatant command

requirements with GEOINT equities;

•	 Building the process foundation through

agreements;

•	 Aligning country strategy with

combatant commands.

The value of NGA’s international 

partnerships ensures globally unified NSG 

operations—providing a distributed power 

of GEOINT content and analytic expertise.

In May 2011 staff representing the 

NSG functional manager for analysis and 

production briefed senior leaders from 

the U.K’s Defence Geographic Centre and 

Intelligence Collection Group on the status 

of current activities related to Unified 

GEOINT Operations. The briefing provided 

U.K. leaders with background and impacts 

on Commonwealth analysis and production 

coordination initiatives.

The Office of International Affairs and 

Policy (OIP) is contributing to NGA’s vision 

of “putting the power of GEOINT in your 

hands” through international strategic 

planning development to address emerging 

foreign partner engagement. 

OIP recently created a process to develop 

a suite of regional and country engagement 

strategies, proactively seeking contributions 

from NGA’s IC and Department of Defense 

partners and customers. The suite of 

international strategies is hierarchically 

designed and arranged—first by higherorder regional engagement goals and 

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17Pathfinder ›› July/August 2011

objectives, and next by the respective, 

subordinate country engagement goals and 

objectives. 

This standardized technique streamlines 

the construct of NGA’s international 

strategies by adopting a consistent and 

repeatable method to devise, publish, 

implement and manage our GEOINT 

international engagement activities. 

To ensure the timely execution of these 

international strategies, OIP created a 

strategic implementation plan in the form of 

a functional matrix collaboratively developed 

with NGA’s stakeholders and partners that:

•	 Aligns the international engagement

high-level goals and objectives with 

tactical initiatives;

•	 Assigns start and targeted completion

dates; 

•	 Denotes primary and secondary offices

of responsibility; 

•	 Provides functional stakeholders with a

common framework to align and to help 

prioritize the multiple sets of target state 

goals within a unified view;

•	 Will be made easily available on demand

to the user community through a Webenabled, geospatial map interface.

The OIP international engagement 

implementation plan serves as a 

management tool to harmonize common 

mission-driven initiatives designed to 

alleviate redundancies, to identify and 

address gaps, and to leverage resources.

Foreign partners look to NGA as leaders 

and recognize its analytic depth, technical 

expertise and commitment to the GEOINT 

mission. This standardized and integrated 

international strategic planning approach 

will allow for continual improvement 

methods of proactive engagement—while 

enhancing NGA’s interaction with foreign 

partners to facilitate on-demand access 

to NGA’s knowledge—harnessing OIP’s 

contribution to enrich NGA’s vision of 

“putting the power of GEOINT” into every 

user’s hands. 

The pillars represent the strategic planning as the solid foundation 

of what the Office of International Affairs and Policy does to carry 

out the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency vision.

Creative Commons image

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18Pathfinder ›› July/August 2011

Penn State’s Geospatial Revolution Features NGA Experts

By Bianca Barr, Public Information Officer, and Christine O’Brien, Spring 2011 Public Relations Intern, 

Pennsylvania State University Outreach

Penn State Public Broadcasting interviewed 

members of the National Geospatial-Intelligence 

Agency (NGA) for the third episode of the 

Geospatial Revolution Project, an integrated public 

media and outreach initiative about the impact of 

digital mapping. The four-part, Web-based series 

explores how geospatial technology is changing 

the ways we think, behave and interact—both as 

individuals and as institutions. 

Geospatial experts and professionals from 

all aspects of the industry provided insights for 

the series. Filmmakers included interviews with 

various members of NGA in the third episode and 

featured NGA Director Letitia A. Long. 

Kristian Berg, writer and director of episodes 

three and four, said he became aware of the full 

spectrum of what NGA does after talking to Long.

“The consultants and contractors from the NGA 

not only had vast experience and knowledge 

about this cutting-edge technology, but also 

an understanding of how that technology has 

evolved,” Berg said. “I couldn’t imagine doing a 

series about geospatial technology without them.”

The NGA informed the producers on how the 

agency is involved with national and domestic 

security, human rights and diplomacy. In the 

video, NGA representatives focused specifically on 

the Dayton Peace Accords, route planning, human 

geography and the identification of improvised 

explosive devices.

“The NGA is the premier agency in the federal 

government that supports the warfighter when it 

comes to gathering and disseminating geospatial 

intelligence,” Stephanie Ayanian, producer and 

co-director of the Geospatial Revolution Project’s 

short films, said. “Perhaps the work of the NGA and 

other geospatial intelligence agencies will be easier 

for the public to understand with these videos.”

