2 Pathfinder • Spring 2013

The Pathfinder is an internal command 

publication that promotes awareness and 

understanding of geospatial intelligence, 

and is published by National GeospatialIntelligence Agency’s (NGA) Office of 

Corporate Communications (OCC).

The Pathfinder is an authorized 

Department of Defense publication 

for members of the DOD. Contents of 

this publication are not necessarily the 

official view of, or endorsed by, the U.S. 

government, DOD 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.” Reproduction of 

graphics, photographs and imagery is 

subject to the original copyright.

NGA Leadership

Director: Letitia A. Long

Deputy Director: Michael A. Rodrigue

OCC Leadership

Director: William M. Caniano

News & Information Chief: 

 Christine Phillips

Editor: Glenn Holloway

Designer: Jay Conklin

Contact us

Telephone: 571-557-5400

DSN 547-5400

Find out more about NGA

pathfinder@nga.mil

www.nga.mil

@NGA_GEOINT

NatlGEOINTAgency

A lot happened in the first three 

months of 2013. There are examples 

everywhere that illustrate our commitment to providing online, on-demand 

geospatial intelligence. We launched a 

new unified Web presence that more 

closely aligns and brands our products 

and services on multiple networks—

an effort that has been in the works 

for more than a decade. And we 

answered our nation’s call to fulfill 

numerous responsibilities, including 

our continued support to warfighters 

and policymakers and our support to 

the presidential inauguration and the 

Super Bowl in New Orleans.

The men and women of NGA 

deliver GEOINT that enables the 

organizations, agencies and policymakers we support to more effectively 

and efficiently do their jobs—with 

agility and versatility never before 

known. Our products and services 

cover the gamut, from indications and 

warnings of events unfolding in North 

Korea and Syria to direct support to 

our men and women on the ground in 

Afghanistan and other places around 

the globe, and from storm preparation and recovery efforts to national 

security events, like inaugurations and 

iconic football games. 

I am proud of our accomplishments as an agency, and I believe the 

leaders of this nation feel the same 

way. In fact, during a ceremony Jan. 

11 at our Springfield, Va., campus, 

Deputy Secretary of Defense Ashton 

Carter presented us with the DOD 

Joint Meritorious Unit Award for 

our service from 2008 to 2010. The 

streamer denotes our third JMUA, and 

Secretary Carter has challenged us 

keep up our efforts and continue our 

exemplary service to the DOD. 

In this issue of Pathfinder, you 

can read more about NGA’s ability 

to respond to natural disasters, like 

Hurricane Sandy, and the capabilities 

of Integrated Work Group-Readiness, 

Response and Recovery. You will 

see how IWG-R3 and the integrated 

analytic environment make 

collaboration and discoverability 

work for our customers and partners. 

With the launch of the new IWG-R3 

dashboard at the first of this year, our 

customers and partners are now even 

more able to tailor their requests and 

get just what they need when they 

On My Mind

Proud of our history, excited about the future

need it. We are serving our customers 

better than ever and putting critical 

GEOINT into the hands of users who 

may have never before needed it or 

knew where to find it. This is the NGA 

strategy in action.

Key to our successes is our outstanding cadre of leaders throughout 

the agency at every level. Our senior 

executives, first-line supervisors, team 

leads and individual employees share 

an understanding of the value of 

strong leadership and its tie to mission 

accomplishment. They understand that 

success requires a commitment to serving those they lead. We are fortunate 

to have conscientious leaders, like 

our new chief operating officer, Ellen 

McCarthy. After years in industry, she 

brings a fresh set of eyes to our agency 

and is helping us become even better 

than before. You can read more about 

servant leadership and our new COO 

in this issue. 

NGA has a proud history and 

tradition of excellence. However, it is 

not our history that makes us vital to 

the nation. Rather it is our continuing 

efforts to provide decision makers, 

first responders and warfighters with 

the best GEOINT analysis and service 

available anywhere in the world that 

solidifies our relevance to our nation, 

and makes us the foundation for truly 

integrated intelligence. 

Letitia A. Long

Director

Putting the

power of GEOINT

in users’ hands
Pathfinder • Spring 2013 3

Spring 2013 ▪ Vol. 11, No. 1 │Contents

» On My Mind:

2 Proud of our history, excited about the future

» Ops & Intel

4 NGA receives Joint Meritorious Unit Award

5 MERIT program delivers advanced GEOINT 

capabiities to joint warfighters

6 Crowdsourcing leverages free talent, 

knowledge

7 Tool proves value of NGA, In-Q-Tel 

relationship

7 Milestone reached in common desktop

8 ‘Magic wall’ changes analysts’ perspective

9 Remote test facility open to NSG partners

10 Unified Web presence a ‘tangible benefit’

11 IC, DOD explore ISR challenges, solutions

» Features

15 Nature’s fury: NGA teams anticipate, 

respond during national crisis

20 Developing leaders

22 Q&A with COO Ellen McCarthy

» NGA Today

12 PIE shows students slice of NGA life

24 Consider kettlebells for a fitter you

25 Historical discovery at NGA West

27 NGA Salute: Airman 1st class 

Sarah Gardner

22

8 25

15

4

20
4 Pathfinder • Spring 2013

NGA receives Joint Meritorious Unit Award

By NGA Office of Corporate Communications

More than 500 National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency employees joined Director Letitia A. 

Long in the William Allder Auditorium Jan. 11 as 

she accepted the Joint Meritorious Unit Award on 

behalf of NGA workforce from Deputy Secretary of 

Defense Ashton Carter.

“NGA was a constant source of innovation, 

aiding our efforts in counterterrorism and counterinsurgency operations using new sensors, technologies and analytic methods,” said Carter, in the 

ceremony which was also attended by Director of 

National Intelligence James R. Clapper. 

“NGA’s success on the battlefield in all phases 

of operations prompted many tactical commanders 

to declare that they would never go to war without 

NGA,” said Carter. 

The Joint Meritorious Unit Award is reserved 

for organizations that provide meritorious service, 

beyond that which is normally expected, or under 

extraordinary circumstances that involve national 

interests. The award recognizes the combined 

efforts of every member of an organization, and 

authorizes all civilian and military personnel assigned to NGA during that time to wear the JMUA 

lapel pin and ribbon.

“Every employee played an important role in 

NGA’s extraordinary support to the warfighter, 

the Department of Defense and our nation,” said 

Long. “NGA will continue to be totally dedicated 

to providing the highest quality GEOINT products, 

information and knowledge to support our many 

mission sets.”

Deputy Secretary of Defense Ashton B. Carter attaches the Joint Meritorious Unit Award streamer to the NGA flag during an award 

ceremony at NGA January 11. Accepted by NGA Director Letitia A. Long, the award represents the two years of accomplishments and the 

tireless work ethic NGA personnel contributed to the intelligence community and DOD from 2008 to 2010. (Photo by Kevin Clark, Office 

of Corporate Communications)
Pathfinder • Spring 2013 5

MERIT program delivers advanced GEOINT 

capabilities to joint warfighters

By MERIT program manager

The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, like other elements of the military services, 

combat support agencies and combatant 

commands, is a member of the Military 

Exploitation of Reconnaissance and Intelligence 

Technology program, administered by the 

National Reconnaissance Office. 

MERIT solicits, assesses and funds advanced 

research and development projects that focus on increasing warfighter access to intelligence from national 

systems and national systems’ data, across the intelligence disciplines, and develops warfighter capability 

to exploit intelligence at the tactical level, said Corry 

Robb, the MERIT program manager. 

NGA’s MERIT program is managed and led by 

NGA’s Future Warfare Systems Division within the 

Military Support Directorate, said Robb. The division 

coordinates an internal panel of agency subject matter experts to perform technical proposal evaluations. 

“The panel vets 70 to 85 proposals annually to 

ensure alignment with national and military intelligence priorities and guidance, including the recently 

published NGA strategy,” said Robb. 

There were 76 proposals submitted for FY2014, 

said Robb. Nearly 40 of them directly support 

GEOINT. 

The team tracks annual and multi-year 

GEOINT-related MERIT projects from development 

to completion to ensure delivery of successful 

programs that support the larger Department 

of Defense and National System for Geospatial 

Intelligence enterprise, said Robb.

