Vol. 8 No. 6

M a r c h / A p r i l 2 0 1 1

Vol. 9 No. 2
On My Mind

Leveraging Technology 

The NGA vision of “Putting the Power of GEOINT in Your Hands” requires the coordination of 

many resources. One of the most important of these is technology. This edition of the Pathfinder 

focuses on how we are leveraging technology to put the power of GEOINT in your hands.

We live in a world of continuously emerging technology and of proliferating data and communications tools. As we move forward to implement the NGA vision, we need to consider 

each of those factors. From a GEOINT perspective, it is important for us to leverage tradecraft 

technology and communications technology to more effectively manage, exploit and disseminate data. One mechanism for us to do so is through cooperative research agreements 

with industry and, as you will discover in this edition, academia.

We are being called upon to think differently, work differently and collaborate differently 

to meet the demands of our evolving mission set. We are being challenged to think in terms 

of activity-based GEOINT rather than target-based GEOINT and to explain not only where 

something is happening, but also why. Contextual GEOINT is what is now required. One key 

element of the NGA vision is to leverage technology to provide exposure of and access to 

geospatial information, data and intelligence. This will enable not only greater situational 

awareness, but also provide more data for the development of contextual GEOINT. As we 

at NGA rise to the challenge, and embrace the tools and technology, we will lead the way in 

moving GEOINT to the next level. 

This issue of the Pathfinder provides some examples of how we have been doing that in 

the past and a picture of how we intend to continue to move GEOINT to the next level by using 

all of our resources, human and technological. We also highlight the online services contest 

held to engage the work force in implementing our vision.

Articles in this issue describe how NGA worked with Australia’s Defence Imagery and Geospatial Organisation, DIGO, to support security operations in the 2010 Commonwealth Games 

in New Delhi, India, and how we are using GEOINT analysis to help medical professionals in 

Haiti manage the cholera epidemic. 

You will also learn how NGA is collaborating with the Department of Energy on a technology 

initiative to improve the analysis of motion imagery. This innovation is designed to help NGA’s 

GEOINT users receive information more quickly and enable analysts to spend less time on 

manual processes and more time on in-depth analysis. 

This Pathfinder edition provides a glimpse into what we have done in the past, what we are 

doing now and how we are moving toward the future to put the power of GEOINT in your hands. 

As the articles illustrate, we don’t do it alone. Collaborating with GEOINT users, including other 

members of the defense and intelligence communities, our international allies, industry and 

academia to develop the right GEOINT tools and resources is essential to our mutual success, 

and NGA is committed to continuing on that path.

Letitia A. Long

Director
Pathfinder ›› March/April 2011 ›› Vol. 9 No. 2

3 Pathfinder ›› March/April 2011

6

On the Cover

The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency continues to 

explore ways to leverage technology to improve situational 

awareness and develop contextual GEOINT. Commercial 

technologies are key to providing online, on-demand access 

to knowledge, services and content. 

Cover design by Ronald Kee using Wikimedia imagery.

 

Published by the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency

Office of Corporate Communications

4600 Sangamore Road, Mail Stop D-54

Bethesda, MD 20816-5003

Telephone: (301) 227-9123

DSN 287-9123

E-mail: pathfinder@nga.mil

Director

Letitia A. Long

Deputy Director

Lloyd Rowland

Office of Corporate Communications, Director

Kimberly Thompson

Public Affairs, Chief

Karen A. Finn

Editor

Susan H. Meisner

Graphic Artist

Ronald Kee

The Pathfinder is the National Geospatial-Intelligence 

Agency publication that promotes public awareness and understanding of geospatial intelligence. The Pathfinder is an 

authorized Department of Defense publication for members 

of the Department of Defense. Contents of this publication 

are not necessarily the official view of, or endorsed by, the 

U.S. government, Department of Defense or NGA. Articles 

in the Pathfinder may be reproduced in whole or in part 

without permission, unless stated otherwise. If reproduced, 

credit the author and the “National Geospatial-Intelligence 

Agency, the Pathfinder magazine.” Any reproduction of 

graphics, photographs and imagery is subject to the original 

copyright.

2 On My Mind

5 NGA in the News 

›› F E A T U R E S

6 NGA Announces Online Services Contest Winners

8 Persistics: A Revolution in Motion Imagery

Processing

10 Cooperative Research and Development

Agreements with University Set to Yield Valuable 

Results

12 NGA in Haiti: Combating Cholera With GEOINT

14 Time and Navigation—NGA Contributes to Exhibit 

on the National Mall

15 NGA Marks Milestone in Move to New Headquarters

16 Afghanistan: Between Spring Offensives and 

Silent Spring

18 Social Media Enhance Collaboration Across the 

NGA Enterprise

›› D E P A R T M E N T S

20 Our Heritage: Remembering Vietnam 1: Tactical 

Photo Reconnaissance 

Contents
» The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency Support 

Team and Australian Defence Imagery and Geospatial Or-

ganisation partnered to support last fall’s Commonwealth 

Games at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Delhi, India.

GEOINT products helped the Australian government and 

local Delhi law enforcement assess security prior to this 

large event. 

India had been fraught with a series of terrorist attacks 

since 2008, including the 2008 Mumbai attacks; the 

2010 bombing of the Indian Premiere League; and the 

2010 attacks on the Jama Masjid. The international 

community had a great deal of concern that the Com-

monwealth Games would provide ample opportunity for 

another attack. 

NGA and DIGO worked to describe and inform knowl-

edge of the overall security environment in Delhi. They 

used commercially available products, such as commer-

cial imagery and open-source information from media 

outlets, to create products accessible to all levels of 

governmental and city law enforcement. 

Analysts evaluated data integrity and devised a categoriza-

tion method to assist visualization and identify areas of the 

country where terrorist and insurgent groups might conduct 

attacks. They created geospatial overview maps of Delhi 

depicting locations of sporting venues, other potentially 

vulnerable facilities and local response infrastructure. 

The NGA-DIGO partnership helped to deliver timely, 

relevant and accurate GEOINT to support the games at 

which India successfully hosted over 6,000 athletes 

from 71 Commonwealth nations.

