Know the Earth... Show the Way... Understand the World Vol. 9 No. 6 November/December 2011

NCE

The New 

Headquarters

for GEOINT
ON MY MIND

 NGA has consolidated its East Coast operations at Fort Belvoir, Va. In September 

we cut the ribbon marking the official opening of our new, purpose-built facility. 

This move, bringing more than 8,500 NGA federal government, contractor 

and military employees together in one location, ushers NGA and geospatial 

intelligence into a new era. It provides a secure, modern and collaborative working 

environment for the men and women in the East who conduct and enable our 

mission.

 The timing couldn’t be better. In today’s world of fiscal austerity, diffuse threats 

and decentralized military challenges, our mission partners rely on us more than 

ever for timely, relevant GEOINT. Our vision of providing both online, on-demand 

access and broader and deeper analysis is now putting the power of GEOINT in the 

hands of our users, and our new facility enables us to exploit the latest tools and 

collaborative strategies in support of that effort. 

 The collocation of our 24/7 “watch” centers—the NGA Operations Center, 

Source Fusion Center and office of Time Dominant Operations—has improved 

their collective knowledge sharing and mission effectiveness. With upgraded 

technology and a knowledge wall consisting of forty, 80-inch screens, the new 

center enables GEOINT visualization in a commanding way. We can provide 

dynamic, rather than static, information and provide the geospatial and 

geographical context for it as well. At the same time, we have dedicated space for 

our crisis action and focus cells to tap into these capabilities as well as interact 

with our operations center team. Our Libya weapons of mass destruction focus cell 

capitalized on these new spaces and capabilities.

 NCE’s computer systems, built on a new information architecture that 

eliminates numerous disparate systems, help our analysts more effectively and 

efficiently meet the evolving needs of our mission partners. The new and more 

flexible architecture model includes applications that can ride on any server 

through cloud technology and virtual user profiles. Because more data has been 

digitized for the new system, analysts can now locate imagery within minutes that 

might have taken days to find on archived tape. With this greater access to data, 

our GEOINT experts spend less time searching for imagery and more time using 

their analytical skills to develop anticipatory intelligence and solve other hard 

intelligence problems.

 Our NGA Campus East is also the largest Leadership in Engineering and Design 

(LEED) gold-certified building in the world, a certification conferred by the U.S. 

Green Building Council. Read more about this honor in our story on p. 12.

 At the same time, we are working to modernize our West offices in St. Louis and 

Arnold, Mo. We will complete a qualitative decision study in early 2012 which will 

determine whether we modernize or build new. We want our West personnel to 

benefit from the technology and infrastructure improvements we are enjoying in 

the East.

 Our new home for GEOINT is helping us realize our vision, unify our culture, 

more efficiently execute our mission and increase productivity. NGA will continue 

to achieve unprecedented levels of success across the full spectrum of GEOINT 

operations while advancing environmental sustainability and stewardship.

Letitia A. Long

Director

Pathfinder ›› November/December 2011

On My Mind

NCE —The New Headquarters for GEOINT
3 Pathfinder ››November/December 2011

12

On the Cover

The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) officially 

recognized the opening of its new headquarters at Fort Belvoir 

North Area, Springfield, Va., during a ribbon-cutting ceremony 

Sept. 26 that also served as the kickoff of NGA’s week-long 

celebration of the agency’s mission, workforce and 15th 

anniversary. Purposefully built to better support the mission of 

geospatial intelligence, or GEOINT, NGA’s headquarters, known as 

NGA Campus East, was authorized by the 2005 Base Realignment 

and Closure Act to consolidate NGA operations throughout the 

National Capital Region of the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area. 

NGA photo by Rob Cox. Cover design by Amy Battison.

On the Back Cover

The World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C, honors the 16 

million who served in the armed forces of the United States, the 

more than 400,000 who died, and all who supported the war effort 

from home. The memorial is a monument to the spirit, sacrifice and 

commitment of the American people. NGA recognizes and honors 

all veterans on Veteran’s Day.

Photo of the World War II Memorial by Rhoda Branch, Yvie Len 

Photography. Back cover design by Amy Battison. 

Published by the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency

Office of Corporate Communications

Telephone: (571) 557-5400

DSN 547-5400

E-mail: pathfinder@nga.mil

Director

Letitia A. Long

Deputy Director

Lloyd Rowland

Office of Corporate Communications, Director

Vonna Heaton

External Communications Branch, Chief

Gary Biggs, Acting

Editor

Susan H. Meisner

Graphic Artist

Amy Battison

The Pathfinder is the National Geospatial-Intelligence 

Agency publication that promotes 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: NCE—The New Headquarters for 

GEOINT

4 NGA Domestic Operations Team East 

Supports the MLB All-Star Game

5 NGA in the News 

›› FEATURES

6 The NGA Vision: Creating New GEOINT Value

8 The Unclassified NSG: Same Vision, Different 

Domain

9 Pushing GEOINT’s Boundaries

10 Earthquake Moves Ground Monitoring Station

12 NGA Completes BRAC Move to New 

Headquarters

14 NGA Springs to Action: The Pan-Arab Crisis 

Action Team

16 Target Vetting: Seeing Through the Fog of War

18 NGA Psychologists Explore Challenges to 

GEOINT Analysis

›› OUR HERITAGE

21 Remembering Vietnam 4: After Dark with 

Patricia Lynn

Contents

CONTENTS

Know the Earth... Show the Way... Understand the World
National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) analysts 

frequently serve as geospatial intelligence (GEOINT) 

ambassadors to state, local and federal agencies. 

In July 2011 NGA’s Domestic Operations Team East 

traveled to Phoenix to provide on-site support of the 

Major League Baseball All-Star Game that month. NGA 

personnel provided City of Phoenix personnel with 

advanced GEOINT training in line-of-sight analysis for 

use during sniper/counter-sniper observer planning 

and route planning. The team provided vehicle-borne, 

improvised explosive device-estimated damage 

graphics to the Department of Homeland Security/

Transportation Security Administration and City of 

Phoenix Bomb Squad for areas of concern in and 

around the Phoenix International Airport. Additional 

planning graphics concentrated on counterterrorism 

efforts.

4Pathfinder ›› November/December 2011

NGA Domestic Operations Team East Supports the MLB All-Star Game

By Ty Marr, Geospatial Analyst, Domestic Operations

In 2008 a team from NGA provided GEOINT support to 

city personnel for an additional special security event—

the Super Bowl—as requested by the FBI’s Phoenix Field 

Office. The team demonstrated the utility of geospatially 

referencing many types of incidents and events, which 

reveal patterns and relationships. The City of Phoenix 

realized the power of GEOINT to not only inform key 

decision makers but also improve day-to-day operations. 

The city developed geographic information system (GIS) 

capabilities in their fire and police departments and other 

city-run departments. This year’s work built on those 

earlier efforts.

The City of Phoenix expressed appreciation for NGA’s 

support in making the MLB All-Star Game a success. Said 

City Manager Dennis Murphy, “Thank you for coming to 

Phoenix and assisting us in understanding the power of 

applying GIS to our situational information needs.”

The future of GEOINT in the City of Phoenix is bright.

Depicted is the Red Carpet Event parade route areas of observation for the MLB All-Star Game.