“MERIT places great emphasis on quickly 

transitioning promising technology from research 

and development into operations,” said Robb. 

“NGA’s involvement in the MERIT program 

directly aligns with NGA’s Strategic Objective No. 

7, ‘to lead advancement in the GEOINT field, and 

transition research and development and science 

and technology activities to operations’.”

A recent example of success from NGA’s 

participation in MERIT is the development of the 

Enhanced Quality Imagery Search tool, said Robb. 

EQUIS enables analysts to quickly and accurately 

identify the imagery they need by merging multiple 

image libraries into a single, integrated user 

environment. 

Another GEOINT tool funded and developed 

through the program is the Web-based Access and 

Retrieval Portal, said Robb. Commonly known 

to many GEOINT analysts as WARP, it is a major 

component of the NSG’s GEOINT distribution 

system. It is a multi-domain system that front-ends 

imagery archives and provides the download, 

query and retrieval of data hosted on accessible 

libraries. 

The MERIT program is also responsible for 

myriad tools that improve overhead persistent infrared’s utility at the tactical level, said Robb. OPIR is a 

key contributor to emerging GEOINT capabilities.

“The MERIT program continues to benefit the 

NGA mission by quickly delivering to NGA analysts 

and the DOD warfighter cutting-edge applications 

and tools that significantly enhance existing capabilities,” said Robb.

For more information about NGA’s involvement 

in the MERIT program, contact NGA Public Affairs at 

Pathfinder@nga.mil.

Department of Defense photo
6 Pathfinder • Spring 2013

Crowdsourcing leverages free talent, knowledge

By Tim Little, Office of Corporate Communications

Despite advancing technology, the human element remains 

a vital component in intelligence 

gathering and NGA is exploring 

methods to tap into a broader pool 

of knowledge. 

Crowdsourcing could be the 

answer to capturing knowledge 

and expertise not organic to NGA.

Put simply, crowdsourcing is 

the utilization of talent, resources or 

expertise of the public in support of 

a project, often via the internet and 

without compensation. 

Using crowdsourcing in 

GEOINT is not a new concept for 

NGA. At the In-Q-Tel CEO summit in March 2011, NGA Director 

Letitia A. Long addressed some of 

these aspirations for NGA in the 

crowdsourcing arena, which are 

starting to become a reality.

“There are tens of thousands of 

government consumers of GEOINT who can—and should—be 

in the middle of producing and 

delivering new, value-added 

content and analytical services—

and sharing them with the community,” said Long. 

One example of crowdsourcing 

in support of GEOINT is a joint 

project between Integrated Work 

Group-Readiness, Response and 

Recovery, or IWG-R3, and Department of State’s Humanitarian 

Information Unit in the Bureau 

of Intelligence and Research 

and the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team. At the request 

of the State Department, a lead 

federal agency, NGA provides 

commercial imagery for use in the 

OpenStreetMap Tasking Manager, 

said Katie Baucom, a GEOINT 

analyst in PDOR. 

“We just finished a project in 

a previously unmapped area of 

Uganda that produced high resolution structure level data of two 

cities at no cost to the U.S. government in less than one week,” said 

Baucom. “Volunteers from all over 

the world traced features such as 

buildings, roads and landmarks. 

After that, local Ugandans added 

attribution to the data, such as 

road and business names.”

Since the data is unclassified and 

shareable, it is now being used by 

the U.S. Agency for International 

Development, Red Cross and the 

United Nations for disaster preparedness projects, said Baucom. 

Many in the intelligence 

community are keeping track of 

new and emerging applications 

for crowdsourcing, especially in 

support of human geography. 

One such emerging capability is 

MapStory (www.mapstory.org), 

which was created by Christopher 

Tucker, Ph.D., chairman and CEO 

of the MapStory Foundation. 

Tucker was the founding chief 

strategic officer of In-Q-Tel, and 

serves as one of Director Long’s 

independent advisers. 

Tucker introduced MapStory 

as a platform for crowdsourcing 

and storytelling within a spatiotemporal framework when he 

spoke at NGA in the fall as part of 

InnoVision’s “iTalks” seminar. 

MapStory is a website that 

enables a global community to 

contribute data within a mapA Haitian woman uses a cell phone amidst the ruins caused by the 2010 Haiti earthquake. 

Crowdsourcing allows individuals, governments and other organizations to pose questions 

to large and varied groups and use the information provided voluntarily to obtain answers. 

(Photo: U.S. Agency for International Development)

ping framework, said Tucker. It 

also facilitates communication 

of important cultural dynamics 

through engaging and interactive 

maps that tell a story.

In intelligence work, verification and vetting of sources are 

important, said Tucker. GEOINT 

demands a high-attribution 

platform that enables structured 

dispute resolution.

In an open, collaborative environment, those in the community 

can fact check others’ data and 

solicit information and ideas from 

the community to solve a problem 

or create a public database, said 

Tucker. This is the key benefit of 

crowdsourcing. 

MapStory aims to exploit the 

blurring of lines between consumer 

and producer. This is the concept of 

such popular sites as Wikipedia, but 

Tucker makes a distinction. 

“MapStory is a new dimension 

to the global data commons, which 

empowers people to organize 

what they know about the world 

spatially and temporally, rather 

than encyclopedically, the way 

Wikipedia already empowers us 

to,” said Tucker.
Pathfinder • Spring 2013 7

Tool proves value of NGA, In-Q-Tel relationship

Jason Moll, Office of Corporate Communications

Even in an environment bursting with practitioners, 

many at the National GeospatialIntelligence Agency recognize the 

need for geographical analysis 

tools that can be accessed and 

enhanced by users across the 

customer base. 

GeoIQ was one platform that 

particularly stood out to NGA and 

In-Q-Tel, because it allows users 

to collect massive amounts of information and analyze it through 

geospatial analysis, said Jay Brennan, deputy program manager for 

the NGA IQT Program.

“I think a product like GeoIQ 

fits nicely with the (NGA) director’s desire to get GEOINT into 

the hands of users,” said Brennan. 

“It does a good job of making it 

easier for the non- (Geographic 

Information System) person to 

create their own maps, bring 

in their own data and do some 

first-level analysis. This frees up 

NGA analysts to do second-order 

or third-order analyses.”

In-Q-Tel is a private, 

independent organization 

that identifies and partners 

with companies that produce 

technologies of interest to the U.S. 

intelligence community. Since 

2003, In-Q-Tel has received more 

than $17 million in funding from 

NGA. On average, for every $1 

NGA spends, In-Q-Tel leverages 

an additional $37 from venture 

capital firms and the larger U.S. 

intelligence community, allowing 

NGA to maximize the impact of 

its investment. 

In-Q-Tel made its first investment in GeoIQ in May 2007. Since 

then, the technology has found 

a place in the Integrated Work 

Group-Readiness, Response and 

Recovery (IWG-R3), where it is 

used within NGA and by many of 

its outside customers, such as first 

responders in the field. 

Milestone reached in move to common desktop

By Jason Moll, Office of Corporate Communications

Ajoint team from NGA and the Defense Intelligence Agency 

reached a major milestone in the 

move to a common desktop environment across the intelligence 

community Dec. 20. 

The execution and same-day 

passage of the test readiness 

review by the DIA/NGA Joint 

Program Management Office 

for the Intelligence Community 

Desktop Environment (IC DTE) 

means that the DTE is ready to 

enter the testing phase of the 

project, said Vicki Jo McBee, 

JPMO director.

The TRR was the fourth of six 

major milestone during the Phase 

1 move to a common desktop, 

said McBee. Now that the TRR 

phase is over, DTE will undergo 

multiple rigorous tests, to include 

security and user confidence testing—all of which will verify that 

the software is ready for use. The 

next major milestone in Phase 1 is 

scheduled for the summer, when 

the DTE is expected to be rolled 

out to the DIA/NGA workforce, 

also known as Initial Operating 

Capability (IOC). 

Once IOC is achieved, NGA 

and DIA will migrate users in 

batches until nearly 60,000 

NGA/DIA users are connected 

to the common desktop in March 

2014, McBee said. Phase 2 of 

DTE will begin in 2014 when 

the common desktop is made 

available to the entire IC—a 

number that will eventually 

exceed 100,000.