Commonwealth Games

Benefit from NGA, DIGO Support 

DIGO Map
3 Pathfinder ›› July/August 2010 

NGA IN THE NEWS

5 Pathfinder ›› March/April 2011

NGA Team

Member Selected 

as Finalist for 

2010 Galileo 

Awards

Army Intelligence Officer Receives 

British Honour

Retired Army Chief Warrant Officer 4 Richard Black 

received an unusual award for an American intelligence officer in December—an honorary “MBE.” 

British Ambassador Nigel Sheinwald awarded Black, 

a former Army departmental requirements officer 

in the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency-led 

Community Support Center, an honorary Member of 

the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire at an 

investiture ceremony held at the British Embassy in 

Washington, D.C.

The award recognized “his exemplary individual 

performance and inspirational team leadership as the 

U.S. Exchange Officer at the Joint Air Reconnaissance 

Intelligence Centre, Royal Air Force Base in Brampton, 

United Kingdom.”

Black worked for over 25 years on GEOINT collections for the U.S. Army. In 2002, 

he was selected as the first warrant officer for the JARIC exchange position.

During his JARIC tour, Black worked with the NGA Support Team to enhance 

GEOINT sharing across the NGA, Commonwealth and U.S. unified military commands. According to the citation, “his experience in imagery intelligence, especially collection methodologies, exploitation techniques and the dissemination 

process, proved invaluable to JARIC.” 

Black is also a past winner of the Medmenham Trophy, awarded annually by 

the World War II photographic interpreters Medmenham Club to the service or 

civilian imagery analyst who is adjudged to have made the most outstanding 

contribution to imagery intelligence during the preceding year. He is the only 

American to have won the trophy since it was first awarded almost 50 years ago.

Black retired from the U.S. Army in August 2010. 

NGA IN THE NEWS

National Geospatial-Intelligence 

Agency team member Michael P. Egan 

was recognized Jan. 24 by Director of 

National Intelligence James R. Clapper 

Jr. as a finalist for the 2010 Galileo 

Awards.

Egan, a supervisory project scientist 

with NGA’s InnoVision Directorate, was 

selected as one of eight finalists and 

three winners out of 95 submissions 

from across the community for his paper 

entitled, “Rejuvenating the Intelligence 

Community: Reversing the Effects of 

Bureaucratic Middle-Age.”

“We are always concerned about how 

we maintain our technological edge,” 

Egan said. “When we look at advances 

going on outside of the IC then look at 

some of the processes we are saddled 

with within, we can see that we lack 

some of the freedoms that real innovation requires,” he said. “To remain 

relevant, we have to look at how we 

provide new technologies to the user.”

NGA Honored with Leadership

Coaching award 

The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency received 

the 2010 Prism Award for excellence in leadership 

coaching initiatives from the International Coach 

Federation Metro D.C. Chapter. 

The Prism Award, presented during a ceremony held 

Feb. 11 at the Capitol Hilton, “highlights the impact 

of coaching on business results and employee performance,” according to an ICF statement. “It is presented to the organization that has shown the most 

commitment to and support of leadership coaching 

initiatives over the past year.”

“NGA’s coaching program is a key tool for developing 

our leaders,” said NGA Director Letitia A. Long. “This 

program helps to enhance the leadership capabilities 

of our Agency and is an important investment in our work force. Not only am I a 

strong supporter of our coaching program, I personally participate.”

Photo by Christine Kuppens, SENSA Solutions

Steve Heller, Professional Certified Coach and 

President, International Coach Federation, Metropolitan 

Washington, D.C., chapter, presents Judy Wolf (at left) the 

Prism Award in recognition of NGA’s focus on leadership 

coaching. 

British Ambassador Nigel Sheinwald, at right, awarded 

Retired Army Chief Warrant Officer 4 Richard Black an 

honorary Member of the Most Excellent Order of the 

British Empire.

NGA Photo by Tony Boone

British Embassy Photo
NGA Announces Online Services Contest Winners

By Reishia Kelsey

Letitia A. Long, Director of the National

Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, initiated an online 

services contest to challenge the work force to take 

GEOINT to the next level and fundamentally change 

the user experience. 

The online services contest was open to the 

entire NGA work force, including contractors 

and other government employees. More than 50 

teams, including over 500 individuals, participated in the contest.

A panel of judges selected the winners—Ender’s 

Battle School and the A-Team—in early February. 

Both winners offered full-scope online solutions 

that will ideally make NGA’s GEOINT knowledge 

easily accessible and more intuitive for its mission 

partners and end users. 

“The ultimate goal of the contest was to provide 

a platform that generated ideas and enabled the 

work force to contribute to the vision in a way they 

never had before,” said Long.

Living Intelligence, the runner-up, proposed 

social software tools for knowledge management 

and information sharing that will enable greater 

clarity and transparency within NGA and across the 

broader Intelligence Community.

“There was a tremendous response from the 

work force,” said NGA’s newly appointed Vision 

Implementation Team Lead Mary M. Irvin. “From 

my vantage point, our work force has been waiting 

for an opportunity to reassess our capabilities and 

leverage existing technology solutions to make our 

online services easier, faster and better.” 

Teams were tasked to notionally define NGA’s 

future Web presence and to be able to demonstrate 

a substantial portion of their proposed online capabilities at the 2011 GEOINT Symposium that will 

be held in San Antonio, Texas, Oct. 16-19.

Through several rounds of judging, the more 

than 50 teams had been pared down to seven 

finalists based on the following criteria:

• improved quality of the user experience; 

• viability of the proposed implementation

strategy; and 

• scalability of the online capabilities across

multiple environments. 

The seven finalists presented to a distinguished 

panel of judges that included Long; Retired Coast 

Guard Adm. Thad W. Allen; Dr. Tom L. Allen, Deputy 

Director for Force Management, Joint Chiefs of 

Staff; James Danoy, National Intelligence Manager 

for Europe, office of the Director of National Intelligence; Army Maj. Gen. Michael T. Flynn, Special 

Assistant to Deputy Chief of Staff; Randy Fort, 

former Assistant Secretary for Intelligence and 

Research, State Department; and Dr. Michael Wertheimer, Director for Research, National Security 

Agency. 

Building on the momentum of the vision and the 

excitement generated from the contest, the Vision 

Implementation Team plans to engage with the 

6Pathfinder ›› March/April 2011

Retired Coast Guard Adm. Thad W. Allen, at left, makes a point 

during the panel judging as fellow panel judge Randy Fort, 

former Assistant Secretary for Intelligence and Research, State 

Department, listens.