TEAM SUPPORTS THE MLB ALL-STAR GAME
NGA IN THE NEWS

5 Pathfinder ››November/December 2011

NGA IN THE NEWS

NGA, Esri Sign New Cooperative

Research & Development Agreement

The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) and

Environmental Systems Research Institute, Inc., (Esri) agreed to 

continue a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement 

(CRADA) relationship established in 1999 by activating a new 

agreement in June. Esri has been a long-standing partner with 

NGA in the development of geographic information system 

solutions supporting the needs of the National System for 

Geospatial Intelligence community. In a CRADA each partner 

funds its own activities and areas of cooperation are mutual. 

The Esri-NGA partnership has provided benefits by encouraging 

collaboration resulting in the advancement of Esri’s geospatial 

software solutions supporting GEOINT processes. 

“There have been many examples of Esri rapidly responding 

to address a critical need identified by NGA in support of a crisis 

situation or production requirement,” said David Wesloh of the 

Office of Chief Information Officer, NGA’s principal investigator for 

the CRADA. Under the latest CRADA agreement, Esri and NGA will 

work closely to address enhancements to Esri software to better 

support imagery exploitation, geopositioning, mapping and 

charting and Web-based solutions.

NGA has 22 active CRADAs and is developing several others.

“The Advent of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency 

(NGA)” is the best place to begin learning about the agency’s 

history, according to NGA Historian Dr. Gary Weir. “This 

publication provides basic information and a narrative outline of 

the evolution of the National Imagery and Mapping Agency/NGA 

from the earliest experiences of our predecessor agencies and 

activities in the 18th century to the present move to NGA Campus 

East.” 

“NGA uses history to better understand its present and its 

future,” said NGA Director Letitia A. Long in an introduction to 

the primer. “While firmly rooted in a legacy that extends back 

to surveyors like the young George Washington and explorers 

like Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, GEOINT combines 

extraordinary modern technologies and diverse personal skills 

to solve today’s most difficult and complicated intelligence 

problems.”

The primer is the historical starting line. Read it online at www.

nga.mil.

Redesigned NGA Website 

Puts GEOINT in the Hands 

of Users

By Reishia Kelsey, Office of Corporate 

Communications 

The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency 

(NGA) launched a new public website on Oct. 

5, 2011. The new website allows users to easily 

access NGA mission partner items of interest, 

corporate information, career and student 

opportunities, as well as quick links to NGA’s 

social media presence. 

This launch is a critical step in implementing 

NGA’s vision of putting the power of geospatial 

intelligence (GEOINT) in your hands. Over the 

next year, NGA plans to make further website 

enhancements to improve the user’s experience 

by providing a customizable interface and a 

GEOINT application marketplace. The goal 

is to provide a single access point for NGA’s 

unclassified geospatial information, critical to a 

wide spectrum of GEOINT consumers. 

“We’ve designed this website with the public 

and partners in mind,” said NGA Director Letitia 

A. Long. “NGA wants to make it easy for the 

public to understand who we are and for our 

mission partners to have a single location for 

unclassified geospatial and safety of navigation 

data to do their jobs every day or for use during a 

crisis.”

For more about NGA’s website and what it has 

to offer, visit www.nga.mil.

NGA Releases Updated History
THE NGA VISION

6Pathfinder ›› November/December 2011

“The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency 

(NGA) is changing the way it does business; this 

includes the sources and processes we use, the 

way geospatial intelligence is developed, how we 

make our analytic expertise available, and the 

depth of our analysis,” said Mike Rodrigue, Director 

of the Vision Integration Team (VIT). “We are moving 

away from a target-based model toward an issuedriven, activity-based environment,” he added.

In the past year, NGA embarked on an effort 

to incorporate the agency’s vision of putting the 

power of GEOINT in the users’ hands into every 

facet of the agency’s operations. NGA aims to 

change the users’ online experience by opening 

up all GEOINT content through a data-rich 

environment of geo-referenced and time-tagged 

information. “All data must be tagged—at least 

spatially and temporally,” said Keith Barber, 

lead for the vision’s online, on-demand access 

to GEOINT knowledge goal. “We also are making 

decisions on how to shift from how we deliver 

GEOINT to how we make GEOINT available.”

Providing users ready access to online data 

will allow NGA analysts more time to put GEOINT 

data in context. It will also facilitate implementing 

activity-based intelligence (ABI) using new 

technology, techniques and phenomonologies to 

conduct analysis. NGA will provide users access to 

information in a manner that best suits their needs 

based on a service delivery model of self, assisted 

and full service. This will provide more effective 

and efficient customer service and help eliminate 

duplication of GEOINT across the community.

In the past six months, NGA has made significant 

strides toward creating new value by broadening 

and deepening GEOINT analytic techniques. 

Through the use of integrated learning cells, or 

incubators, the agency and its partners have begun 

to foster an environment that enables participatory 

analysis within and across GEOINT tradecrafts and 

specialties. These learning cells tested different 

analytic approaches and identified needed 

capabilities. Using diverse sources and tools, the 

learning cells created more flexible workflows that 

enabled deeper analysis and identified technical and 

process solutions that could be scaled across the 

enterprise.

“NGA has also brought new analytical approaches 

and production processes like ‘Living Intelligence’ to 

these groups, successfully challenging the traditional 

approaches to GEOINT,” said John Goolgasian, lead 

of the broadening and deepening analytic expertise 

goal. “While these are significant achievements, 

they are only the start. Over the next 12 to 18 

months these approaches will spread across the 

enterprise and result in advances in our analysis and 

production,” he added.

Living Intelligence is a joint project between NGA 

and Intelink to transform the agency’s proprietary, 

finished intelligence process and reduce the amount 

of duplicative analytic production.

The learning cells demonstrated how analysts 

develop and communicate enduring solutions to 

intelligence issues. The biggest challenge over the 

past few months has been to transform operations 

while meeting current mission needs. “We are not 

developing new processes and products in a lab. We 

are creating new value to meet real requirements in 

the real operational environment,” said Rodrigue.

Added James Griffith, Deputy Director of the VIT, 

“As our work to deliver vision-critical capabilities 

accelerates, the agency will require a slightly 

modified governance structure to ensure overall 

success and accelerate implementation.” NGA’s 

approach to vision implementation is evolving 

as is the role and functions of the VIT, formerly 

the Vision Implementation and now the Vision 

Integration Team. Since its stand-up, the VIT has 

made progress in moving the vision forward based 

The NGA Vision: Creating New GEOINT Value

By Kirsten Petree, Contractor, Vision Implementation Communication Team

NGA photo by Larry Franklin

NGA Director Letitia A. Long met with almost 200 senior leaders at an 

all-hands meeting in August to hear the strategic initiative leads for 

vision integration share their plans and priorities about how initiative 

implementation, both individually and collectively, will enhance the critical 

contributions to NGA’s customers and the broader community.
•	 Agile acquisition—develop and deliver a 

suite of tailored processes that meet customer 

expectations for rapid satisfaction of mission 

requirements.

•	 Three activity-based focus areas—

demonstrate and determine the value of 

an integrated analytic approach to address 

regionally specific key intelligence questions 

while enabling self-service to the maximum 

extent possible and on-demand access to timely 

and relevant GEOINT content. These learning 

cells will provide analytic and technology 

solutions, enabling the discovery of GEOINT 

data, enhanced GEOINT contribution and 

delivery options that meet the mission needs of 

partners and customers.

•	 Leader development—help model the 

future by promoting core leadership values at 

NGA. Effective leaders at NGA have never been 

more important. Leadership needs to emphasize 

corporate behavior by optimizing efforts for the 

agency, not only for individual business units.