The DTE was officially 

launched in 2011 as part of the 

IC Information Technology 

Enterprise (IC ITE, pronounced 

GeoIQ has been employed 

during the recovery efforts following the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, 

in the wake of hurricanes, and 

after other natural disasters, said 

Nathaniel Wolpert, an IWG-R3 

geospatial intelligence analyst.

IWG-R3 uses GeoIQ to geospatially visualize and determine 

areas that are flooded or in need 

of supplies, and to understand the 

overall situation on the ground, 

said Wolpert. 

NGA maintains a contract with 

GeoIQ, which was acquired by 

California-based Esri in July 2012, 

to source additional capabilities and 

tools based on the technology. NGA 

has provided feedback throughout 

its development and the company 

has been and continues to be very 

responsive, said Wolpert.

“It’s a powerful tool that we 

want to keep using and make 

more robust in the future,” said 

Wolpert.

“eyesight”), which is designed 

to increase efficiencies, improve 

collaboration and deliver cost 

savings, said McBee. In addition 

to a common desktop, IC ITE 

will deliver a cloud computing 

environment, various aspects of 

which will be delivered by the 

National Security Agency and 

CIA. NSA will also architect and 

host an applications mall where 

IC agencies will be able to host 

their own apps stores. 

DTE will provide multiple 

capabilities, McBee said, such 

as a common desktop operating 

system, a “mobile” desktop that 

will allow users to log in at any 

IC agency, collaborative software, 

and a permanent phone number 

and email address that will accompany users “for life.” 
8 Pathfinder • Spring 2013

‘Magic Wall’ changes analysts’ perspective

By Jason Moll, Office of Corporate Communications

When the average person hears of geospatial and imagery intelligence, or sees it covered 

in the media, scenes of cutting-edge information 

technologies featured in Hollywood blockbusters 

may come to mind. 

While the capabilities of the U.S. government may 

be surprising, the average routine of a geospatial 

intelligence analyst is nowhere near like it is in the 

movies, said Jay Brennan, deputy program manager 

for the NGA In-Q-Tel Program. 

A more prosaic routine may very well be the 

case, but it may not be true for much longer, now 

that NGA has Perceptive Pixel. Known as the 

“Magic Wall” used by CNN presenters since 2008 

for dynamic visualization during the election cycle, Perceptive Pixel has been a part 

of the IQT portfolio of companies since 

March 2009. The technology consists of a 

large touchscreen powered by proprietary 

software that enables more than one person 

to simultaneously manipulate 

imagery and data.

NGA has eight Perceptive Pixel displays scattered 

throughout the agency, including the Office of Corporate 

Communications, where the 

technology is used for briefings 

and presentations. The Geospatial 

Intelligence Advancement Testbed 

is performing hands-on research 

and other tests as they develop 

new applications and envision 

scenarios for NGA to incorporate 

the technology into its everyday 

workflow, said Brennan.

Brennan said he sees a future 

for the technology at NGA that goes 

beyond its current use as an interactive display panel. 

“Visualization is one of the 

problems we’ve asked In-Q-Tel to 

help us with,” Brennan said. “And 

I think Perceptive Pixel goes far in 

meeting that need. If you’re an analyst 

and you’re looking at things on a twodimensional sheet, you’re only going to 

be able to pull out so much information from that. By 

seeing things differently, you’re able to visualize the 

problem differently, and hopefully find a solution.”

This different perspective lends more body, 

essence and liveliness to the data, said Brennan. 

“We, as analysts, might be able to find something 

by having a unique angle; maybe see the connections 

between groups; maybe see the connections between 

place and time that we probably wouldn’t have seen 

in a flat file format,” he said. Originally launched 

as an independent startup, Perceptive Pixel was 

acquired by Microsoft in July.

Photo courtesy of Perceptive Pixel.
Pathfinder • Spring 2013 9

Remote test facility open to NSG partners

U.S. Air Force Maj. Michael A. Lundin, InnoVision

The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency’s InnoVision Directorate, in cooperation with 

the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration National Geodetic Survey (NGS), recently 

opened a National System for Geospatial Intelligence remote testing facility in Corbin, Va. 

Located about an hour south of Washington, 

D.C., at the NOAA NGS Corbin Training Center, 

the test facility hosts a test array designed to 

support the GEOINT community’s remote sensing 

experimentation, test and evaluation needs, such 

as those used in development of LIDAR and other 

overhead and airborne collection systems. 

The facility, which is maintained by the Basic 

and Applied Research Branch, a LIDAR team with 

NGA’s InnoVision Directorate, is made up of a 

concrete test pad that provides researchers with a 

known location and dimensions against which to test 

and calibrate various systems. Part of the center’s 

mission is to improve the geodetic positioning 

capacity of its partners.

The test pad is also equipped with 15 targets 

that can be used to evaluate systems against vertical 

obstructions, variable reflectivity, camouflage, 

contrasts, variable slopes and other interference. 

The LIDAR team has also developed respective 

algorithms and analysis tools, specifically geared 

toward LIDAR data quality metrics associated with 

each target. While the site is currently focused on 

LIDAR, the team is working to expand the facility’s 

applications to include a broader range of remote 

sensing technologies with associated tools and 

targets.

Partners interested in using the test facility can 

contact NGA Public Affairs at 571-557-5600 or by 

email at publicaffairs@nga.mil. 

The testing tarps at the facility are made of strips of an acrylic-coated, texturized polyester fabric. (NGA photo)
10 Pathfinder • Spring 2013

Unified Web presence a ‘tangible benefit’

By Jeanne Chircop, Online GEOINT Services

Few would guess that a quiet yet significant shift is taking place inside the walls of the National 

Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, but that is exactly 

the case.

“The effort to transform NGA’s online services 

is nothing short of revolutionary for a government 

agency of NGA’s size and complexity and, 

most significantly, its subject focus—geospatial 

intelligence,” said Jim Long, deputy director of 

the Online GEOINT Services Office within NGA’s 

Online GEOINT Services Directorate.

Part of what makes the change so significant is 

the tangible benefit of a unified NGA Web presence, 

the cornerstone of which is a new corporate website 

that will consolidate 126 websites into one on the 

highest security domain, said John Rother, director 

of OGSO. The other key components of NGA’s 

unified Web presence are an integrated analytic 

environment, a GEOINT app store and a corporate 

website on each security domain. 

Creating a unified Web presence is essential to 

eliminating redundancies and weeding out content 

that is no longer useful, said Rother. 

The NGA website, which will use business 

analytics to measure use of the site, launched on the 

highest security domain at the end of January. 

The business analytics will help the agency 

understand customer usage so it can tailor operations toward customer needs, said Long. The site 

will eventually be available on all security domains, 

and each of the sites will share the same look and 

feel, as well as the same methods to navigate, search 

and browse—all necessary for making NGA content 

easier to discover and use. 

This will be the first time that NGA will have the 

same website design and architecture on multiple 

domains, said Long.

All of those capabilities are basic needs for 

GEOINT users, and especially for analysts within 

the intelligence and defense communities, said 

Long. OGS is collaborating within the agency to 

transform the way NGA posts content by providing 

tools that enable self-service and integrated 

analysis, among other capabilities. 

Concurrently, work is ongoing for an online 

workspace to enable GEOINT users to integrate 

and layer content from NGA with content from 

other government and non-government entities, 

including commercial and open-source providers, 

said Long.

“The Integrated Analytic Environment enables 

the integration and use of GEOINT content and 

visualization capabilities to create unique observations in time and space for real-time situational 

awareness and analysis,” said OGS Deputy Director 

Justin Poole. 

In this personalized online workspace, GEOINT 

users can access and integrate the broad variety of 

content and services they need, when and where 

they need them, and perform personalized analysis 

in a single location, said Poole.

Also integral to the NGA unified Web presence 

is the GEOINT App Store, which can be accessed 

through the NGA website or independently, said 

Mark Riccio, director of the OGS Application Services Office. The store provides online, on-demand 

access to a suite of GEOINT-focused applications 

for Web, mobile and desktop use.