NGA photo by Tony Boone
cessful,” said Marshall B. Harper, Implementation 

Lead for Enterprise Development. “Technology is 

the easy piece; changing the mindsets of the folks 

using the technology is crucial to the actual implementation of the vision.”

Looking ahead, NGA’s first-ever online services 

contest has empowered the work force to take 

GEOINT to the next level and put the power of GEOINT into your hands. 

50-plus teams. “We now have a portfolio of viable 

ideas to help reinvent our online presence,” said 

Keith A. Barber, the Implementation Lead for Ondemand Services. 

John A. Goolgasian, the Implementation Lead 

for Analytic Depth, stated that overall the teams 

showcased NGA’s creativity, ingenuity, enthusiasm 

and diversity. 

The Vision Implementation Team’s next step 

is to bridge the cultural gap between the digital 

natives—people who grew up with computers and 

electronic technology, and digital immigrants—

those who have had to adapt to and learn computer technology and social media tools as adults.

“Non-material solutions have to be addressed in 

order to make any technology implementation sucReishia Kelsey is a public affairs officer in the Office of Corporate Communications.

Members of the Vision Implementation Team and a distinguished 

panel of judges meet during the final round of contest judging. 

Seven finalists presented to the panel, who selected the winners—

Ender’s Battle School and the A-Team.

NGA photo by Tony Boone
8Pathfinder ›› March/April 2011

Persistics: A Revolution in Motion Imagery Processing

By Roger Gant

As technology continues to steadily multiply

the amount of information available from current 

and future intelligence sensors, how can analysts 

expect to keep up? More importantly, how can 

they make the leap from analyzing discrete events 

to fully understanding the larger patterns of activity that battlefield commanders need to conduct 

asymmetric warfare?

The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency’s 

InnoVision Directorate is quietly enabling that leap 

today in the realm of motion imagery—an increasingly valuable source of information for users, 

whether they’re confronting the Taliban in Afghanistan or tackling natural disasters in the United 

States or elsewhere. Through an advanced data 

processing initiative called “persistics,” analysts 

will be able to apply automation to exploit large 

swaths of wide-area motion imagery and improve 

their ability to perform activity-based analysis. 

Automated processing techniques within persistics will significantly reduce the amount of motion 

imagery that analysts need to search, retrieve and 

display on their workstations. 

Persistics is a partnership success story between NGA and the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. According 

to John Rush, InnoVision liaison to the NGA Office 

of Defense, the initiative represents a fundamental change in processing that has the potential 

to significantly advance geospatial intelligence 

analytical tradecraft. 

“With motion imagery, it’s the motion that’s 

important—not the imagery,” Rush said. “Handling wide-area motion imagery like traditional 

imagery quickly overwhelms communications 

and storage.” 

The Persistics effort is aimed at reducing the 

data handling burden on networks, servers 

and the analyst. It does so by separating the 

movement in a video scene from the unchanging background. The process reduces the 

time needed to analyze motion imagery from 

hours—or days—to just minutes by relieving 

analysts of the task of manually creating tracks 

of thousands of moving objects. 

The Persistics initiative is particularly timely 

now. Today, motion imagery analysts primarily 

exploit narrow-field-of-view systems like the fullmotion video data from the MQ-1 Predator, which 

covers a small area and small number of movers 

at a time. Current WAMI systems, such as Constant 

Hawk, already have the ability to image thousands 

of movers, and future wide-area systems will 

potentially track millions of movers as areas of 

coverage and mission durations increase. Today’s 

legacy processing simply can’t begin to exploit 

the volume of data and provide analysts with the 

right information. As a result, analysts spend many 

hours manually extracting individual mover tracks 

from wide-area motion imagery.

Persistics uses a process called dense correspondence, which results in very stable imagery. 

As a wide-area surveillance platform flies a typical orbit, data is collected through a system of 

The Persistics initiative hopes to revolutionize motion imagery’s 

contribution to “activity-based” analysis.

NGA photo illustratration by Christina S.
Persistics is on track for transition to the user 

community over the coming year. NGA’s InnoVision 

Directorate is collaborating with the Army Research 

Lab on the deployment of a persistics ground processing capability for the Constant Hawk airborne 

collection platform by next summer. InnoVision 

is also leading an effort in support of the Department of Defense Intelligence, Surveillance and 

Reconnaissance Task Force and the U.S. Air Force to 

modify the processing chain to accommodate the 

data from the Defense Advanced Research Projects 

Administration’s Autonomous Real-Time Ground 

Ubiquitous Surveillance Imaging System sensor, 

which is expected to be fielded on the MQ-9 Reaper 

Gorgon Stare II system.

The technology inherent in persistics offers an 

opportunity to industry, Rush said. “Once the prototype is available, we plan to make the technology 

available to sensor system and exploitation tool 

developers for broader application across the 

community. This is a great way for NGA to exercise 

functional management through our partnership 

with industry.” 

Persistics, at heart, is all about adding relevance 

to motion imagery at a time when more data is 

available than ever before. By automating activity 

detection, enhancing standards, facilitating fusion 

and advancing tradecraft, motion imagery is made 

more intuitive. InnoVision is proving that, with the 

right processing techniques, the richness of large 

motion imagery data sets can be fully exploited by 

automatically capturing the essential elements of 

movement in a greatly reduced format. In today’s 

increasingly data-rich environment, the power 

of persistics will allow the National System for 

Geospatial Intelligence to harness the full potential 

of motion imagery and in doing so significantly 

advance the power of GEOINT. 

9Pathfinder ›› March/April 2011

Roger Gant is a contract employee supporting the InnoVision 

communication team.

multiple cameras, creating very large data sets 

(one terabyte an hour for existing sensors like 

Constant Hawk). Dense correspondence processing algorithms separate the movers in the data 

stream from the stable or unchanging background. 

Movement data is then streamed back to users 

along with periodic updates of the unchanging 

background. This radical processing enables 

persistics to reduce the amount of data needing to 

pass through communication paths, to the analyst 

and eventually into storage, by more than 1,000 

times.