Producers at Penn State Public Broadcasting 

said involving the NGA was a natural fit for the 

project because of the NGA’s leading research and 

application in the field. 

Long appeared several times in the third 

episode, which focused on modern precision 

warfare, law enforcement and privacy issues. 

 “If you’re going to use precision-guided 

ammunition, you need very precise coordinates,” 

Long said in the video. “We use geospatial 

information for route planning. Special forces need 

to know the best way to get into a compound and 

get out.” 

The video shows how geospatial information is a 

vital resource for the military, both in combat and 

in understanding human and cultural geography. 

The video highlights how digital mapping helps 

soldiers on the ground in Afghanistan understand 

the differences in education, economic systems 

and cultural aspects of different tribal regions in 

order to better serve those communities. 

“You have to understand the hearts and 

minds,” Long said. “Often what is important to 

the people relates to the Earth and the Earth’s 

features and geography.”

The ultimate goal of the project is to help make 

the public more aware of how these technologies 

are being used not only in cell phones and 

automobile GPS receivers, but also in science, 

business, government and international crisis 

management, affecting every aspect of society. 

In addition to increasing public awareness 

about these technologies, the series aims to 

inform students by making available free outreach 

resources, including videos and accompanying 

learning materials for K-12 teachers that will help 

students understand how geospatial technology 

is changing the way people navigate, do business, 

communicate and get information. 

Note: Penn State Public Broadcasting, licensed to 

Penn State, produces non-commercial television, 

radio and online media. To watch the Geospatial 

Revolution and access learning materials for 

teachers, please go to http://geospatialrevolution.

psu.edu/.

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19Pathfinder ›› July/August 2011

Geospatial information is more than just a handheld GPS receiver used to navigate personal travel.

Penn State Public Broadcasting image

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20Pathfinder ›› July/August 2011

NGA Shares Home with Protected Flora and Fauna 

By Barbara Horton, Environmental Protection Specialist, Security and Installation Operations Directorate

Several protected species call the land around 

the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) 

Campus East (NCE) at Fort Belvoir’s North Area 

(FBNA) in Springfield, Va., home. There are one 

plant and one reptile considered threatened (i.e., 

likely to become endangered in the foreseeable 

future) and/or endangered (i.e., in danger 

of becoming extinct), in accordance with the 

Endangered Species Act of 1973. 

A second reptile is considered a species of 

concern in Virginia, a lesser status for which there 

is insufficient information to list it under the act. 

Contract and government employees at NCE 

worked to protect these species and their habitats 

before, during and after construction.

“Protection of threatened and endangered 

species is a priority in all of our construction 

projects,” said Mike Rogers, U.S. Army Corps of 

Engineers Program Manager for the NCE project. 

“During the National Environmental Policy Act 

process we consulted the U.S. Fish and Wildlife 

Service (USFWS) regarding protected species in 

the vicinity of the NCE site. Once in construction, 

we coordinated land-disturbing activities with Fort 

Belvoir to ensure we minimized disturbance to 

important wildlife habitat in the area. In addition, 

every construction worker (over 2,000 of them) 

received an indoctrination that included how to 

identify the species of concern and what to do if he 

or she encountered one.”

The first protected species on the site was the 

small whorled pogonia (Isotria medeoloides), 

which is a very small orchid that is federally listed 

as threatened and state listed as endangered. 

The plant is light green, reaches about 8 inches 

in height with a hollow stem and a whorl of five to 

six leaves. The solitary bloom is greenish-yellow 

and forms at the center of the whorl. It grows in 

older hardwood stands of beech, birch, maple, 

oak and hickory that have an open understory, and 

the plant prefers gentle to moderate slopes near 

small streams and decaying vegetation. This ideal 

habitat is found on FBNA. 

Individual plants or colonies (typically 20 plants 

or less) have been found in 17 eastern states and 

Ontario, Canada. In Virginia, specifically, it has 

been recorded in 20 counties. One more county—

Fairfax, home to Fort Belvoir—was added to the list 

as a result of the work on FBNA. 

According to Doug Chapin with Wetland Studies 

and Solutions, Inc., his company found the small 

whorled pogonia plant within the construction 

disturbance limits for the final segment of the 

Fairfax County Parkway. Chapin’s company 

coordinated with the USFWS, prior to construction 

of NGA’s Remote Inspection Facility, to preserve 

the small whorled pogonia habitat. The USFWS 

established a zone around the plant in which no 

work could occur and maintains the protected 

area today.