“Self-service access to these apps allows analysts 

to interact with data to perform routine tasks more 

efficiently,” said Riccio. “The self-service aspect also 

allows them to customize end-products that satisfy 

their unique mission requirements.”

There are many activities that go into making 

the three major activities possible—from content 

management and service-enabling data, to creating 

governance policies and compensation models for 

the acquisition of apps, said Poole. 

This kind of major transformation doesn’t happen overnight, said Poole. OGS uses an incremental 

development process for all three activities, rolling 

out functions and capabilities in phases rather than 

all at once. Early instantiations mature and improve 

with user feedback.

Interested in learning more about NGA’s unified 

Web presence and how it can enhance your mission 

needs? Contact NGA Public Affairs at 571-557-5600 

or by email at publicaffairs@nga.mil.
Pathfinder • Spring 2013 11

IC, DOD explore ISR challenges, solutions

By Kathi Ghannam, Office of Corporate Communications

Nearly 100 intelligence community and Defense Department professionals attended the Next 

Generation Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Future Symposium in Rosslyn, Va. Dec. 10.

Those gathered discussed various aspects of 

ISR research and development, testing, collection, 

dissemination, training, data standards, storage 

and integration, including the management of the 

plethora of data generated by ISR.

“The problems with ISR are not technological 

but process problems,” said event moderator Avery 

White of Questar Federal Systems. “There are joint 

problems that require joint solutions.”

One of the event’s speakers shared his organization’s data challenges and its plans to manage those 

issues leveraging community assets. 

Above all, big data needs to be managed and 

stored so that all users can access it in a platformagnostic setting, said U.S. Army Col. Timothy Hill, 

Intelligence and Security Command Futures Division.

“Data size and bandwidth, moving and storing 

data, and being able to exploit data in a timely 

manner are key,” said Hill. “These issues are getting 

harder, and not easier, with units that operate from 

forward operating bases and other locations that 

don’t have these capabilities.” 

Another problem is that commanders and 

collection managers aren’t all at the same level of 

understanding about the various platforms and their 

capabilities. 

“Right now, battalion commanders only use a 

small percentage of what we give them,” said Hill. 

“We need to be creating systems that they all can use.”

The Army has decided to tie into the intelligence 

community’s Information Technology Enterprise 

architecture, known as IC ITE and pronounced “eye 

sight,” which is currently in development. Ultimately, 

this system of systems will provide a common desktop, an apps mall and a cloud computing infrastructure, alleviating the majority of the problems faced by 

the Army, its sister services and the IC.

Once IC ITE is completed, all the services and 

intelligence agencies will be able to “plug in” their 

unique platform, which will allow them to harvest 

National System for Geospatial Intelligence Expeditionary Architecture data holdings, all while avoiding 

the costs and timelines associated with developing 

proprietary systems. 

The General Accounting Office provided its perspective on the community’s growing ISR challenges.

The community lacks an overall coordinated, integrated plan for growing and managing the complex, 

disparate collection of platforms which continue to 

generate terabytes of data each month, said Joseph 

Kirschbaum, assistant director of the GAO’s Defense 

Capabilities and Management Office. 

“After 10 years of pumping out products and 

patching together unintegrated systems, we need an 

integration roadmap that aligns with congressional 

intent and our country’s national security challenges,” said Kirschbaum.

The ultimate solution lies with a well-executed 

procurement plan, said NGA’s Keith Barber, who 

advocates for more agile acquisition processes.

Agile acquisition is important, especially with this 

type of fast-moving technology, said Barber, senior 

advisor for the Agile Acquisition Strategic Initiative.

“Life changes every day so we need to figure out 

how to get something done, now,” said Barber. “We 

are trying to change the way we do our business to 

become flexible and fast.”

The challenge lies in changing the acquisition 

culture that has been around for more than 20 years, 

where it took about seven years to get a product on 

the street, said Barber. 

“We don’t have that luxury anymore, and we 

can’t wait for something to happen to build a better 

solution,” said Barber. “We need the right people 

making the right decisions at the right time, (and to) 

streamline the decision making process and deliver 

iterative solutions.”

Management of big data was among the topics discussed at the 

symposium. (Thinkstock photo)
12 Pathfinder • Spring 2013

PIE shows 

students slice 

of NGA life

By Muridith Winder, Office of 

Corporate Communications

An NGA program designed to help employees make a difference in local communities and 

schools may be paving the road 

for future GEOINT professionals.

The Partners in Education 

program, or PIE, offers employees 

the opportunity to volunteer 

with schools in the communities 

surrounding NGA’s facilities.

NGA Campus West has established relationships with Hodgen 

Elementary and Rockwood School 

district elementary schools in the 

St. Louis area, said Samuel C. 

Wilson, PIE coordinator for NCW. 

The agency also supports speaking engagements in other school 

districts when requested by NGA 

employees.

NGA speakers provide presentations throughout the school 

year on mapping and geography 

to area students in kindergarten 

through eighth grade. The agency 

supports higher grade levels on a 

case-by-case basis, said Wilson.

“This program allows me to 

share my love for geography with 

children,” said Karen Delgado, 

who has been tutoring with PIE 

in NCW for the last two years. 

“When I was in school, I did not 

realize all the potential careers 

available. I want students to realize 

that if they love geography, there 

are some great potential careers.”

William Florich has been 

participating in NCW’s education 

program since 2002, he said. 

“A middle school social studies 

teacher heard through my son 

that I worked at NGA and asked 

if I could give a talk about maps 

to her class,” said Florich. “I soon 

found out that it was actually 

six classes involving about 120 

students. It was such a hit that I 

now do it every year. Recently, I 

completed my 10th presentation.”

Another social studies teacher 

in Florich’s district asked him to 

present at her school, so now he 

presents to 12 classes of sixth grade 

and eighth grade social studies students each year, talking to nearly 

250 students about how NGA plays 

a major role on the world stage.

NGA Camps East has PIE 

partnerships with Saratoga 

Elementary School and West 

Springfield High School, both 

in Virginia. These partnerships 

help improve STEM, or science, 

technology, engineering and 

mathematics, education in these 

schools and the community at 

large by providing tutoring, guest 

speakers, a pen pal program for 

the elementary school, and math 

and science nights.

Many NGA employees at both 

campuses also volunteer at nonpartner schools to help in their 

own children’s classrooms. 

“Initially, I was volunteering 

in my daughter’s fourth grade 

talented and gifted class on a 

day they were talking about 

maps, longitude and latitude, 

and country locations,” said 

Barbara S. Brown, senior executive officer, Advanced Weapons 

Division, NCE, who volunteers at 

Rosaryville Elementary School in 

Upper Marlboro, Md. 

Brown’s presentation was so 

well received, school officials asked 

her to come back and talk to all the 

fourth-grade classes at the school, 

and at the schools’ career day.

“They asked some very impressive questions,” Brown said. 

“I could tell that they listened 

and tried to relate our mission 

with some world events they had 

seen on TV.”

The outreach program is a 

worthwhile endeavor, said Eli 

Rutstein, a financial budget 

analyst who has been involved in 

the PIE program for several years.

“I got involved because my 

background is cartography and 

Irma Allen-Lewis, an NGA geospatial data steward, discusses career opportunities with 

middle school students during career day at Accokeek Academy, Accokeek, Md. The event 

was designed to expose students to the “world of work.” (Photo courtesy of Accokeek 

Academy)
Pathfinder • Spring 2013 13

physical geography and my 

children were learning about 

cartography and geography in 

school,” he said. “I wanted to 

show the students how maps are 

made manually and digitally.”

The children liked the 

presentations, especially the 3-D 

images, and were able to relate 

it to their classroom studies, said 

Rutstein.

“Many of the children are 

familiar with GPS digital maps 

and geocaching, and I think 

(the presentations) help them 

better understand how maps are 

made and how digital geospatial 

information is used by police and 

fire departments and others to do 

their jobs,” said Rutstein. 

The uniqueness of her job led 

Irma L. Allen-Lewis, a geospatial 

data steward, to explain her job to 

her daughter’s class.