The efforts to implement the vision will continue 

to inform, influence and drive decisions that will 

impact the future of GEOINT at NGA and within 

the broader GEOINT community. The ability to 

improve access to GEOINT content, enable sharing 

of GEOINT applications, fine-tune customer service 

and strengthen analytic capabilities and processes 

relies on everyone in the GEOINT community. NGA, 

along with the National System for Geospatial 

Intelligence, will achieve the vision of putting the 

power of GEOINT in the hands of all users.

THE NGA VISION

7 Pathfinder ››November/December 2011

on accomplishments from across the agency. 

“These changes are improving the way NGA meets 

its current needs and will allow NGA to meet future 

demands more effectively and efficiently,” added 

Griffith.

NGA recently identified an initial set of eight 

strategic initiatives that will further refine and 

accelerate vision integration. These initiatives 

will provide overarching accountability in 

achieving results.

The strategic initiatives currently focus on:

•	 Online GEOINT services—expand NGA’s 

user base and deepen NGA’s relationships 

with users through a single Web presence that 

makes all GEOINT data, products and knowledge 

accessible and usable online, on-demand through 

a self-, assisted- and full-service delivery model. 

Greatly enhance the users’ experience by making 

it interactive and intuitive.

•	 GEOINT data architecture and 

management—define, develop and implement 

a geospatial data management architecture that 

enables efficient use and utility for operations 

and analysis across the three service levels (self, 

assisted and full) regardless of the users’ role, 

location, mission or security domain.

•	 Open information technology 

environment—develop and implement an open 

IT architecture supporting all strategic initiatives 

while improving access to GEOINT content 

and applications for all community members 

regardless of role, mission, location or security 

domain.

NGA photo by Larry Franklin

North America and Homeland Security Division employees (from left to right) Katie Baucom, Nat Wolpert and Rich Benjamin, demonstrate Disaster Strategic 

Initiative applications to NGA employees in preparation for the upcoming GEOINT Symposium.
THE UNCLASSIFIED NSG

8Pathfinder ›› November/December 2011

Geospatial intelligence (GEOINT) is foundational. 

It puts information in context, and its visual 

nature allows users to understand and exploit vast 

amounts of information. NGA and the National 

System for Geospatial Intelligence (NSG) embrace 

this foundational nature of GEOINT in the pursuit 

of an integrated multi-intelligence, multi-domain 

environment. 

The Intelligence Community has made great 

strides in the classified arena and now is focusing 

on its unclassified missions and partners. A 

matrixed team from across the NSG is developing 

a strategy that addresses the unclassified realm’s 

unique tasking, collection, processing, exploitation 

and dissemination requirements. The ability to 

operate in the unclassified arena will dramatically 

improve NGA’s ability to share information and 

support customers with homeland security, 

disaster response and special security events 

needs. This is the unclassified NSG (UNSG).

The strategy for the UNSG uses the lead federal 

agency model. This model allows NGA to support 

its partners (Federal Emergency Management 

Agency, Department of Homeland Security and 

Department of State) under existing authorities 

and enables them to serve their constituents 

faster and more thoroughly. By fusing multiple, 

unclassified data sets, NGA and the lead agency 

can create a common operational picture that 

displays relevant GEOINT, facilitates collaborative 

planning, and increases situational awareness 

during a special security event or crisis.

The UNSG aligns with NGA’s vision and will 

ultimately provide NSG partners with online, ondemand access to geospatial data and products 

in the unclassified domain. Its open structure 

will increase partner responsiveness, available 

content and the value of the information, while no 

longer requiring data, applications and services 

to originate within NGA. The UNSG will create a 

framework that others can build upon, offering a 

flexible, multi-security level (MSL) environment 

that permits analysts to work on unclassified 

systems without the need to transfer data between 

multiple systems. It will also tailor the information 

our partners receive by allowing them to pull the 

data they need rather than NGA pushing ill-suited 

products on them.

Recent natural disasters reinforce the need 

for a more comprehensive approach for sharing 

data. In the last two years alone, NGA has 

supported efforts on the Deep Water Horizon oil 

spill, the Haiti and Chilean earthquakes, western 

forest fires, Hurricane Thomas in Haiti, floods in 

Pakistan and Japan’s earthquake and tsunami. 

Each event requires NGA analysts to spend 

The Unclassified NSG: Same Vision, Different Domain

By Kelly Kemp, Staff Officer, Office of Geospatial Intelligence Management

Paul Weise, Director of the Office of Geospatial Intelligence Management and Chief Functional Management Officer, meets with the Functional Management 

Council (FMC) monthly to develop and coordinate National System for Geospatial Intelligence strategies and activities and resolve issues that cross multiple 

functional management areas. Depicted is Weise, fourth from left, meeting with the FMC, composed of Delegated Functional Managers. 

NGA Photo by Larry Franklin
and update key infrastructure data, such as 

roads and streets, medical facilities and disaster 

response centers, as well as to define the timelines 

that users have for unclassified GEOINT data. These 

exercises also allow experts to examine the legal, 

policy and licensing issues involved with sharing 

unclassified commercial imagery and the technical 

hurdles surrounding data interoperability.

The hard work is not finished. NGA Director 

Letitia A. Long is seeking a unified NSG approach 

for disaster response and information sharing 

during crises. Integrating NSG processes and 

requiring the GEOINT community to move forward 

together will provide better support domestically 

and internationally. By conducting these exercises 

now, the NSG is promising that disasters may slow 

us down, but policies and data incompatibilities 

will not keep us from being there when we are 

needed most.

THE UNCLASSIFIED NSG

9Pathfinder ››November/December 2011

precious time transferring archived NGA data, 

commercial imagery and other vital information 

between classified and unclassified systems. 

On several occasions, NGA’s partners and the 

volunteer community produced information long 

before NGA could. The UNSG allows analysts to 

dedicate more time to exploitation in the critical 

hours immediately following a crisis and less time 

shifting information between domains.

NGA is working to forge new links to the disaster 

response community and to understand their 

unique needs, timeframes and capabilities. 

The National Defense University and the Naval 

Postgraduate School already hold quarterly 

exercises with the volunteer technical community, 

but NGA is beginning to participate and shoulder 

more of the responsibility. This August, NGA and 

the volunteers ran an exercise that explored the 

viability of sharing commercial imagery to verify 

Pushing GEOINT’s Boundaries

By Nate Cash, Staff Officer, Office of Geospatial Intelligence Management

The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency’s (NGA’s) game-changing vision is driving the agency 

forward, producing improvements across the board and keeping NGA relevant in a world of rapidly 

advancing technology. NGA Director Letitia A. Long’s November 2010 call to action galvanized NGA, 

but other members of the GEOINT community initiated complementary programs that extend her 

vision beyond NGA.

The U.S. Army’s Nett Warrior (NW), named after Medal of Honor recipient Army Col. Robert Nett, is 

taking the online, on-demand concept and putting it into the field. Nett Warrior’s modular system 

uses state-of-the-art computer, communications and global positioning technologies to digitally 

link dismounted soldiers on the battlefield. Users obtain map data via Army channels while heavily 

relying on NGA orthorectified digital imagery data for mission planning, navigation and situational 

awareness, along with digital terrain elevation data for line-of-site analyses.

Using imagery and geospatial information is an efficient way to track developing situations and 

provide agencies with information to maximize aid and investment decisions.

The U.S. Agency for International Development recently announced it is creating a Geospatial 

Information Center to provide imagery and geospatial data to its employees and other aid workers, 

allowing them to rapidly track events and quickly distribute information. Similarly, the Federal 

Emergency Management Agency and Department of Homeland Security use geospatial products 

to provide first responders with a deeper understanding of emerging crises. NGA is collaborating 

with each of these agencies, providing them with access to data and ensuring that its distribution 

affects the widest benefit possible.