High-quality habitat of the state-threatened 

wood turtle (Glyptemys insculpta) is also 

prevalent on FBNA. According to a 2008 report 

of the Endangered Species Coalition, “the wood 

turtle is one of the most in-need species for 

protection under the Endangered Species Act.” It 

is a semi-aquatic turtle, living near flowing water, 

such as creeks and streams. It can reach up to 

9 inches in length and has orange legs and tail. 

The bottom half of the shell, called the plastron, 

is not hinged, like a box turtle, and the top of the 

shell, called the carapace, is flattened but with a 

sculpted appearance. 

The wood turtle is an omnivore, eating 

both plants and animals such as slugs and 

earthworms, and can live up to 45 years. Prior 

CB_jul_aug_Pathfinder.indd 18 6/23/2011 9:42:16 AM
21Pathfinder ›› July/August 2011

to any clearing and grading within 300 feet of 

Accotink Creek and its tributaries, Fort Belvoir 

staff conducted weekly turtle walks to locate any 

wood turtles. Although none was ever found, staff 

continue to protect the habitat. 

The last species might come as a surprise: 

it’s the Eastern Box Turtle. According to John 

Kleopfer, Wildlife Diversity Biologist/Herpetologist 

for the Virginia Department of Game and Inland 

Fisheries, “the Eastern Box Turtle (Terrapene 

carolina carolina) is a Tier III ‘Species of Greatest 

Conservation Need’ in Virginia’s Wildlife 

Action Plan, but has no official status or formal 

recognition in Virginia.” The habitat of the box 

turtle is rapidly declining. Unlike the wood turtle, 

the box turtle prefers dry ground such as the 

underbrush of hardwood/pine forests. They have a 

domed carapace and hinged plastron, which allows 

them to completely enclose themselves. They reach 

a length of 5 inches, with yellow or orange mixed 

with dark brown or olive-colored shells. 

The box turtle is also an omnivore. Staff training 

for contractors on the NCE project included 

instructions on moving box turtles to an area 

beyond the limits of disturbance. Workers typically 

found them at dawn—from the spring to fall 

seasons—sunning themselves on the newly paved 

construction roads.

Construction operations at NCE ensured 

protection of these species, and NGA will continue 

to protect them in the future. Employees looking out 

from the windows of the NCE can appreciate that 

within the hardwood and pine forests and Accotink 

Creek are the homes of the rare small whorled 

pogonia, the rarer wood turtle and even the Eastern 

Box Turtle.

Picturesque Accotink Creek, home to several protected 

species, runs through Fort Belvoir’s North Area.

Photo by Paul Bachmann

Staff training for contractors on the NGA Campus 

East project included instructions on moving box 

turtles to an area beyond the limits of disturbance. 

Workers typically found them at dawn—from the 

spring to fall seasons—sunning themselves on the 

paved roads.

Photo by Mike Fountain

Contractors found the solitary small whorled 

pogonia on the southwestern portion of Fort 

Belvoir’s North Area. The federally threatened 

orchid is less than 2.5 inches tall.

Wetland Studies and Solutions, Inc., photo 

CB_jul_aug_Pathfinder.indd 19 6/23/2011 9:42:19 AM
Aware of the changes in North Vietnamese 

armament, the Air Force began guarding the AC130s more closely, realizing their slow speed and 

size made them increasingly vulnerable. Personnel 

on these aircraft could watch for ground fire from 

only two positions: behind the starboard window 

and from a position that required the lookout 

to dress in cold weather gear and partially hang 

out over the edge of the rear cargo ramp in the 

slipstream of the aircraft. The lookout called back 

to the pilot with the origin and relative threat 

of ground fire by directly observing the tracers 

ascending from the anti-aircraft batteries. F-4 

Phantom fighter-bomber aircraft now accompanied 

the AC-130s and, given a positive sighting of a 

tracer stream, could use their laser-guided bombs 

to home in on a gun position, destroying it or at the 

very least demonstrating to its crew the extreme 

hazard of attacking an AC-130. 

The Air Force also employed high explosives 

dropped on identified anti-aircraft emplacements 

by C-130 Hercules transport aircraft. In some 

cases the explosive packages consisted of 15,000 

pounds of explosive mounted on a pallet and 

sent down to the target via parachute. Amazing 

explosions and mixed results followed, not 

because of flaws in the explosive devices, but due 

to maps of southern Laos and Vietnam not yet 

corrected by loran (long-range radio navigation)-

controlled photographic systems. Placing the 

explosives at the correct coordinates would make 

all the difference. The need for more efficient 

cartographic production and distribution led to the 

creation of the Defense Mapping Agency in 1972, 

an NGA-predecessor organization. 