“I wanted to share information 

about my career path here at 

NGA because I see my tradecraft 

as being out of the norm,” said 

Allen-Lewis. “Just as I suspected, 

many children had no clue what 

geospatial data stewards or 

cartographers were.”

The experience was 

educational for the 

students, some of the 

teachers and parents, 

and for herself, said 

Allen-Lewis.

“I learned the importance of 

pouring back into the community 

and exposing children to a variety 

of career paths.”

For additional information on 

the PIE program, call NGA Public 

Affairs at 571-557-5400, or email 

publicaffairs@nga.mil.
14 Pathfinder • Spring 2013
Pathfinder • Spring 2013 15

NGA teams anticipate, 

respond during 

national crisis

By Tim Little,

Office of Corporate Communications Nature’s Fury
16 Pathfinder • Spring 2013

(Domestic imagery collected in accordance with a valid use memorandum approved by NGA, and does not target U.S. persons.)

When Hurricane Sandy struck the East Coast of the U.S., 

the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency’s Integrated Work 

Group-Readiness, Response and 

Recovery team, known as IWG-R3, 

was readying 20 NGA analysts to 

deploy into areas affected by the 

violent storm in support of the 

Federal Emergency Management 

Agency. 

Before the storm reached U.S. 

shores, and prior to any formal 

requests for assistance from 

FEMA, NGA employees were hard 

at work planning for every turn 

Sandy might take.

Having provided similar support during storms like Hurricanes 

Isaac and Katrina, analysts were 

able to anticipate many of the 

products first responders would 

need before, during and after the 

storm, said Chris Kannan, IWG-R3 

communications representative.

“FEMA support covers mitigation recovery and response efforts 

during natural disasters,” said 

Katie Baucom, IWG R3 analyst. 

“Traditionally, NGA only provided GEOINT support during 

the response phase, now we’re 

looking for innovative ways to 

provide support to mitigation and 

recovery, as well.”

In the days leading up to the 

storm, NGA devised contingency 

tasking plans for pre- and posthurricane imagery analysis from 

North Carolina to Maine, said 

Kannan. The pre-strike hurricane 

products included images of 

24 coastal cities whose critical 

infrastructures and key resources 

would be susceptible to damage 

if a hurricane landed in their 

vicinity. While its primary focus 

was on areas that flooded during 

Hurricane Irene the previous 

year, NGA remained ready to 

activate and deploy wherever 

needed. 

The agency began deploying 

analysts Oct. 28, sending teams 

of analysts to FEMA’s East Coast 

regions in Boston, New York and 

Philadelphia, said IWG-R3 staff 

officer Jeff Redinger. Once on site, 

analysts prepared for their missions, establishing contacts with 

the lead federal agencies, performing communications checks with 

deployed equipment, evaluating 

customer needs and focus, and 

identifying vulnerable critical 

infrastructure. 

To support the R3 mission, 

analysts rely on the data holdings 

within the Homeland Security 

Infrastructure Program. 

“The HSIP database 

is assembled by NGA for 

use by Homeland Defense, 

Homeland Security, National 

Preparedness—Prevention, 

Beach erosion and flooding near Breezy Point in the Queens borough of New York. (NGA photo)
Pathfinder • Spring 2013 17

Areas in pink on the map above show first responders where searches have already been 

conducted. (NGA photo)

Protection, Mitigation, Response 

and Recovery communities,” said 

Bill Mullen, a senior advisor for 

content technology in R3. “It is a 

compilation of approximately 475 

of the best available geospatially 

enabled baseline infrastructure 

data sets for all 18 critical 

infrastructure key resource 

sectors assembled from federal, 

state, local government and 

private mission partners.”

During pre-hurricane analysis 

of the coastline, analysts reviewed 

more than 21,000 square miles of 

satellite data, said Redinger. This 

“before” picture of the landscape 

proves extremely useful for 

first responders as they assess 

the extent of damages and its 

impact to the population and 

infrastructure.

After the storm, the focus 

shifted to the impending clean-up 

effort and resumption of services, 

said Baucom. As FEMA put it, 

their focus became “people, power 

and pumps.” In support of this 

effort, FEMA Region II Regional 

Response Coordination Center 

members from NGA operated 

24/7 to create and update products on issues such as fuel status 

and power outages.

“A major priority for planning 

and conducting recovery operations was ensuring responders 

could safely access the hardest hit 

areas,” said Kannan. “To that end, 

NGA provided storm, port and 

airport assessments, and identified 

alternate helicopter landing zones 

to support long-term operations.” 

The IWG-R3 teams created and 

pushed out unclassified products 

to a webserver accessible to NGA 

customers. 

“Having a platform that 

allows customers to review existing GEOINT products and request 

new ones reduces the likelihood of 

duplication of efforts,” said Baucom. “This increased situational 

awareness and efficiency allows 

NGA to be more responsive to its 

customers and reduce the burden 

on NGA personnel, freeing them 

to do more complex analysis.”

While providing on-demand 

GEOINT in a self-service environment is certainly helpful for first 

responders, it does not nullify the 

need for full-service embedded 

NGA support on the ground or 

 NGA officially launched its 

first Integrated Work Group 

during the board of directors 

off-site in November 2011

 The first IWG created was 

the Integrated Work 

Group-Iran (IWG-I)

 Subsequently, two 

additional IWGs have 

been created in the 

agency for Yemen/Horn of 

Africa (IWG-Y/HOA) and 

Readiness, Response and 

Recovery (IWG-R3)

 IWGs were established 

to develop new tools, 

analytic methods and work 

processes, which address 

high priority intelligence 

interests by focusing on 

three key areas: analytic 

expertise, geospatial 

intelligence, and analytic 

content and GEOINT in the 

unclassified domain

 IWGs are led by a 

GEOINT mission manager, 

overseeing the day-to-day 

operations of the group and 

a national GEOINT officer, 

supervising and prioritizing 

all analysis NGA does on a 

specific issue

 IWGs have dedicated 

subject matter experts 

from specialties including 

human resources, 

counterproliferation 

analysis, security and 

infrastructure

 IWGs provide robust 

contextual GEOINT 

analysis of places, events 

and activities, using all the 

GEOINT analytic tradecrafts 

in an open IT environment 

where users from across 

the community can create, 

contribute, collaborate and 

consume GEOINT content

IWG 101
18 Pathfinder • Spring 2013

in a reach-back capacity during a 

large-scale emergency, said NGA 

analyst Scott Matheson. 

Some teams of analysts utilize 

the Domestic Mobile Integrated 

Geospatial System, or DMIGS. 

Owned and operated by NGA’s 

military support directorate, the 

DMIGS is loaded with a host 

of equipment and reachback 

capabilities, said Jill Leas, chief 

of the expeditionary operations 

support division. Built on the 

chassis of a fire truck with two 

slide-out rooms to accommodate 

analysts, DMIGS integrates 

GEOINT hardware and software, 

including plotters that allow 

teams to print large products on 

site and on demand. It is also 

equipped to receive geospatial 

data from multiple sources. 

The tools and technical 

expertise accompanying the 

DMIGS are clearly an asset, but 

the greatest value is derived from 

its mobility, said Andrew Lardner, 

a senior systems engineer for 

NGA. 

“Having the DMIGS provide 

GEOINT makes the situation 

easily understood by our partners,” said Lardner. “Now that 

their urban search and rescue 

operations are transitioning to a 

humanitarian health and welfare 

operation, they have asked us to 

come with them to Fort Dix (N.J.) 

to produce GEOINT products.

This is why we have the 

DMIGS in the first place. It’s a 

mobile asset that we can pack up 

and take to where the customer 

needs us to be,” said Lardner.

In addition to the mobile 

DMIGS, the military support 

directorate deployed lightweight, 

highly mobile flyaway satellite 

communications and production 

system support teams, said Leas. 

“These teams allowed NGA 

analysts embedded with urban 

NGA products, like the map on the previous page, help prevent search and rescue 

personnel from conducting redundant searches. (NGA photo)

(Domestic imagery collected in accordance with a valid use memorandum approved by NGA, and 

does not target U.S. persons.)
Pathfinder • Spring 2013 19

search and rescue teams in the 

hardest hit areas of New York and 

New Jersey to maintain access 

to reachback support in areas 

where most communications and 

infrastructure had been severely 

degraded by the storm,” said 

Leas. “These mobile teams moved 

with their supported units and 

were often up and operational 

within 30 minutes of arrival on 

scene, providing communications, 

hardcopy and softcopy production 

in extremely austere conditions.”