All of these agencies, working with NGA, are pushing GEOINT to its boundaries and forcing the 

community and industry to rethink GEOINT’s possibilities.
EARTHQUAKE MOVES GROUND

10Pathfinder ›› November/December 2011

Earthquake Moves Ground Monitoring Station

By Elizabeth K. Loesch, Orbital Analyst, GPS Branch

The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency 

(NGA) plays two key roles in keeping GPS 

accurate: maintaining the World Geodetic 

System 84 (WGS 84) reference framework, 

and determining the precise orbits of the GPS 

constellation. 

Determining whether earthquakes—such as 

the March 11, 2011, Sendai, Japan, earthquake 

affected ground monitoring stations—is part of 

the job.

The basic theory of plate tectonics is that 

the rigid crust of the earth floats on a liquid 

subsurface. This rigid crust consists of large 

sections called plates, and these plates are 

made up of both continental and oceanic crust. 

Interactions of these plates can be constructive 

(plates meet and add to each other creating 

mountains), destructive (plates meet and one is 

subducted under the other), or transverse (the 

plates meet and slide past one another). Each 

plate has its own respective motion, differing 

direction and velocity. Plate boundaries can be 

very complex. 

Major Earth events, such as the magnitude 

9.0 earthquake in Japan, can cause large 

local displacement of the crust. Earthquakes 

liberate massive amounts of energy along plate 

boundaries. This released energy transfers 

through the rock. Local displacement can 

effectively lead to movement of objects relative to 

their pre-event location. Typically the entire plate 

moves in a particular direction with an average 

velocity, however these local displacements may have 

an independent magnitude and direction (Figure 1). 

Local displacement may also not propagate through 

the entire plate or transfer any significant energy to 

surrounding plates. 

NGA’s GPS Division consists of two segments; 

one focuses primarily on data flowing through an 

established ground monitor station network (Figure 

2). This ground monitor station network relays data 

from the satellite constellation to NGA and the U.S. 

Air Force (USAF) and is a critical element of GPS. 

The second segment of the branch is responsible 

for a daily post-processing calculation of the 

precise location of the GPS satellite vehicles in 

their respective orbits (precise ephemeris). Division 

analysts use a number of parameters to calculate the 

precise ephemeris, including the exact location of 

the ground monitor stations. Physical movement of a 

monitor station changes the established parameters 

analysts use to calculate the precise ephemeris. 

They account for the natural influence of plate 

tectonic movement in the established variables. 

An unexpected change in the values (such as local 

movement at the ground monitor station due to a 

major earthquake) would introduce error into the 

Figure 1: NASA image

precise ephemeris calculations and in the reference 

Figure 2: NGA image

Depicted are the locations of NGA and U.S. Air Force GPS Monitor Stations.

The figures depict vector motion across Japan following the Sendai 

earthquake; maximum motion of 4.4 meters occurred near the 

epicenter.
EARTHQUAKE MOVES GROUND

11Pathfinder ››November/December 2011

frame itself. 

Analysts review the locations of the ground 

monitor stations nearest to a major Earth event 

to evaluate if a parameter they use to calculate 

precise ephemeris has changed. This procedure 

is an established best practice following a major 

earthquake. The GPS Division determined movement 

occurred at the Osan, Republic of Korea Monitor 

Station after the Sendai earthquake. The total 

movement was 4 centimeters (1.57 inches) east 

(Figure 3). The average annual movement for this 

station is 3.17 centimeters (1.25 inches), so the 

Sendai earthquake represents more displacement 

in one instance than it normally experiences all 

year. While this movement is detectable, it is still 

within the 5 centimeter (1.97 inches) operational 

tolerances for NGA/Air Force station movement, 

explained Senior Orbital Analyst Bob Wong. “Just 

because a change is within a certain tolerance does 

not mean we cannot detect it. The Osan Monitor 

Station movement is detectable, so for the sake of 

being rigorous, we recommended to the USAF that 

new coordinates be used at the first convenient 

opportunity.”

The Foundation of GPS 

Warfighters rely heavily on GPS for positioning, 

navigation and timing applications. WGS 84 

provides the foundation for the common operating 

picture. All GPS users immediately realize WGS 84 

coordinates from GPS signals. The NGA GPS monitor 

stations, combined with the USAF GPS monitor 

stations, form the basis of the WGS 84 reference 

frame. They essentially define the center of the 

Earth. Analysts must account for a sudden shift of a 

few centimeters or small changes in the velocity of 

the stations to ensure the highest level of accuracy 

of the reference frame itself. To ensure that errors 

in the reference frame do not grow due to these 

small changes, they must apply corrections. These 

corrections ensure high standards in integrity and 

accuracy of the WGS 84 reference frame. 

NGA is also responsible for determining the 

precise orbits of the GPS constellation the 

Department of Defense (DOD) uses and making this 

information available to all GPS users. To generate 

this information, NGA uses a worldwide GPS ground 

monitoring network that collects data continuously. 

NGA’s Geomatics Office is responsible for the 

precise orbits of both the WGS 84 and DOD GPS. 

After an earthquake or other major Earth event, 

analysts can determine the change in local 

positions quickly and accurately. They track the 

changing velocities of plates or portions of plates 

at high accuracy, giving a more complete picture 

of what has happened to the Earth itself. After the 

coordinates of the moved sites are determined, 

the GPS branch sends updated information to the 

USAF for their use in determining the orbits of the 

GPS constellation. The GPS signal then delivers 

corrections to the reference frame to GPS users 

through the GPS signal. 

This graph depicts movement of the Osan, Republic of Korea Ground Monitor Station. The 

March 11 earthquake is noted on the graph, and movement of the station is observed in 

the eastern direction. Total movement due to the earthquake is 4.0 centimeters.

Figure 3: NGA image
Work spaces are also specifically designed to 

create a more collaborative environment and 

help increase synergy across the agency as a 

whole, with coworkers sharing a more visible 

and accessible existence with each other and 

leadership.

“The building we dedicate today is bringing 

us all closer together—both physically and 

figuratively,” Long said. “I’ve already seen 

improvements in our collaboration with each 

other.”

Paul B., an analyst with NGA’s Production and 

Analysis Directorate, who moved to the facility in 

July, agrees. “Being able to walk across the atrium 

to talk to my counterparts in other offices about 

a particular region or topic we are working on is 

extremely beneficial,” he said, emphasizing that 

this face-to-face collaboration adds both context 

and depth to NGA’s geospatial products.

Additionally, Paul B. has seen a difference in the 

IT systems of the facility.

“The overall systems appear to run much more 

smoothly,” he said. “We use a lot of applications 

that require a lot of RAM and memory, and the new 

system seems to have improved the processing 

time of our applications.”

The facility also supports greater collaboration 

across the geospatial community with a world-class 

conference center onsite to support the outreach 

The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency 

(NGA) officially recognized the opening of its 

new headquarters at Fort Belvoir North Area, 

Springfield, Va., during a ribbon-cutting ceremony 

Sept. 26 that also served as the kickoff of NGA’s 

week-long celebration of the agency’s mission, 

workforce and 15th anniversary.

Purposefully built to better support the mission 

of geospatial intelligence, or GEOINT, NGA’s 

headquarters, known as NGA Campus East (NCE), 

was authorized by the 2005 Base Realignment 

and Closure Act to consolidate NGA operations 

throughout the National Capital Region of the 

Washington, D.C., metropolitan area. The facility’s 

construction, which began in September 2007, was 

overseen by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

“We’ve met the goal of opening this facility 

through hard work, planning and dedication,” 

said NGA Director Letitia A. Long. “An important 

part of our federally mandated move was to 

create a facility ‘purpose-built’ for the geospatial 

intelligence mission.”