Rush credits the genius behind persistics to 

LLNL’s team, with whom NGA InnoVision launched 

the project two years ago. In particular, Rush cites 

Dr. Sheila Vaidya, LLNL’s program manager, for her 

scientific acumen. 

“Sheila leveraged the lab’s experience in 

processing large data sets associated with astrophysics, so we could apply it to warfighter needs,” 

said Rush. “Some seriously big brainpower went 

into getting persistics where it is today. They’re a 

phenomenal team.”

Persistics’ features include an ability to stabilize 

imagery and eliminate scene jitter, parallax and 

other image imperfections common in existing 

WAMI data. In addition, it facilitates 3-D extraction, 

which—literally—adds a new dimension to analysis. These features represent a significant leap 

forward in the concept of activity-based GEOINT. 

“Traditionally, every pixel was transmitted, analyzed and stored,” said Rush. Persistics allows the 

analyst to see the pixels that change to observe 

the activity of actors and entities (the movers) over 

long periods of time. Activity reveals relationships 

between movers and specific locations and leads 

to greater context and knowledge about specific 

objects and their environment. That’s what activitybased GEOINT is all about. Through automation, 

InnoVision is turning the challenge of motion 

imagery volume into an information advantage for 

the analyst.
10Pathfinder ›› March/April 2011

Cooperative Research and Development Agreements 

with University Set to Yield Valuable Results 

By Jan Lewis, Jim Vrabel, Art Cobb and Joanna D.

As the U.S. government continues to tighten 

its belt, entering agreements to leverage brainpower and resources from non-federal entities 

has become an increasingly valuable tool for the 

National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency. 

Facing the challenge of reduced budgets headon, NGA’s InnoVision Directorate has placed 

renewed emphasis on a program that allows NGA 

to partner with non-federal organizations that are 

leaders in their fields without any funds changing 

hands. Via cooperative research and development 

agreements, more commonly known as CRADAs, 

InnoVision allows partners insight into emerging 

capabilities, data, data standards and processes, 

and access to classified information and tools. 

NGA gains hands-on access to leading-edge products, research and services. 

Recently, InnoVision signed two CRADAs with an 

academic institution, instead of industry partners 

(as it has historically been), marking a major 

milestone in the program. On Jan. 6, 2011, a signing ceremony was held at The Pennsylvania State 

University to formalize them. 

Scott Webster, Director of the InnoVision Advanced Development Office, and Dr. Hank Foley, 

the Vice President for Research at The Pennsylvania 

State University, signed two CRADAs: 

• NGA and PSU Dutton e-Education Institute; 

• NGA and the PSU Applied Research Laboratory

The activation of these CRADAs marks the first 

time the NGA CRADA Program has partnered with 

an academic institution or a university-affiliated 

research center.

PSU is recognized as one of the leading educational 

institutions in geospatial curricula because of their 

geospatial analysis program. Accordingly, the focus of 

the CRADA between NGA and PSU Dutton e-Education 

Institute is “Improving the Teaching of Geospatial 

Analysis.” This CRADA relationship will expand upon 

NGA’s existing research into optimal training and educational means that will improve the spatial ability 

and analytic skill of geospatial intelligence analysts 

working as part of an intelligence team. The outcomes 

of the CRADA are expected to enable NGA to identify 

development opportunities that support recruitment 

and retention of GEOINT analysts. 

The researchers and managers from NGA, the Pennsylvania 

State University Dutton e-Education Institute and the PSU 

Applied Research Laboratory gather at the university.

Penn State University photo
11Pathfinder ›› March/April 2011

Dr. Todd S. Bacastow, Professor of Practice for 

Geospatial Intelligence at the PSU Dutton e-Education Institute, stated his views on the impact NGA 

has on its geospatial program: “NGA is the premier 

geographic organization in the world and the 

thought-leader in the discipline. NGA is an active 

employer of students from the Penn State Department of Geography’s resident program. And finally, 

95 percent of the students in our online geospatial 

intelligence program work with or for NGA.” 

Participation in this CRADA will strengthen the 

relationship between NGA and PSU. 

The CRADA between NGA and the PSU Applied 

Research Laboratory has two focus areas: improvements to hyperspectral processing and to the 

Urban Terrain Zone product suite.

The Hyperspectral Processing Program will 

conduct research into the application of advanced 

target detection algorithms to NGA targets of 

interest. The program outcomes will provide a 

base from which NGA can expand hyperspectral 

exploitation efforts to include new algorithms and 

processing, and this technology will act as a catalyst for additional development that could result in 

a commercial product. 

The Urban Terrain Zone Program research will provide a base from which NGA can expand its product 

suite to better serve current users in the operational 

environment. Resulting data visualizations will illustrate UTZ utility for a range of applications supporting NGA priorities. The CRADA research efforts will 

include the generation of a combined UTZ and light 

detection and ranging product, the definition of UTZ 

information to support urban operations and a new 

product definition supporting the NGA mission.

Shawn Hough, ARL Geospatial Technology Department Head, describes his excitement for entering 

into this CRADA with NGA: “ARL/PSU has had a longterm relationship with NGA through several shortterm contracts; the CRADA allows our laboratory to 

have a continual relationship for the next five years 

by creating new avenues for interaction.” 

The NGA CRADA Program, led by Michael O’Brien, 

has grown steadily in the last few years. 

Said O’Brien, “As NGA organizations become 

aware of the great benefits that can be realized 

through participation in a CRADA, they are more 

willing to dedicate the resources needed for management of the CRADA.” 

CRADAs represent a strategic opportunity to pursue 

cutting-edge research and development initiatives.

NGA now has 17 active CRADAs with several others in development. 

NGA’s first CRADAs were activated in 1999 with 

industry partners ESRI, ERDAS and ObjectFX. 

Participation in these CRADAs allows NGA to influence the development of commercial-off-the-shelf 

tools used daily by NGA’s Analysis and Production 

Directorate as well as the National System for Geospatial Intelligence community. 

Jan Lewis, Art Cobb and contract employee Jim Vrabel are 

members of the InnoVision Industry Outreach Division, 

Cooperative Research and Development Agreement Team. 

Joanna D. is a contract employee supporting the InnoVision 

communication team.

Dr. Hank Foley, Vice President for Research at Pennsylvania 

State University, and Scott Webster, Director of the InnoVision 

Advanced Development Office, signed a cooperative research 

and development agreement on Jan. 6, 2011. 