FEMA was not the only one to 

benefit from IWG-R3’s products and 

personnel. NGA also worked closely 

with the U.S. Coast Guard, providing mission-essential support, said 

Rear Adm. Christopher Tomney, 

director of Coast Guard Intelligence.

“NGA provided decision 

advantage to Coast Guard 

commanders on the ground by 

enabling access to and supplying analyzed images that led to 

superior situational awareness,” 

said Tomney. 

The images helped the Coast 

Guard understand the extent of 

flooding and the condition of 

its facilities and identify visible 

waterway blockages, said Tomney. 

“This information was essential to determine our operational 

capabilities as we worked to 

support post-storm cleanup 

activities,” said Tomney. “Both 

the quality and timeliness of 

NGA support to the Coast Guard 

has been excellent, and is greatly 

appreciated.”

FEMA also recognized IWGR3’s professionalism and support, 

said Matt Gamm, an IWG-R3 

analyst who worked alongside 

FEMA members. 

“FEMA (Incident Support 

Team) leadership said they no 

longer consider us a partner, but 

now consider us a part of the 

family and want to make NGA 

a sitting member of the IST,” 

said Gamm. “Both the FEMA 

Urban Search and Rescue Task 

Force leader and the Long Island 

section leader said our NGA 

forward deployed personnel 

were a tremendous asset and the 

products created for the forces on 

the ground were relied upon and 

used heavily.”
20 Pathfinder • Spring 2013

The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency is focused on developing leaders at all levels who are prepared to lead the agency through change.

Leader development is a top focus for NGA and 

is central to ensuring employee welfare, and leading 

and anticipating where the organization and mission 

will go next, to truly realize the agency’s vision, said 

Phyllis Corley, Leader Development lead.

“Leader development is about inciting a leadership culture change and highlighting the importance 

of leaders at all levels,” said Corley. “An organization will struggle to reach its goals without people 

who can rapidly adapt to institutional change and 

navigate the very important interpersonal aspects 

wrought in forming and working on high-performing teams.”

LD efforts are aimed at creating leaders who 

are corporate stewards focused on the greater good 

of the agency and mission accomplishment, while 

realizing long-term efficiencies that further NGA 

strategy, said Corley.

In a world and workplace in which information 

and power paradigms are shifting rapidly, critical 

decisions occur at every level. This is the approach 

LD takes in viewing “everyone at NGA as a leader in 

his or her own right,” said Corley.

“Whether a geospatial analyst, an IT team lead, 

a communications officer—or any other work role 

in the agency—the goal is for every individual to 

have the courage and tools to step up as a leader,” 

said Corley.

Another important aspect of leader development 

is the construct of servant leadership, said Corley. 

Servant leadership recognizes that civil service 

employees dedicate themselves to something bigger 

than themselves when they take the oath of office. 

That is, the responsibility to take care of people, 

the organization, the national security mission and 

ultimately to be accountable to the American public. 

By Kathi Ghannam,

Office of Corporate Communications 
Pathfinder • Spring 2013 21

”Servant leadership focuses on empowering 

those entrusted to your care, putting the needs of 

others and the organization first and finding ways 

to help people develop and perform at the highest 

level as possible,” said Corley. “It is a construct that 

doesn’t concern itself with hierarchy. Everyone can be 

of service. Everyone can identify and meet the needs 

of others. Everyone can become a servant leader.” 

Leader development sets a culture that is conducive for the agency to move forward on the efforts 

needed to attain the vision and strategy, said Corley. 

“People help change culture, so everyone is a 

critical part of this change,” said Corley. 

Leader development focuses on behaviors, education, and performance and selection processes, said 

Corley. These three areas of emphasis help leaders 

to be individually and collectively accountable and 

meet the standard the agency expects of its leaders. 

“The behavior focus area, for example, raises 

the bar for leaders,” said Corley. “We are setting the 

standard for the agency using leader competencies 

and corresponding skilled and unskilled behaviors, 

then modeling and reinforcing those behaviors. A key 

desired outcome is increased self-awareness and an 

environment in which open and honest conversations 

are a regular occurrence.” 

In the area of education, the NGA College has 

aligned all the new and expanded leadership course 

offerings with the leader development approach and 

incorporated into those courses the 17 leader competencies, said Corley. NGC has also added additional 

course offerings to accommodate more attendees at 

all levels. 

Performance and selection processes set up the 

competencies as drivers for selection, promotion and 

performance processes, said Corley. This includes 

addressing leader competency in position requirements, job announcements, selection criteria and 

interview questions. This ensures those selected for 

leadership positions demonstrate skilled behavior in 

the relevant leader competencies needed to succeed 

in the agency. 

As part of his travels as the deputy director of 

NGA’s Office of International Affairs, Gary Dunow, 

who also serves as the deputy lead for leader development, meets with employees regularly to share the 

important leadership messages. 

“Throughout my career, I have been in leadership 

positions,” said Dunow. “In fact, since Air Force basic 

training, where I was a squad leader in our flight, 

I’ve been fortunate to have the opportunity to lead at 

all levels. That is why I firmly believe everyone is a 

leader.” 

Dunow, who often asks leaders what they believe 

to be their leadership philosophy, said he follows the 

“Golden Rule” and tries to be “inspirational rather 

than aspirational” as part of his own. 

“Over time, I’ve been able to draw on (my) 

experiences to put myself in other people’s shoes and 

better understand the impact of my actions, words 

and decisions,” said Dunow. “By striving to follow 

the Golden Rule, I’ve been able to develop trust with 

superiors, peers and subordinates, which make us all 

more effective.”

In the next year, the leader development team 

plans to make leadership actionable, not just 

words or theories on a page, said Corley. Leader 

Development 2.0, as its been termed, will provide 

more practical tools, techniques and metrics for 

leaders at all levels in alignment with NGA’s tiered 

service model, offering self-, assisted- and full-serve 

options. 

NGA’s Leader Development Team asked various employee groups in the agency at all levels, and in numerous venues, what 

they considered to be desirable leadership behavior. The responses, and themes from employee climate surveys, indicated 17 

leadership competencies as crucial to successful leadership. These competencies, listed below, are now integrated into agency 

senior executive performance and selection processes, and will be incorporated into banded-level performance and selection 

plans (i.e., DCIPS), as well.

1. Interpersonal savvy

2. Listening

3. Motivating others

4. Courage 

5. Perspective

6. Managing vision and purpose

7. Peer relationships

8. Political savvy

9. Strategic agility

10. Timely decision making

11. Decision quality

12. Drive for results

13. Dealing with ambiguity

14. Integrity and trust

15. Composure

16. Ethics and value

17. Self-knowledge
22 Pathfinder • Spring 2013

NGA Chief 

Operating Officer 

Ellen McCarthy

Interview by Kris Mackey

Photo by Steve Griffin

Q. This is your first job at NGA. What was your 

impression of NGA prior to coming here?

A. Well, let’s put it this way—I loved my job as 

president of INSA (the Intelligence and National 

Security Alliance). Honestly, I was not planning 

on returning to the government at this time. 

NGA was one of the few places I was willing 

to come back for. The vision of NGA and the 

strategic plan that has been laid out and communicated to the private sector is so relevant, so 

in tune with what the community needs to do, 

that I didn’t hesitate when the director called 

me to come here. I have very much the same 

view of NGA that the private sector has—it is 

new, fresh, cutting edge, highly technical, relevant. What NGA is doing is inspiring. In fact, I 

noticed that people inside NGA are worried we 

aren’t doing enough or fast enough, but people 

outside NGA are just saying, ‘wow.’ There is 

much more to do, but this place represents the 

wave of the future in the IC. It’s incredible.

Q. What is it like coming into NGA as the 

chief operating officer? 