To that end, the facility provides NGA’s 

workforce with a secure and modern working 

environment that emphasizes both physical and 

virtual collaboration, as well as a state-of-the-art 

information technology infrastructure designed 

to support the current and future needs of the 

agency by leveraging technologies, such as cloud 

technology and virtual user profiles, already used 

extensively in commercial industry.

12Pathfinder ›› November/December 2011

NGA COMPLETES BRAC MOVE

NGA Completes BRAC Move to New Headquarters

By Laura Lundin, Office of Corporate Communications

NGA Director Letitia A. Long (in red jacket), NGA employees and a host of 

distinguished guests cut the ribbon in front of NGA Campus East.
As NGA looks to better meet the current and 

future needs of its geospatial intelligence users—

in times of peace, in times of crisis and in times of 

war, the new NCE facility will act as a cornerstone 

in the future success of the geospatial mission.

“This [building] 

represents, in my 

view, a living 

testament to 

geospatial 

intelligence,” 

said Director 

of National 

Intelligence 

James R. 

Clapper Jr.

Distinguished 

attendees 

participating in the 

ribbon-cutting ceremony included Virginia Sen. 

Mark Warner, Moran, Clapper, Undersecretary of 

Defense for Intelligence Michael Vickers, former 

NGA Director retired Vice Adm. Robert B. Murrett, 

Virginia House of Delegates Member Mark Sickles, 

Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Chairman 

Sharon Bulova, and Commander, Baltimore 

District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Col. Dave 

Anderson.

NGA COMPLETES BRAC MOVE

13Pathfinder ››November/December 2011

needs of NGA’s Intelligence 

Community and Department 

of Defense partners, as well as 

dedicated office spaces where 

liaisons from agencies, such as 

the Defense Intelligence Agency 

and the U.S. military services 

GEOINT offices, are collocated 

with NGA personnel in order to 

enhance the mission support 

NGA provides.

These factors all enhance 

NGA’s support to 24/7 

operations.

You can’t overstate the 

mission of NGA,” said U.S. 

Representative for Virginia’s 

Eighth Congressional District 

James P. Moran. “You work

around the clock keeping an

eye on the world.”

In August 2011, the NCE facility achieved 

gold certification under the U.S. Green 

Building Council, Leadership in Energy and 

Environmental Design (LEED®) Version 2.2 for 

New Construction and Major Renovations rating 

system. NCE achieved 40 of 51 possible points 

under the gold level, which required a minimum 

of 39 points for certification.

“It is now the largest U.S. federal building in 

the world to achieve that certification,” said 

Moran.

NGA qualified for the gold certification by 

meeting the five key performance areas of 

sustainable sites, water efficiency, energy 

and atmosphere, materials and resources and 

indoor environmentally quality, with additional 

credit given for innovation and design process—

all completed without additional cost to the 

construction budget.

NCE’s LEED gold certification points to the 

building’s positive environmental impact and 

will lead to financial savings due to lower 

operating costs realized through energy and 

water conservation. Environmentally friendly 

features, like a rainwater collection system and 

low-flow indoor plumbing fixtures, transparent 

roofing system and energy efficient lighting, 

have already shown significant cost savings.

NGA photo by Tony Boone

NGA Director Letitia A. Long, at left, shakes hands with U.S. Representative for Virginia’s Eighth 

Congressional District James P. Moran, while Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper Jr. looks 

on. Clapper and Moran were amongst the distinguished attendees at the ribbon-cutting ceremony at NGA 

Campus East Sept. 26.

NGA photo by Tony Boone
NGA SPRINGS INTO ACTION

14Pathfinder ›› November/December 2011

As U.S. and NATO aircraft and missiles struck 

Libyan air defense elements in March 2011, the 

National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) 

initiated a Pan-Arab Crisis Action Team (CAT) to 

support them. 

Unanticipated uprisings were not unique to 

Libya; the scope of events required NGA to develop 

an approach nimble enough to adjust to events 

spanning two continents, strong enough to deal with 

regional issues, and able to avoid impacting other 

global obligations. NGA’s strategy shifted from a 

focus cell to the more deliberate CAT staffed by an 

even more diverse group with a greater breadth of 

regional and functional expertise. 

“May you live in interesting times” is reputed 

to be the English translation of one of three 

ancient Chinese proverbs and curses that seemed 

appropriate to the wave of demonstrations and 

protests that erupted across the Pan-Arab World. The 

origin of the proverb might be in question but its 

essence wasn’t lost on those who looked to NGA 

and its partners across the Intelligence Community 

(IC) for insight and actionable intelligence. Key 

to NGA’s successful response was leveraging 

established and dynamic partnerships in support 

of combat support elements, policy and decision 

makers within the U.S. government and a coalition 

that included NATO and Arab partners as well as 

partners within the Allied System for Geospatial 

Intelligence. 

The Arab Spring, as this revolutionary wave 

of demonstrations and protests was called, 

presented a perfect storm of demographic, 

economic, political, military and technological 

challenges. NGA’s geospatial capabilities provided 

an intelligence foundation for the fusion of strategy 

and policy decisions and actions of the United 

States and the international coalition. 

While not a new concept, three factors made the 

Pan-Arab CAT unique: 

•	 The geographic scope of the area, which 

included at least 13 countries covering 9.2 

million square kilometers

•	 The international complexities of the 

United States, NATO and Arab coalition partners

•	 Its status as the first CAT based in St. 

Louis, exercising a critical element of the NGA 

Business Continuity Plan

“May you come to the attention of those in 

authority” is the second of two lesser-known 

proverbs that reflected the operational tempo of 

the Pan-Arab team. In less than 24 hours an issuedriven focus cell, in place since late January 2001 

and covering developments in Tunisia and Egypt, 

transformed into a CAT to meet the demands of 

a dynamic Pan-Arab event. During the next three 

months analysts logged over 600 requests for 

information (RFIs), of which customers submitted 

over 360 during the Pan-Arab CAT’s timeframe. 

Operators are “using the [NGA] products on 

almost a daily basis ... to inform military brass of 

the situation on the ground, and NGA products 

have become the primary source for most of the 

J2 [joint intelligence] all-source products,” said an 

NGA liaison officer at Al Udeid Air Base in Doha, 

Qatar.

NGA Springs to Action: The Pan-Arab Crisis Action Team

By Greg Anderson, Special Issues Manager, Analysis and Production Directorate

The Arleigh Burk-class guided missile destroyer USS Barry (DDG 52) launches 

a Tomahawk cruise missile to support Joint Task Force Odyssey Dawn. DOD photo
NGA SPRINGS INTO ACTION

15Pathfinder ››November/December 2011

John Heyworth, the English writer, penned the 

quote, “Many hands make light work” in 1546, 

but the essence of his adage reverberated with 

many employees who lightened the load for critical 

geospatial intelligence (GEOINT). Their diverse 

expertise helped NGA link critical skills with discrete 

needs, minimizing the impact on other intelligence 

accounts, such as support to operations in Iraq and 

Afghanistan. 