Penn State University photo
12Pathfinder ›› March/April 2011

NGA in Haiti: Combating Cholera With GEOINT 

By Bill Byrne 

Over a year after a 7.0 magnitude earthquake

struck Haiti, one of the world’s most impoverished nations, Haitian citizens are facing another 

crisis—cholera. 

As with the earthquake, the National GeospatialIntelligence Agency is on hand to help deal with 

this latest calamity. 

From October 2010 through February 2011, an 

estimated 4,500 Haitians died from cholera. The 

Haitian Ministry of Public Health and Population 

estimated that more than 231,000 cholera cases 

have been recorded since the October outbreak. 

NGA’s contribution to the anti-cholera campaign 

is largely transparent. Nevertheless, the monitoring, tracing and marking of unrest and cholera’s 

footprint are critical factors in the combined effort. 

According to the chief of the Analysis and Production Directorate’s Cuba/Caribbean Branch, the 

single, “...most important value-added aspect of 

the NGA contribution is the analysis of the visual 

representation of the medical reporting.” 

“We are looking for patterns that may indicate 

how the cholera is spreading and where it may 

spread next,” he said. An example of this geospatial mapping of the cholera outbreak area revealed 

that the educational efforts in the internally 

displaced person camps are largely successful; 

the cholera outbreak has primarily been located 

outside of the densely populated camps. 

At the most fundamental level, NGA brings the 

following to the ongoing anti-cholera campaign: 

monitoring and confirming the implementation of 

purpose-built cholera treatment centers and signs 

of unrest in the crowded IDP camps. 

Spontaneous unrest is a constant threat in 

communications-poor Haiti. Rumor mongering is 

rife. For example, until October 2010, cholera had 

not been detected in Haiti for more than a century. 

However, in late November, rumors began that the 

cholera had been introduced to Haiti by a recently 

arrived contingent of Nepalese troops, part of the 

12,000 person U.N. Stabilization Force. At the time, 

Nepal was experiencing a cholera outbreak. Violent 

anti-U.N. rioting left three dead in Haiti’s second 

city of Cap-Haitien. 

The issue of whether the cholera was introduced 

from outside Haiti remains unresolved. The argument over the origins of Haiti’s cholera is not productive, for in the words of Stefano Zannini, Chief 

of the Haiti mission for Doctors Without Borders: 

“One person is dying every 30 minutes in Haiti. 

Knowing the origins of the epidemic has no 

impact on saving lives.” 

The cholera originated in the northwest quadrant of Haiti in the agricultural lands of the Artibonite 

River Basin. Cholera is largely 

waterborne and breeds in 

unclean water. Not surprisingly, northwestern 

Haiti is a land of rivers, canals, ponds 

and rural poverty.

DOD Photo
13Pathfinder ›› March/April 2011

Bodies of water are used by everyone for all possible human and agricultural activity. The disease 

is spread through fecal-contaminated food and 

water. The result is vomiting and diarrhea that can 

quickly lead to severe dehydration and death. In 

the Artibonite, rice is the principal crop and grows 

in rice paddies. From the Artibonite, cholerainfected victims traveled south along the coastal 

highway to Port-au-Prince. 

By early November, 120 suspected cases were 

reported in the capital of Port-au-Prince. Of these 

people 114 were from the Cite Soleil, the sprawling 

oceanside shantytown at the northern edge of the 

capital and the closest urban point to St. Marc, the 

cholera’s center in Artibonite. 

NGA is helping to identify areas of standing 

water in the IDP camps that could be potential 

sources of fouled water. 

The agency does not suggest locations for 

portable water stations; however, NGA does monitor the ongoing rebuilding efforts in Haiti. These 

include building structures, telecommunication 

infrastructure, communication lines, seaports and 

airports. Since cholera broke out in October, the 

NGA Support Team’s main effort has been on cholera treatment centers, which are purposely built for 

cholera patients. 

Haiti and the Dominican Republic share the 

island of Hispaniola. Relations between the two 

island states can best be described as correct, but 

have been strained and violent in the past. While 

NGA monitors Haitian IDP migration at the Dominican-Haitian border crossings, the cholera has 

leached eastwards across the border and spread 

within the Dominican Republic. As pointed out by 

the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the 

course of cholera in Haiti is difficult to predict. 

While reports of new cases have declined, according to U.N. health officials the emergency is 

not over. The death rate in the remote rural interior 

remains very high. The Haitian population has no 

preexisting immunity to cholera, and environmental 

conditions in Haiti are favorable for its spread. 

More than a million Haitians remain in IDP camps, 

but the capacity of IDP camps to provide centrally 

treated potable water, adequate sanitation, handwashing stations and health care varies. Cholera 

may persist in Haiti’s future, but NGA has played 

and will continue to play a role in stamping out the 

deadly cholera outbreak there. 

Bill Byrne is a public affairs officer in the Office of 

Corporate Communications.

DOD Photo
14Pathfinder ›› March/April 2011

Time and Navigation—NGA Contributes to Exhibit on 

the National Mall

By Joanna D.

Hip pack-clad, camera-toting Washington, D.C.,

tourists will experience something new on the 

National Mall in 2012. At that time, NGA employees 

and others can bring their holiday visitors to the 

Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum to 

see an all-new 5,000-square foot exhibit on the 

history of two modern conveniences: timekeeping 

and navigation. 

NGA is a major contributor to the exhibition, 

complementing its role in global navigation.

Titled “Time and Navigation,” this exhibit—a collaboration of the National Air and Space Museum 

and the National Museum of American History—will 

focus on the history of time and navigation; navigation at sea, in the air and in space; the invention 

of satellite navigation; the role of time in modern 

navigation techniques in modern life; and navigation challenges that still remain to be solved. 

NGA and its predecessor agencies have been 

heavily involved in satellite navigation systems 

since the 1960s. The Defense Mapping Agency, for 

example, used the Navy Navigation Satellite System to develop a series of what are called global 

geospatial reference frames such as the World 

Geodetic System 1972 and World Geodetic System 

1984. These global reference frames are the foundation of any global navigation system. 

When GPS, the Global Positioning System, was 

created in the 1980s, DMA played a key role in its 

development. NGA continues to rely on GPS as a 

vital component of virtually all geospatial products, 

many of which are directly used for navigation 

and positioning. For this and other reasons, NGA 

was invited in 2009 to contribute to this groundbreaking exhibition.