A. The leadership team at NGA is darn good. I am 

very excited that Tish (Long) brought me here 

to work among these incredibly talented people. It’s exciting for me. And, it is scary. Most of 

my colleagues have been here a long time. You 

have to ask yourself, ‘Will I be as effective? Will 

I be welcomed as part of this team? Will they 

trust me?’ I am under the impression that that 

is not going to be a problem. Plus, frankly, I 

wanted the opportunity to work for Tish again. 

She is an incredibly talented person and a great 

leader. I am thrilled to work for her and with 

this NGA team. 

Q. What do you see as the intelligence 

community’s biggest workforce challenge 

at this time?

A. There are many challenges. Money is no longer 

available, for one. We can’t hire, train or recruit 

as many people as we want. We really need to 

think about the kind of people we recruit and 

hire and the specific training they need now 

and into the future. We are much better at it in 

the IC than we were 10 years ago. We are more 

focused on capital requirements in general. But, 

after that job, I know for certain that success 

begins and ends with your people. I came out 

of it realizing how much better we are in the IC 

at understanding the people in this line of work 

Q

A&
Pathfinder • Spring 2013 23

than when I first came into it. But there is much 

improvement still to be made.

Another concern I have is whether we are 

communicating to (employees) just how critical 

their roles are and how we all play a part in 

implementing the NGA Strategy. I don’t think 

we communicate that well enough, yet. People 

in this industry work long and hard, and on 

issues much of the world doesn’t have to deal 

with or even know exist. It can be difficult. We 

need people, the young and the seasoned, to 

know they matter. We need improvement in 

communications. For starters, supervisors need 

to better communicate their mission and the 

importance of their employees in that mission, 

and do so regularly.

Q. Like Director Long, you are sought out as a 

speaker and representative of the IC. What 

is your most memorable experience?

A. I’ll talk about anything any time. The events 

I truly love, though, are any with a focus on 

leadership, diversity, and mentoring—anything 

that helps develop future leaders. It sounds 

cheesy, but it is true, and it harkens back to the 

human capital position I thought I would dread, 

but became so meaningful to me. People matter. 

This generation of new employees is savvy, 

highly technical, fascinating—and I believe they 

are going to be the game changers for the IC. 

Any chance I get to mentor them, I take.

At INSA we had an intern program for 

graduate students who worked for us. In 

exchange, we helped them develop networks in 

the community, and eventually get jobs. There 

is nothing more satisfying than seeing young 

professionals blossom. Nothing.

I am in my position because of people like 

Tish Long, Fran Townsend, Director Clapper, 

Steve Cambone, and many others—people who 

mentored me, trusted me and gave me great 

advice. 

I see it as my job, now, to pass that on to 

others. 

Q. What is your leadership philosophy?

A. It is all about relationships. You have to be able 

to reach compromise and make decisions with 

folks you don’t see eye to eye with in this business. And you have to have real relationships to 

get to that compromise or decision.

As I look back on my career, real relationships with people have always been a key 

element of any success I have ever had. 

Beating people over the head and telling 

them ‘this is the way it’s going to be’ has 

never really worked in my experience. I don’t 

operate that way. I need to sit down with my 

colleagues and have discussions, bringing us 

together to determine shared goals and share 

various ways to achieve them. We are all 

motivated by similar goals, we are all trying 

to keep this country safe, and knowing that 

we have that united goal makes for a good 

foundation for a relationship. 

Having real relationships helps you meet 

goals and fix problems. I firmly believe that 

to fix a problem, you have to be able to make 

your peers part of the solution. Plus, we really 

need to get to know one another. We spend an 

awful lot of time working together, so, let’s get 

to know each other. I think it is critical to know 

how your peers tick and their operating styles, 

likes, dislikes and interests. Knowing that about 

the people you work with helps you understand 

where they are coming from in their decision 

making. That is critical to avoiding conflict and 

focusing on resolution.

Q. Tell us about you personally. What are 

your hobbies or things you like to do 

outside work?

A. My hobbies are my two kids, a 10- and a 

12-year-old. I don’t have a lot of time, but 

having kids has made me be a better manager 

of time. I am president of my children’s PTA. 

I am active in my church. My kids are very 

busy, so I drive them everywhere when I’m 

not at work. I have an incredibly supportive 

husband. I love wine—we just installed a wine 

cellar in our home and I look forward to filling 

it up with a great collection. That is as close to a 

‘hobby’ as I get, I suppose.

I work out four or five times a week. I am 

a firm believer in exercise and am thrilled 

that this community has embraced exercise 

as being important. I used to work out like 

crazy until I had kids, at which time I thought 

in order to be a good parent and successful 

employee I had to work so much I gave up 

exercise. I realized later I was wrong. I am 50 

years old now and recognize exercise is good 

for everyone around you, not just yourself. 

And sleep, we need sleep. I don’t believe in 

the mantra ‘work hard, play hard, sleep less.’ 

I think we need to work hard, play hard, and 

get sleep.
24 Pathfinder • Spring 2013

With the New Year, there is a deluge of new faces at gyms 

all across the U.S. Although well 

intentioned, many don’t last more 

than a few weeks.

A popular recommendation 

for the workout blues is to ditch 

the old routine and try something 

new. One option is taking up 

kettlebell lifting.

Though some people 

associate lifting large amounts 

of weights with bulky muscles, 

that isn’t necessarily so, said 

Air Force Capt. Martin Farrell, 

a six-time U.S. champion for his 

weight class. Farrell recently set 

the U.S. record for any weight 

class in the jerk event, for doing 

86 consecutive repetitions with a 

70-pound bell in each hand.

“It’s about building strength 

and endurance, not about bulk,” 

said Farrell. “In kettlebell lifting, 

it’s not man against machine or 

even man against man. It’s man 

against himself.”

Kettlebell lifting has been a 

rising star in the states for the 

last decade, including among the 

military, said Ferrell.

“Over the past 10 years, 

gyms in the community and in 

the workplace, like those 

at NGA’s East and West 

campuses, have integrated 

kettlebells into their offerings,” 

said Ferrell.

Consider kettlebells for a fitter you

By Tim Little and Kathi Ghannam, Office of Corporate Communications

“If done right, kettlebell lifting 

can be a great, efficient workout 

that reduces the chance of injuries,” said Farrell. “In increments 

of 10-pound weights, kettlebells 

give a total body workout in a 

fraction of the time of popular 

workout regimens.”

For instance, one hour of 

Zumba burns 700 calories. Forty 

minutes of kettlebell lifting burns 

1,000, with frequent rest breaks in 

between.

“By the time you finish a 

workout you have increased your 

metabolism and will burn an 

additional 1,000 to 1,500 calories 

per day for the subsequent two to 

three days,” said Farrell.

1. Start in the chest position, or rack. 

Knees should be straight and hips 

slightly forward directly under the 

kettlebells. Elbows should rest on the 

top of the pelvis, or the iliac crest.

2. Drive kettlebells above the head 

using the legs. Squat slightly while 

locking and straightening the arms. 

Hold weights overhead. Straighten 

legs. This is the lockout position. 

3. In a controlled manner, quickly 

lower weights back to chest position. 

Repeat Steps 2 and 3 for varying 

durations of time. The goal is the 

most consecutive repetitions within 

the designated time. 

Doing the jerk

Air Force Capt. Martin Farrell demonstrates the kettlebell jerk lift with two 70-pound weights, as he does in 

competition. Farrell advises those interested in working out with kettlebells to first consult with a certified 

kettlebell instructor to avoid injury.

(Photos by Kevin Clark, Office of Corporate Communications)
Pathfinder • Spring 2013 25

Did you ever set out looking for one thing and then find something different and quite 

amazing? Last autumn, workers at NGA’s Campus 

West in St. Louis began a systematic effort to unearth 

and replace pipes installed years ago to carry heating 

water. Immediately behind the museum at Building 

25, our heritage began rising up out of the ground 

with each scoop of the workers’ shovels. Noticing 

that the workers had just completed digging a trench, 

the NGA landscape designer began searching the 

piles of earth flanking the dig for stones she might 

use in the flowerbeds around the grounds. When 

she placed her gardening trowel into one mound, 

an avalanche of small-arms projectiles fell into her 

hands. With the NGA history team on-site to install a 

new exhibit in the museum in preparation for Family 

Day, we all joined in an effort to capture as many of 

the artifacts as possible before the workers concluded 

their work and refilled the trenches.