“May you find what you are looking for” is the 

third related proverb, and it summarized the impact 

that the Pan-Arab CAT had over its three months of 

existence. NGA support helped shape U.S. policy 

in Libya and enabled NATO and coalition partners’ 

initial operations. NGA adapted to the nuanced 

changes as Operation Odyssey Dawn became 

Operation Unified Protector, while staying sensitive 

to intelligence capabilities and requirements of 

the National System for Geospatial Intelligence 

(NSG), NATO and the coalition. Geospatial and 

imagery intelligence, coupled with relevant source 

holdings, gave national decision and policymakers 

a framework for what would become an increasingly 

collaborative effort across the NSG and IC. 

Regional GEOINT analysts and country source 

experts served as the nucleus for NGA’s response, 

augmented by analysts from other regional and 

functional teams. Improvements in NGA’s analytical 

tradecraft and system connectivity, coupled with the 

professional and informal networks of managers and 

analysts, helped NGA mitigate the challenges of a 

cold-start surge across the Pan Arab World. RFIs fell 

into seven categories: 

•	 Force distribution, where GEOINT provided 

the foundation for standard force graphics 

provided four times a day over Libya

•	 Targeting, where the Office of Targeting 

and Transnational Issues provided critical data in 

support of strike packages for U.S. and coalition 

forces, while vetting several hundred targets for 

pre-strike planning

•	 Source, which saw NGA leverage commercial 

and airborne imagery in a tiered strategy to ensure 

the collection of most-critical targets

•	 Humanitarian support, status of refugees 

and location and threat environment for 

humanitarian relief ships

•	 Infrastructure, which encompassed 

oil production, water and sanitation and 

transportation networks

•	 Weapons of mass destruction

•	 Leadership, including the location and 

movement of various regimes and opposition 

elements

Analysts located several categories over different 

countries governed by closed regimes, while they 

knew even less about the opposition and their 

benefactors. The role of social media and the 

Internet, one catalyst for the Arab Spring, amplified 

some of the confusion stemming from the streets 

and Internet nodes across the Pan-Arab world. 

Analysts tempered finding what NGA was looking 

for by the reality that governmental and nongovernmental organizations, citizens and anarchists 

and the international and local media were often 

transmitting what they wanted the international 

community to find. 

The challenge for the IC was to monitor the 

messages to heighten NGA’s situational awareness, 

while validating the accuracy of the information. 

GEOINT-based reporting was often the most effective 

way to communicate the intelligence gleaned from 

open sources and the proliferation of personal 

electronic media. 

While the world’s Arab Spring is now well into 

the Arab Fall, the ripples of this movement have 

proven to be an ongoing challenge to NGA, policy 

and national decision makers. During the early 

summer of 2011 NGA responded to the perceived 

stalemate in Libya by morphing the Pan-Arab CAT 

into a Pan-Arab Cell which freed up resources to 

return to their parent organizations. In August—with 

the apparent collapse of the Libyan regime resulting 

from an increasing opposition offensive in western 

and eastern Libya—the expansion of coalition strikes 

leading to the liberation of Tripoli presented new 

challenges to NATO and the coalition. NGA focused 

its analytical expertise around a Libyan focus cell. 

The proverbial curse of “living in interesting times” 

has been with NGA since its creation, and one final 

quote by Heyworth applies to NGA and future citizens 

of the Pan-Arab world. 

Said Heyworth, “If you will call your troubles 

experience, and remember that every experience 

develops some latent force with you, you will 

grow vigorous and happy, however adverse your 

circumstances may seem to be.”
TARGET VETTING

16Pathfinder ›› November/December 2011

“It is a riddle, wrapped up in a mystery, inside an 

enigma...” said Sir Winston Churchill in reference 

to Russia over 60 years ago, but analysts could 

also apply the phrase to the importance of target 

vetting to the National Geospatial-Intelligence 

Agency’s (NGA’s) role and responsibility as part of 

the Intelligence Community (IC). Target vetting is 

a collaborative process by which the IC provides 

a critical review of one or more potential targets 

that could become part of a kinetic strike option. 

It marks the point in the targeting cycle where 

geospatial intelligence (GEOINT) takes on an 

element of lethality to those who threaten the 

country’s national security interests.

The Office of Targeting and Transnational Issues 

(PR) hosts a cadre of geospatial and imagery 

analysts who unravel the riddles, the mysteries 

and the enigmas that enable the “continuation of 

politics by other means,” as Prussian Gen. Karl von 

Clausewitz wrote in the 19th century.

Thousands of 

military actions, 

operations and 

strike packages 

have benefitted from 

NGA’s stewardship 

of the nation’s 

GEOINT. Precise, 

relevant and timesensitive GEOINT 

is a force multiplier 

for the military. NGA’s imagery and geospatial 

analysts assist targeting support with facility 

characterization and functionality—a tradecraft 

which can have life or death impact. A failure to 

correctly characterize an area could trigger events 

that have strategic and political impacts that could 

harm U.S. interests.

What is Target Vetting?

Target vetting and validating determine 

whether a target remains a viable element of 

the target system, and whether it is a lawful 

target under the Law of Armed Conflict (LOAC) 

and Rules of Engagement (ROE). Commanders 

weigh the potential benefit of striking a target 

against the potential costs. By engaging IC 

assets they establish a reasonable level of 

confidence in a candidate target’s functional 

characterization based on a review of the 

supporting intelligence; the goal is achieving a 

community-wide assessment of the candidate 

target’s intelligence validity. NGA draws guidance 

from Joint Publication 3-60, “Joint Targeting.” By 

providing fundamental principles and doctrinal 

guidance for the conduct of joint targeting across 

the range of military operations, this publication 

codifies the expectations of national decision 

makers, to include the commander-in-chief. 

It addresses operational-level considerations 

for the commanders of combatant commands 

(COCOMs), joint task forces and their subordinate 

components to plan, coordinate and execute 

targeting successfully. Additionally, it addresses 

time-sensitive target considerations.

Target vetting supports the COCOMs’ target 

development process, including validation, by 

providing the commander and staff with the 

opportunity to gain IC concurrence; each relevant 

IC agency provides an assessment of target 

characterization based on the intelligence derived 

only from its discipline. The review and validation 

consist of nine 

separate elements 

that include 

naming convention, 

location, 

functionality and 

critical elements of 

the actual target, 

and also elements 

related to collateral 

objects and the intelligence gain/loss concerns. 

Target vetting also provides an opportunity for 

the IC to contribute to the COCOM targeting and 

planning efforts through a formal voting process. 

Once relevant members have voted, they consider 

the target vetted and ready for COCOM validation.

Target Vetting and the U.S. Constitution

“Knowing the Earth” in the context of target 

vetting is commensurate with knowing the target. 

“Showing the way” can be equated with providing 

the terrain, aeronautical and threat analysis a 

COCOM needs to get the weapon to the target, 

while “understand the world” touches on the 

consequences of NGA’s support to both the 

national and international community; GEOINT 

is a tool with the power to change, save and take 

lives. The United States and coalition partners 

have an obligation to adhere to the LOAC and 

ROE, weighing the potential benefits of striking 

Target Vetting: Seeing Through the Fog of War

By Greg Anderson, Special Issues Manager, Analysis and Production Directorate

It is a riddle, wrapped 

up in a mystery, inside 

an enigma...

—Sir Winston Churchill
TARGET VETTING

17Pathfinder ››November/December 2011

a target against the potential costs. The LOAC 

arises from a desire among civilized nations to 

prevent unnecessary suffering and destruction 

while not impeding the effective waging of war. A 

part of public international law, LOAC regulates the 

conduct of armed hostilities. It also aims to protect 

civilians, prisoners of war, the wounded, sick and 

shipwrecked. 