The Smithsonian Institution is a quasi-governmental organization that receives 75 percent of 

its funding from the U.S. government and the rest 

from trusts, endowments and contributions from 

industry and other government agencies for specific 

projects. As one of nine government and industry 

sponsors of the exhibit, the Smithsonian will give 

NGA public name recognition, to include on the 

donor’s plaque at the exhibit’s entrance. 

The Smithsonian Time and Navigation exhibition 

Web site will contain hyperlinks to content on the 

NGA Web site related to the exhibition themes 

and educational goals. This exposure will provide 

greater public understanding of the agency mission 

and encourage interest in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, the essential foundation 

for all future engineers and scientists. 

NGA’s senior scientist for geodesy and geophysics, Steve Malys, has been leading the effort for 

NGA since the relationship with the Smithsonian 

began in 2009. Malys and the InnoVision team have 

engaged with others throughout NGA to coordinate 

and deliver NGA’s input from a single voice. 

Said Malys, “NGA is proud to support this exhibition, which will trace a story that began with early 

mariners navigating with the aid of the sun, moon 

and stars, to modern satellite navigation systems.”

The exhibit is planned to be on display for a 

minimum of five years but will likely last 10 or more 

years before retirement. 

Added Malys, “With a visitor count of more 

than 7 million people per year at the National Air 

and Space Museum and an online visitor count 

approaching 11 million per year, we are certain 

to improve the public’s understanding of global 

navigation and encourage young visitors to pursue 

a geospatially oriented career.” 

Joanna D. is a contract employee supporting the InnoVision communication team.
15Pathfinder ›› March/April 2011

geospatial intelligence mission around the world. 

The campus will accommodate 8,500 people while 

allowing for future growth.

“The physical facilities are at the leading edge 

of the Intelligence Community, and the collocation 

of NGA’s East components will greatly expand the 

possibilities to both enhance mission performance 

and promote community collaboration,” said Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper Jr. 

NGA’s move to its new headquarters is being 

conducted in increments and will be completed in 

September 2011.

“I remain proud of what NGA has accomplished, 

and I know we have even greater opportunities 

ahead of us to contribute to our nation’s continued 

security,” Long said. “NCE will help everyone at 

NGA ensure mission success long into the future.” 

NGA Marks Milestone in Move to New Headquarters By Laura Lundin

The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency

marked a significant milestone in January when 

its first employees moved into the agency’s new 

2.4 million square-foot campus at Fort Belvoir’s 

North Area in Springfield, Va. 

The move is the first deployment of NGA mission 

personnel to result from the consolidation of the 

agency’s facilities in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area to a single location due to 2005 Base 

Realignment and Closure requirements. 

“With this milestone achievement, NGA will 

begin to enhance organizational continuity across 

the nation and around the world, while promoting 

even greater mission effectiveness everywhere we 

work,” said NGA Director Letitia A. Long. 

The campus was purposely designed to facilitate 

greater collaboration both within NGA and with 

mission partners and customers supporting the 

Laura Lundin is a public affairs officer in the Office of

Corporate Communications.

A member of the NGA Campus East reception team 

provides directions to an employee on his first day at his 

new office in Springfield, Va. NGA employees began the 

move-in Jan. 18 and will continue to move into the facility, 

located at Fort Belvoir’s North Area, through September

NGA photo by Tony Boone
16Pathfinder ›› March/April 2011

Afghanistan: Between Spring Offensives and Silent 

Spring 

By Douglas Batson

Military geographers are rebuilding the

government of Afghanistan’s capacity to address 

environmental concerns. 

NGA signed a Basic Exchange and Cooperation 

Agreement with the Afghan Geodesy and Cartography Head Office in June 2007. NGA has since 

provided onsite mentoring to AGCHO personnel on 

modern digital cartographic production, geodetic 

systems and processes and management of geographic names. 

With NGA’s guidance AGCHO is producing new 

map products in the local language to support the 

Afghan National Security Forces, a critical goal of 

NGA and AGCHO’s engagement. In addition, NGA 

has had success in assisting AGCHO and other 

Afghan government bodies to stand up the Board 

on Geographic Names-Afghanistan, which will 

operate similarly to the U.S. Board on Geographic 

Names. The board had the challenging mission of 

standardizing place names.

Afghanistan is home to decades of human misery, war, millions of refugees and a failed state that 

remains the flash point of the U.S.-led overseas 

contingency operations. In Afghanistan NATO’s 

credibility is at stake as its members struggle 

with reconstruction and stability operations and 

simultaneously battle a tenacious insurgency. 

The protracted human conflict has degraded the 

natural environment to the point that, even if the 

insurgency were quelled, Afghanistan faces “a 

future without water, forests, wildlife, and clean 

air,” according to the United Nations Office for the 

Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

The case of Kelegay illustrates how a degraded 

environment thwarts U.S.-led reconstruction and 

stability efforts in Afghanistan. From 1990 to 2006, 

Villagers review a commercial satellite

image of pasture land parcels.

Photo courtesy of Terra Institute
17Pathfinder ›› March/April 2011

Thus the Jabar brothers will likely find it impossible to cultivate land that has become infertile 

and arid. Their scores of sons, who knew nothing 

of agriculture and livestock as refugees in Pakistan, 

will flock to the cities to seek out an existence in 

the peri-urban slums. Without a home or means of 

support, they are predisposed to recruitment by 

the purveyors of instability: crime bosses, narcotraffickers and the Taliban. The stark population to 

natural resource imbalance thwarts reconstruction 

efforts altogether and foreshadows renewed conflict in Afghanistan, this time over access to natural 

resources for subsistence and survival as opposed 

to over ideology.

Decades of war, drought and neglect have 

blurred or totally incapacitated responsibility for 

Afghanistan’s natural environment. A cadastre 

(land and property registry) can visibly link environmental needs to human needs. And via the 

BECA, AGCHO’s Cadastral Division will be poised 

to register its human terrain, namely, recording 

restrictions on environmentally harmful practices 

and tying a personal or organizational name to 

responsibility for environmental stewardship. With 

an increased focus on geography in Afghanistan’s 

reconstruction, that beleaguered country’s future 

need not lie between insurgent spring offensives 

and silent spring.