Given our heritage, excavations of this sort will 

almost always produce items of interest. The team 

found pottery, tableware and drinking glasses, 

all signs of a community at the St. Louis Arsenal 

in the nineteenth century. The glasses exhibited a 

basic construction and would have provided daily 

service. The tableware and pottery exhibited a blue 

glazed pattern, suggesting a practical elegance. 

Many of these artifacts fit very well with the balance of the nineteenth century objects the history 

team already has in the agency collection. In 1983 

and 1984, the Army Corps of Engineers conducted 

an archaeological project at the Second Street site 

before building the addition to Building 36. The 

Corps contracted with Southeast Illinois University 

for a team of archaeologists and their students to 

retrieve any findings during the initial groundbreaking.

Attractive pottery and glasswork aside, an arsenal’s primary mission addresses the national defense. 

The arsenal armory, flanked by its two outbuildings, 

once occupied the land immediately behind the 

present-day museum. In 1863, at the height of the 

By Gary E. Weir, Ph. D., NGA Historian

Historical discovery at NGA West

During the recent construction to replace pipes, these objects were found where the ammunition building used to be. (NGA photo)

This photograph, taken in 1910, shows the carriage maker’s 

shop. The building, designated Building 6, appears to have been 

designed by Charles Peck and built about 1852. It was demolished 

during one of the many reconstructions. (NGA photo)
26 Pathfinder • Spring 2013

Civil War, the armory burned down, but the outbuildings survived as our current historical buildings 

4 and 5. As we removed hundreds of artifacts from 

the earth, we noticed, along the adjacent trench wall 

at a lower point, a level line of burnt earth and brick 

from the 1863 fire. There it was. You could almost 

touch the Civil War. 

The Army built the armory between 1834 and 

1835. The main structure, like the surviving buildings, boasted limestone construction with a slate roof. 

Its central section rose two stories and measured 40 

by 58 feet, with the two workshop outbuildings at 

40 by 48 feet. Power from steam engines enabled the 

main building’s machinery as well as the carpentry 

and blacksmith facilities of the outbuildings. 

With help from two NGA employees armed with 

metal detectors, we not only gathered the easily 

found artifacts, but dug further to discover as much 

buried treasure as possible. While we still must have 

a small-arms expert look at much of what emerged 

from the ground that day, the bulk of our discovery 

naturally demonstrated the craft of the armory and 

the arsenal. We found all manner of small-arms 

projectiles, some of which remained unformed slugs 

waiting for proper casting. Other projectiles had 

suffered damage in the fire and were partially melted 

or deformed. Others represented their type perfectly, 

even when still encrusted with earth or dusted with 

clay as we removed them from the ground. We found 

.69 caliber rifle slugs, musket balls, .58 caliber Minie 

balls, .52 caliber Spenser and Sharps rounds, and .54 

caliber “Mississippi” musket balls. Other artifacts 

include possible .44, .36 and .28 caliber pistol balls, 

which experts will eventually identify. 

The history team quickly prepared an exhibit 

with some of the more interesting discoveries 

for display at Family Day. The visitors enjoyed 

reflecting on the NGA history represented by 

both the arsenal and these new artifacts, liberated 

from the earth just hours earlier. The fourth floor 

historical gallery at NCE currently offers an 

exhibit of the newly uncovered items alongside 

photographs of the site and the discovery process. 

Forces concerned with our national defense have 

occupied and used the arsenal site since the very 

early 1800s. Our heritage appears everywhere you 

look. When you visit NGA in St. Louis, you are 

literally walking into our history. 

Ammunition, like the projectiles above, was among the items found at the site of the old St. Louis arsenal. (NGA photo)
Pathfinder • Spring 2013 27

NGA Salute:

Airman 1st Class

Sarah Gardner

By Kris Mackey,

Office of Corporate Communications

Air Force Airman 1st Class Sarah Gardner, who has been with the military for just under two years, her 

experience consisting of basic training and technical 

school, came to NGA about a year ago. 

But you wouldn’t know the National GeospatialIntelligence Agency was the imagery analyst’s first 

assignment, said Air Force Chief Master Sgt. Rhonda 

Miller, NGA’s senior enlisted advisor, who complimented 

Garner on her extraordinary growth as an analyst and 

leadership.

Gardner has proven herself in the short time at NGA, 

and has earned a reputation as a go-getter, a leader 

and one who doesn’t shy away from assignments, her 

supervisor said. 

“Airman 1st Class Gardner epitomizes what the Air 

Force needs in new airmen—self-motivation, drive and 

an eagerness to learn,” said her supervisor, Air Force Tech. 

Sgt. James Meredith. “It’s tough to take on a strategic 

and highly technical mission right out of initial specialty 

training. NGA is a challenging assignment, but Gardner 

has raised the bar for first-timers. She isn’t afraid to ask 

questions and brings an energy we need.” 

Because NGA is largely civilian, young military 

members like Gardner don’t have a lot of exposure 

to military peers, so she relies on him as a mentor, 

Meredith said. 

“She is very curious about how the Air Force works 

and how to grow as an airman,” said Meredith. “I think 

she asks at least five times a day about the military, 

and I am honored to oblige her.” 

Her technical school instructors told her to 

gain as much from the assignment as she could, 

said Gardner, who is assigned to the Analysis and 

Production Directorate. Her primary takeaway so far is 

the network of NGA professionals she has developed 

at the agency. 

“I will have a lot of reachback opportunity after 

leaving here,” she said. “I have met, and will continue to 

meet, a lot of intelligence professionals here, not only in 

(my directorate) or at NGA, but people from all over the 

world.”

Gardner goes beyond her challenging analyst 

job by serving on the NGA Junior Enlisted Council, 

gaining exposure to executive leadership and seeing 

the operational tempo of the NGA front office. She 

volunteered this year to co-chair one of the largest 

NGA military events, Joint Military Sports Day, in 

addition to her role as vice president of the NJEC. It 

was the first time the NJEC planned the annual event.

“I knew I would probably take on some responsibility for the event, which made me a little nervous,” said 

Gardner. “It turned out to be kind of a big load to take on 

as an E-3, but I wanted to do my best so we would put on 

a great event.”

Gardner loves skiing and snowboarding and spends 

her free time watching movies and touring the nation’s 

capital, she said. She also wants to deploy and be 

stationed overseas. 

“I definitely plan on staying in the Air Force for a 

while, possibly making it a career,” said Gardner. “My dad 

was a Marine and now a biology teacher. I had always 

wanted to follow in his footsteps, starting with wanting 

to wrestle, then focusing on biology in college. Now, I am 

in the military just like dad, and I am really happy with 

where I am. I really enjoy the military life—well, what I 

know of it, anyway.”

Photo by Kevin Clark, Office of Corporate Communications
NGA

National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency

amI

nga.mil | FB: NatlGEOINTAgency | @NGA_GEOINT Hamani Wilson is a 

cartographer in Source’s 

Foundation GEOINT, 

Maritime Safety Office, Military 

Products Division, working in 

Tactical Ocean Data branch. Hamani 

and others in the branch provide 

worldwide databases of nautical 

information, primarily in support 

of submarine navigation. He works 

with digital products of bathymetric 

navigation planning charts and 

bottom contour charts used by the 

Navy for submarine operations. 

Wilson started at NGA in July 2010, 

after graduating from Hampton 

University in Hampton, Va.

The Washington, D.C. native 

received a federal scholarship under 

the Science, Math and Research for 

Transformation program, which 

paid his tuition and matched his 

background in marine science 

and oceanography to NGA. The 

SMART program was established 

by the Department of Defense to 

assist undergraduate and graduate 

students pursuing degrees in 

science, technology, engineering 

and math, or STEM, disciplines. 

“NGA really promotes a cooperative 

environment where you can meet 

people from different offices because 

there are so many different work 

roles here,” he said.

Learn how you can be a part of NGA 

by visiting our website or by following 

Photo by Kevin Clark, Office of Corporate Communications

us on Facebook and Twitter.