Customary international law and treaties drive 

LOAC. Article VI of the U.S. Constitution states 

that treaty obligations of the United States are the 

“supreme law of the land,” and the U.S. Supreme 

Court has held that international law and custom 

are part of U.S. law. In particular, military personnel 

must consider LOAC when planning and executing 

operations and must obey LOAC in combat. Those 

who violate LOAC may be held criminally liable for 

war crimes and court-martialed under the Uniform 

Code of Military Justice. 

Target Vetting in the World of Social Media

During Operation Desert Storm in 1991 the world 

watched the results of target vetting and validation 

through the eyes of CNN reports. The fog of war 

has been and always will be a challenge, but the 

commitment and professionalism of IC partners 

to mitigate as much doubt as possible continues 

to save lives. Some of those lives could be the 

aircrew of coalition aircraft flying a second mission 

to take out a target, or the non-combatants who 

tweet an account of a nearby explosion. Either 

of these options has a bearing on international 

support of the goals of the United States and 

coalition partners. The IC—in conjunction with the 

COCOMS—is confident that with professionalism 

and commitment to excellence NGA can help hold 

a coalition together and advance the common 

cause of the international community.

This image depicts the successful aftermath of a strike by a flight of B-2 bombers on the Ghardabiya Airfield south of Sirte, Libya, early in Operation 

Odyssey Dawn. A rigorous target vetting process, followed by precision targeting, helped neutralize a threat to U.S. and coalition forces while minimizing 

the risk to civilians. 

U.S. National Satellite Imagery Systems
CRITICAL CHALLENGES TO GEOINT ANALYSIS

18Pathfinder ›› November/December 2011

Since 2009 the National Geospatial-Intelligence 

Agency’s (NGA’s) Deployment Psychological 

Services Program has provided screening, training 

and consultation designed to optimize the personal 

resilience and operational success of our forwarddeployed workforce. The completion of more 

than 2,000 individual psychological screenings 

has highlighted the stresses, strains, pitfalls and 

pay-offs associated with the application of cuttingedge geospatial intelligence (GEOINT) tradecraft 

and technologies in the field. These screenings 

have underscored the need to look beyond the 

expected set of deployment-related stressors (e.g., 

separation from loved ones, austere or hostile living 

conditions, long work hours) to consider some 

novel and unanticipated challenges associated with 

GEOINT analysis in general, and with the application 

of emerging tradecraft and technologies more 

specifically.

Recent exponential growth in the collection and 

analysis of full motion video has presented some 

of the most pressing and unanticipated challenges 

to personnel and organizations engaged in this 

activity. The accumulation of extraordinary amounts 

of data around the clock has required significant 

increases in staffing resources and training 

opportunities focused on this evolving tradecraft. 

The very nature of video exploitation has also posed 

unanticipated strains to the analytical cadre, who 

are repeatedly exposed to disturbing images or 

content and who are expected to sustain high levels 

of vigilance and perceptual accuracy despite the 

potential for monotony, fatigue and desensitization.

Potentially Harmful Media Exposure

Potentially harmful media exposure includes 

viewing graphic images of events such as warrelated killings (of both combatants and noncombatants), disasters’ aftermaths and harm to 

children. Exposures can include audio and may be 

occurring in real-time, or have been captured and 

recorded as stills or as video clips of past events.

For deployment psychologists at NGA and its 

sister agencies in the intelligence, military and law 

enforcement communities, the impact of repeated 

exposure to potentially harmful media has emerged 

as an issue to assess and monitor. Research has 

linked exposure to disturbing media representations 

to resultant adverse reactions ranging from mild to 

severe. According to R.B. Thomas and J.P. Wilson’s 

work in the International Journal of Emergency 

Mental Health, one of the more insidious effects, 

vicarious traumatization, is associated with subtle 

and detrimental changes over time in one’s core 

beliefs, expectations, relationships and view of 

self and/or others as a result of repeated exposure 

to traumatic material.

Stress reactions, on the other hand, connote 

the common and temporary negative reactions to 

events that challenge existing coping strategies. 

Such reactions affect cognitive, physical, 

emotional or spiritual functioning and often remit 

when acknowledged and addressed. Exposure, for 

example, to graphic images may initially engender 

emotional, cognitive or even spiritual recoil. 

This response may in turn trigger the adaptation 

and internal adjustments required for continued 

involvement or may prompt transition to another 

analytic setting or activity. 

In an effort to better understand the risks posed 

by potentially harmful media exposure as well as 

relevant individual and organizational factors, 

NGA’s deployment psychologists are teaming with 

analysts, supervisors and psychologists around 

the Intelligence Community to systematically 

explore the stressors inherent in media/video 

analysis. Psychologists hope to develop standards 

of best practices for managing and mitigating any 

identified negative consequences.

Vigilance Fatigue 

One of the more overlooked but powerful threats 

to accurate GEOINT analysis and production has 

been termed “vigilance fatigue.” Used in the 

medical, financial and psychological arenas, it 

results from a failure to accurately appraise bona 

fide risks or anomalies due to: 

•	 Prolonged exposure to ambiguous and/or 

questionable information

•	 Information overload

•	 Overwhelming pressure to maintain 

exceptional, error-free performance

•	 Faulty strategies for structuring decisionmaking under conditions of uncertainty and 

stress, according to a 2005 article by M.S. Krause 

on vigilance fatigue in policing.

NGA Psychologists Explore Challenges to GEOINT Analysis

By Meredith Krause, Ph. D., and Mary Tramontin, Psy.D., Licensed Clinical Psychologists, Security and Installation 

Operations Directorate
19Pathfinder ››November/December 2011

This concept is applicable to GEOINT analysts 

who are routinely tasked with processing large 

amounts of imagery, video or data; identifying 

critical risks, changes or irregularities under 

time pressure; and conveying this information 

to decision makers who require both accuracy 

and specificity. Vigilance fatigue poses a threat 

in theater as well as stateside. In a combat zone, 

long work hours, limited rest/recuperation time, 

limited opportunity for data verification and/or 

product review, and the pressing need to provide 

products in a timely manner play a role. In a nondeployed context, dynamic and static individual, 

environmental and task-specific factors interact 

to determine an individual’s susceptibility to 

vigilance fatigue. 

Factors contributing to vigilance fatigue, which 

are presented in Table 1, require individual, 

managerial and organizational monitoring and 

intervention in order to effectively mitigate 

potential adverse impact on GEOINT analysis. 

As this table demonstrates, vigilance fatigue is 

more likely to emerge when certain individual, 

environmental and task-specific factors interact 

to degrade perceptual accuracy, impair decision 

making, erode accountability/verification 

processes or overwhelm established analytical 

processes, practices and technologies.

Vigilance fatigue is associated with reductions 

in mental efficiency, perceptual accuracy, 

decision making and/or threat sensitivity due to 

prolonged and repetitive engagement in security, 

intelligence or law enforcement activities focused 

on ambiguous or unknown targets or threats.

Given the number of threats to sustained 

vigilance, an effective mitigation response must 

include a combination of policy and practice 

initiatives, training and staff development and 

technological support/advancement. This threepronged approach, outlined in Figure 1, addresses 

the aforementioned individual, contextual and 

task-specific threats to vigilance fatigue. 