Note: Silent Spring is the title of a 1962 book 

by Rachel Carson that raised environmental 

awareness and sparked the ecology conservation 

movement in the United States. A John Keats 

poem, La Belle Dame sans Merci, which describes 

a desolate place where “no birds sing,” inspired 

the book’s title. 

Kelegay was an empty, dusty plain; it was the site 

of an old Soviet military base with an abandoned 

village of broken walls cutting across untended 

fields. Now frantic construction is under way. 

The building boom began when the entire population of a ruined village came back after 26 years 

as refugees in Pakistan. Because of their increased 

numbers as a new generation, they occupied government land well beyond their original village and 

fields. Within a week, the returned villagers began 

dividing up the land parcels and buildings. 

“This is our ancestral land; our forefathers lived 

here,” said Haji Abdul Jabar as reported in a New 

York Times article. Jabar was building a large 

compound to house his family and those of his 

seven brothers.

But what will the Jabar brothers find when they 

attempt to return to their ancestral livelihoods of 

agriculture and animal husbandry? 

While “over 80 percent of Afghan people live 

in rural areas, they have seen many of their basic 

resources—water for irrigation, trees for food and 

fuel—lost in just a generation,” noted a U.N. Environment Programme report. In a 2007 report titled 

Sustainable Land Management, the Afghanistan’s 

Ministry of Agriculture and Food portends grave 

consequences if the government and international 

aid organizations continue ignoring the country’s 

degrading environment.

Soil fertility is declining, salinization is on the increase, water tables have dramatically fallen, and 

de-vegetation is extensive. More than 80 percent 

of Afghan land is subject to wind and soil erosion. 

Over 70 percent of forests throughout the country 

have been lost since 1985. One of the immediately 

visible humanitarian implications of deforestation 

is the country’s increasing vulnerability to natural 

disasters, namely flooding and landslides. The 

eradication of Afghan forests explains why deserts 

have been rapidly expanding.

Douglas Batson is a political geography analyst and a staff 

member to the Foreign Names Committee of the U.S. Board 

on Geographic Names. 
18Pathfinder ›› March/April 2011

Social Media Enhance Collaboration Across the NGA 

Enterprise

By Katherine Whitaker

For the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency,

social media communication tools play a critical 

role in collaboration with professionals across the 

Intelligence Community. From Jabber to Intellipedia, 

these tools are changing the way they communicate.

“Efforts to build bridges of communication and 

trust among intelligence, homeland security, law 

enforcement and overseas partners give policymakers and first responders the support they need 

to prevent tragedy,” said Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper Jr. in a recent message to 

the intelligence work force.

Social networking tools aid in this mission 

by enabling intelligence professionals to share 

information on common projects with hundreds 

of users, over several networks, without regard to 

location or agency, in near-simultaneous fashion. 

“From a GEOINT [geospatial intelligence] perspective, the ability to develop intelligence and 

share it with a large amount of people throughout 

the IC is invaluable,” said the team lead with 

NGA’s Horn of Africa Branch in the Analysis and 

Production Directorate.

The interactive display offered by social media 

forums provides geographically dispersed users 

with a common venue to obtain situational awareness. Maps, photographs, videos and information 

are updated regularly by users, enhancing the view 

of the topic or situation. 

Embedded links can connect related articles and 

topics, increasing the value of the knowledge base 

and improving the discoverability of information. 

Intellipedia is a popular social media forum for 

intelligence professionals. Operating similarly 

to Wikipedia, Intellipedia relies on members of 

the IC to post information for discussion or use 

by others. Unlike Wikipedia, users must have an 

account to edit information, which allows for accountability and attribution and lends credibility 

to the collaboration and analysis. 

The collaboration operations lead with the Joint 

Operations Integration Office, along with her 

team and representatives from other IC agencies, 

recognized the need for a standard IC collaboration 

tool suite. Together they used Intellipedia to build 

a community policy recommending appropriate 

social networking tools. The policy, which the Director of National Intelligence approved in just four 

weeks, gives IC agencies access to the same tools 

and facilitates seamless collaboration.

Having many eyes on products is especially valuable for time-sensitive issues. For example, an analyst might have a question that would benefit from 

multiple responses from many agencies. While this 

process might take weeks using traditional channels of e-mail and phone call, social media tools 

allow users to work simultaneously in real time. 

A benefit to working in the IC is the ability to 

move from job to job within an agency and potentially within other government agencies as well. But 

sometimes when people move on, their knowledge 

moves with them. Intellipedia and other social 

media forums help protect information from “walking out the door” since information posted remains 

available and searchable, indefinitely, until it is 

manually deleted.

Another collaboration IC members use is IC Connect. 

“IC Connect has become a critical tool in connecting users who are separated geographically,” 

said the collaboration operations lead. “It allows 

users to join a synchronous, virtual world that provides audio, video, desktop sharing and chat.” 

The platform offers a real-time, Web-based 

presentation tool to create information and general 

presentations, online training materials, Web 

conferencing, learning modules and user desktop 

sharing. Each participant can see what is happening on the presenter’s computer screen.

IC Connect makes team meetings and training 

sessions simple by allowing team members to 
discoverable,” Rasmussen said. Where e-mail 

limits questions to a particular set of individuals thought to have an answer, blogs on Intelink 

open the questions to the IC and facilitate vibrant 

interagency discussions. Rasmussen maintains an 

Intelink blog on which he discusses social software 

uses for the IC, GEOINT and other topics relevant to 

the community.

Although the benefits of social networking tools 

seem to greatly outweigh the negatives, the word 

“social” gets a bad rap in the workplace because 

people assume these tools are meant for socializing. This impression leads some in the IC to doubt 

the credibility and usefulness of such tools. 

“The tools are powerful and valuable, but we cannot force people to use them,” said the Africa team 

lead. “NGA must make them available, increase 

awareness of their worth and hopefully foster 

acceptance over time.”

The value of social networking tools to collaboration within the IC is immeasurable. The ability to 

reach out to colleagues throughout the community 

at a moment’s notice and to work together on 

projects as one team with a common goal is integral to fulfilling both NGA’s and the IC’s national 

security mission. 

19Pathfinder ›› March/April 2011

communicate via their computers. By attending 

business meetings virtually, users save valuable 

time and agency travel funds. 