By the early 1970s only the few AC-130s equipped 

with the 105 millimeter howitzer and escorted by 

F-4s could duel with the North Vietnamese antiaircraft batteries. The others needed assistance 

22Pathfinder ›› July/August 2011

Our Heritage

Remembering Vietnam 3: Dealing with AntiAircraft Batteries

The Ho Chi Minh Trail 1972

Dr. Gary E. Weir, Office of Corporate Communications

On the 50th anniversary of the first direct American

military involvement in Vietnam, the Department of 

Defense has called upon U.S. citizens to remember 

with respect and gratitude those who served in 

Southeast Asia. This series of six articles—of which 

this is the third—will illuminate the significant role 

played in Southeast Asia by people in the tradecraft 

communities that now comprise the National 

Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA).

In 1972 the North Vietnamese placed a bounty 

on AC-130 gunships. Previously reluctant to 

target these formidable aircraft for fear their 

muzzle flashes from the ground would bring swift 

retribution, the North Vietnamese anti-aircraft 

gunners began to take a chance at engaging AC130s at night because of the potential rewards. The 

offer of cigarettes, food and various privileges now 

led to increased aggressiveness toward any aircraft, 

but the AC-130s brought the greatest attention. In 

his excellent history of the Air Force’s efforts against 

the Ho Chi Minh Trail, historian Bernard Nalty noted 

that their first success against an AC-130 took place 

on March 30, 1972. This would not do.

Despite the fact that missiles had already begun 

to overshadow anti-aircraft guns as the primary 

threat, the enemy employed weapons both primitive 

and formidable. With their Chinese and Soviet allies 

providing war materials, the North Vietnamese 

more than doubled their inventory of heavy guns 

from roughly 700 to 1,500 in the early 1970s. Until 

1971, the 37 millimeter weapon predominated, 

but by 1972 the 57 millimeter gun dominated the 

scene with both often mounted on trucks to address 

incoming American aircraft. During the Commando 

Hunt air campaign against the Ho Chi Minh Trail and 

other logistics supply avenues from November 1971 

to March 1972, the power of these guns increased to 

85 and 100 millimeter calibers.

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23Pathfinder ›› July/August 2011

that only imagery interpretation could provide. 

Close collaboration with photo interpreters 

eventually helped the Air Force locate and 

effectively target the anti-aircraft sites attacking 

the AC-130s. Beginning the previous January, RF-4C 

reconnaissance aircraft had initiated an effort to 

locate—through photo interpretation—as many 

of these anti-aircraft sites as possible. Now the 

forward site controllers, the AC-130 pilots, photo 

interpreters and the reconnaissance pilots who 

flew the RF-4C’s began to meet regularly to closely 

examine the photography of essential areas of 

Laos and Vietnam to determine exact or suspected 

locations of anti-aircraft gun emplacements. 

The process came together so well that in 

less than 12 hours after a reconnaissance flight 

touched down, the air controllers and pilots 

received imagery of the targets. The laser-guided 

OV-10 aircraft carried the forward air controllers 

to the targets along with the F-4s equipped with 

laser-guided bombs. The OV-10 crews used 

the latest imagery, as well as binoculars and a 

starlight scope, which acted as another source 

of magnification. In spite of the difference in 

magnification power between the two optical 

devices, the F-4/OV-10 missions accounted for the 

destruction of 12 percent of all anti-aircraft sites 

identified during Commando Hunt VII. 

While the statistics on success seem rather 

meager, effective imagery penetration of the 

heavily forested Ho Chi Minh Trail proved a nearly 

insurmountable challenge. Photo interpreters 

continuously assaulted this challenge during 

the Vietnam War. Many of the interpreters who 

eventually found their way to the National 

Photographic Interpretation Center (an NGA 

predecessor agency) after the war became 

imagery analysts, and their expertise emerged 

from their work on photographs of the intricate 

North Vietnamese logistics network. In this case, 

however, they not only helped define a tradecraft 

and destroy deadly anti-aircraft guns, but they also 

helped account for many of the gunners and expert 

personnel who made the north’s anti-aircraft effort 

a formidable opponent. 

Very much like the success of American Pacific 

forces in World War II against the front-line cadre of 

Japanese fighter pilots, the north could not readily 

replace these assets or risk keeping them in the 

same place for very long without certainly losing 

them. This improved greatly both the opportunity to 

conduct successful AC-130 missions and the chance 

of returning the crews safely to base.

NGA Photo

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www.nga.mil

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