Policy and practice initiatives in the areas 

of human capital management, organizational 

climate and culture, and team development 

may result in the recruitment, development 

and retention of analysts who are assigned to 

accounts that fully leverage their skills, offer 

CRITICAL CHALLENGES TO GEOINT ANALYSIS

Table 1. Common Contributors to Vigilance Fatigue in Individuals
CRITICAL CHALLENGES TO GEOINT ANALYSIS

20Pathfinder ›› November/December 2011

adequate opportunities for challenge and 

engagement, maximize job satisfaction and 

employee motivation, and foster group cohesion, 

collaboration and mutual support. These are all 

factors critical to sustained attention. A focus on 

interagency collaboration and information sharing 

is another important practice and policy concern as 

it allows an analyst’s enhanced access to needed 

information, opportunities for validating and 

corroborating data, and encouragement to think 

outside a traditional GEOINT box. 

Training and staff development programs allow 

for ongoing refinement of both analytical personnel 

and emerging tradecraft. The vigilance fatigue 

concept could easily be introduced in basic GEOINT 

training courses, thus sensitizing developing 

analysts to the factors that may compromise their 

decision making throughout their careers as well 

as encouraging their reliance upon individual, 

team, environmental and task-specific mitigators. 

Advanced training initiatives may incorporate 

complementary strands from the areas of analytical 

thinking/processes, hardiness/resilience, time and 

stress management, attention control and energy 

management, continuous quality improvement 

strategies and information management 

approaches (e.g., standardized use of metadata). 

The Army Center for Enhanced Performance has 

pioneered an integrated training model that 

optimizes performance and stress resistance by 

honing attention control, goal-setting, energy 

management and imagery/visualization skills.

Figure 1: Practical Strategies for Combating Vigilance Fatigue

Technological advancements hold considerable 

promise for combating vigilance fatigue. These 

developments, which have been developed in 

response to the burgeoning data deluge associated 

with round-the-clock image collection tools such 

as unmanned aerial vehicles and the continued 

pressure for flawless and uninterrupted analysis 

of this data, are designed to enhance accurate 

information processing by highlighting patterns 

and irregularities, reducing the distraction posed 

by competing information (i.e., distinguishing true 

signal or sign from background noise or clutter), 

and structuring or supporting decision making. 

 While these strategies may offer short-term 

solutions to the challenges posed by emerging 

GEOINT advances, a holistic consideration of 

long-term solutions is critical to sustaining an 

effective and vigilant analytical workforce. Holistic 

solutions require ongoing partnerships among 

subject matter experts in the fields of GEOINT and 

their colleagues in the fields of psychology and 

the behavioral sciences, human resources and 

human development, education and training, and 

organizational dynamics and leadership. It is only 

through such collaboration and broad perspectivetaking that agencies will be able to anticipate, 

identify and mitigate critical vulnerabilities in 

the human-tradecraft interaction and generate 

the appropriate strategies needed to optimize 

analytical performance and outcomes in an everchanging threat terrain.
21Pathfinder ››November/December 2011

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 

fourth—illuminates the significant role played 

in Southeast Asia by people in the tradecraft 

communities that now comprise the National 

Geospatial-Intelligence Agency.

Sometimes the platforms made all the 

difference. In early May 1963, two Martin RB57E reconnaissance aircraft arrived at Tan Son 

Nhut Air Base in Saigon, South Vietnam, to join 

Detachment 1 of the 33rd Tactical Group. General 

Dynamics had recently modified these RB-57E’s, 

which were primarily known as target-towing craft. 

The changes included a completely redesigned 

nose, which now housed a 36-inch KA-1 forward 

oblique camera and a KA-56 panoramic camera. 

The bomb bay now carried a KA-1 vertical camera, 

a K-477 night and day camera, an infrared scanner 

and a KA-1 left oblique camera. The RB-57E’s also 

had a viewer in the rear cockpit permitting the 

crew member seated there the same view as that 

of the infrared scanner. 

The RB-57E started life as the Canberra bomber 

produced by the English Electric Company and 

was offered to the U.S. Air Force as a possible 

replacement in 1951 for its Martin B-26, which 

was rapidly reaching the end of its useful service 

life. The Air Force needed an aircraft capable of 

attacking the North Korean supply lines, which 

were very active at night due to daytime U.S. 

reconnaissance. The B-26 proved very vulnerable 

to ground fire, and a ready-made, night-capable 

replacement would help disrupt the North Korean 

logistics system. Even with the engine nacelles 

(cover housing) reworked to accommodate the 

Wright YJ65-W-1 jet engine, the aircraft failed to 

fulfill its promise, and the production run of the 

B-57A, conducted under license from the British, 

ceased after eight aircraft. Instead of discarding 

the licensed design, the Air Force revised its 

thinking with regard to this airframe, recasting 

it as the RB-57E and producing 67 copies that 

served well into the period of United States 

involvement in Vietnam. When Martin Marietta 

Aircraft produced the RB-57E variant, they also 

provided the aircraft with the rotating bomb bay 

characteristic of their experimental XB-51. 

Remembering Vietnam 4: After Dark with Patricia Lynn

By Dr. Gary E. Weir, Office of Corporate Communications

OUR HERITAGE
WHAT IS 

OUR HERITAGE

22Pathfinder ›› November/December 2011

U.S. Army Military History Institute photo

When the first two RB-57E’s arrived in 1963, U.S. 

forces immediately put them to use, conducting 

reconnaissance over both North and South 

Vietnam. This was the force’s first use of an 

effective, although limited, night reconnaissance 

capability. Their very regular sorties went under 

the unusual code name “Patricia Lynn.” 

According to Vietnam air-war chronicler Douglas 

Gordon, the Patricia Lynn pilots flew regularly 

through 1963 and 1964, and Detachment 1 of the 

33rd Tactical Group at Tan Son Nhut received two 

additional aircraft, with each of them returning 

to the United States on an irregular basis for 

upgrades to the reconnaissance systems as the 

demands of the war increased. 

By 1967, the Air Force drafted the Patricia 

Lynn aircraft into the effort to interdict the Ho 

Chi Minh Trail, especially in the vicinity of the 

Mu Ghia and Tchepone Passes and the Ashua 

Valley. The program, called Combat Skyspot, 

focused on guiding bombers to truck assembly 

points on the trail and then conducting bomb 

damage assessment afterward. For a number 

of previous nights the RB-57E’s would conduct 

reconnaissance flights. Then they would help 

guide the bombers to the target, returning almost 

immediately to collect bomb damage imagery. The 

Air Force wanted to assess the effectiveness of the 

attack before the North Vietnamese had a chance 

to clear the evidence of the raid. Used at night, 

the infrared sensors on the RB-57E’s provided 

the best intelligence on their Ho Chi Minh Trail 

results. Very often the RB-57E’s would have to 

negotiate a curtain of anti-aircraft and small arms 

fire on their way back by the target to collect 

imagery for the assessment. This experience 

prepared the Air Force for the repeated sorties 

they would soon have to make over Khe Sanh 

in support of the Marines in their extraordinary 

stand against the North Vietnamese in 1968. 

Reincarnated, the RB-57E helped illuminate the 

night in Vietnam, a surprising use encountered 

many miles and years after its World War II-era 

design. 
WHAT IS ...

23Pathfinder ››November/December 2011

WHAT IS ...

LiDAR

Fundamentally similar to radar, LiDAR—

light detection and ranging—uses pulses 

of laser light to calculate the range and 

reflective intensity of objects on and 

above the ground. Whether imaging 

smooth or rugged terrain, or natural or 

man-made objects, a LiDAR sensor can 

generate accurate, three-dimensional 

models over large areas in a short amount 

of time. Whether mounted on an aircraft, 

vehicle or stationary tripod, LiDAR helps 

NGA build a new generation of highresolution terrain models for those that 

need it most—the warfighters.

NGA LiDAR image of the Grand Canyon
www.nga.mil

VETERANS DAY 2011

Thank a Veteran