“My colleagues and I don’t have to travel to other 

locations for meetings and presentations,” said 

a communications officer with NGA’s Office of the 

Chief Information Officer. “We can see on our computers what the presenter is talking about as they 

walk us through their presentation.”

Jabber, an additional social media tool, is open 

source, uses instant messaging and is increasing in popularity among NGA employees and 

their IC colleagues. More than 10 million people 

worldwide use Jabber-based software, which is 

deployed on thousands of Internet servers, according to the Jabber Software Foundation. This 

application allows users to connect with others 

quickly and informally. 

Blogs—available through Intelink and the 

NGA intranet sites—provide the work force with 

an opportunity to solicit feedback and generate 

conversation on relevant topics without building or 

maintaining additional Web sites. 

Bloggers provide access to a much wider audience than traditional methods of communication, 

said Chris Rasmussen, an NGA employee supporting JOIO. “E-mail is generally tied to group folders 

and offices, but if you write a blog, it is much more Katherine Whitaker is a contract employee in the Office of 

Corporate Communications.

Wikimedia image
20Pathfinder ›› March/April 2011

Our Heritage

Remembering Vietnam 1: Tactical Photo 

Reconnaissance

By Dr. Gary E. Weir

On the 50th anniversary of the first direct

American military involvement Vietnam, the Department of Defense has called upon our country 

to remember with respect and gratitude those who 

served in Southeast Asia. For the generation that 

came of age in the 1960s, its constant presence 

became a formative experience—politically, 

socially and culturally. 

Responding to Secretary of Defense Dr. Robert 

M. Gates’ decision to remember those who served, 

the next six issues of Pathfinder will explore in 

these pages various aspects of this conflict and its 

role in shaping what would become the National 

Imagery and Mapping Agency and the National 

Geospatial-Intelligence Agency.

With 50 years’ hindsight it appears the longevity 

of our presence in Vietnam and its gradually

increasing strategic importance led to refinements 

in our technologies and our tradecrafts. Indeed, 

the number and proficiency of Vietnam era photo 

interpreters and their often burning desire to go 

beyond mere reporting to explaining what they 

saw in the images laid the groundwork for the 

leap many soon made from photo interpretation 

to imagery analysis. The length of the war and 

the challenging landscape also contributed to a 

significant improvement in tactical reconnaissance 

techniques and photographic collection systems. 

In October 1961 President John F. Kennedy dispatched a delegation to South Vietnam led by Gen. 

Maxwell Taylor. The delegation arrived in Saigon 

and quickly appreciated the critical need of the 

Vietnamese republic for support and reform. Taylor 

suggested introducing American troops to train the 

Army of the Republic of South Vietnam. To get over 

the thorny political issue of an American presence 

in Vietnam, he suggested composing a relief task 

force to help the Saigon government address the 

results of a recent Mekong River flood that ravaged 

a good part of southwestern South Vietnam. 

Taylor’s suggestion to the president gave the latter the option of inserting 6-8,000 troops, assigning them humanitarian tasks and extricating them 

as desired. According to historian Phillip B. Davidson, Taylor observed that “we can phase them into 

other activities if we wish to remain longer.”

While Taylor’s final suggestions sketched an 

even broader and more ambitious commitment, 

the flood activity did enable the U.S. Air Force to 

move more advanced reconnaissance aircraft into 

South Vietnam. The government of Thailand gave 

its approval in October 1961 for the U.S. Air Force 

to station the more capable RF-101C Voodoo reconnaissance aircraft within its borders to overfly both 

Laos and South Vietnam. The 15th and 45th Tactical 

Reconnaissance Squadrons both had RF-101Cs, 

and four aircraft from the latter squadron flew into 

Don Muang near Bangkok under the name Task 

Force Able Mable. 

For the reconnaissance version of the Voodoo, 

Southeast Asia presented familiar territory. The 

nationalist Chinese air force used 101Cs for brief 

sorties into mainland China in the late 1950s. 

These aircraft also found themselves at Clark Air 

Force Base in the Philippines in support of the 

American response to the Chinese in the Formosa 

Straits crisis and the threat against the islands of 

Quemoy and Matsu. 

Shortly after arrival in Thailand, 101Cs from the 

15th TRS found their way to Tan Son Nhut near Saigon in South Vietnam to photograph the Mekong 

flood damage. In addition to the humanitarian 

work, the reconnaissance squadron also imaged 

targets in Laos, like the Plain of Jars, and portions 

of the Ho Chi Minh Trail. The forward oblique 

cameras on the aircraft took the flood images while 

the military photos came from a KA-1 camera with 

a 36-inch focal length. The camera performed very 

well at high altitudes and used 9x18-inch plates, 

producing those large format images very much 
Eventually the two squadrons exchanged these 

responsibilities every six months. They regularly 

used the KA-1 and KA-2 cameras and, for some missions, instruments with 24-or 26-inch focal length 

replaced the oblique cameras in the second camera bay in the aircraft. However, as early as 1961, 

the possibility remained that the T-11 precision 

mapping camera or the K-18 strip camera could 

emerge as possible necessary alternatives. 

In an early effort to develop a night capability, 

two RF-101s formed the Toy Tiger Program, which 

operated out of Hill Air Force Base in Utah and 

Kadena Air Base on Okinawa. Technical experts 

modified the aircraft’s right drop tank to fire the 

M-123 type photographic flash. Each Voodoo also 

carried a Doppler navigation system, APN-102/ASN7 radars, and a pair of high-speed focal plane shutter cameras (KA-47s) set in the rear and mounted 

vertically, as well as four KA-45 cameras in the 

forward mounting positions. 

21Pathfinder ›› March/April 2011

in demand among the photo interpreters. Crews 

downloaded the cameras at night to disguise 

covert activity conducted in Thailand and South 

Vietnam. On Oct. 23, 1961, one reconnaissance 

mission over the airfield at Tchepone revealed the 

Soviet effort to resupply the Pathet Lao and the 

North Vietnamese by dropping supplies by parachute from Il-28 bombers. 

By Nov. 18, the Able Mable Task Force at Tan Son 

Nhut created Operations Location Number 2, the 

opposite point to Don Muang in Thailand. Reconnaissance missions would land in Vietnam, drop 

their film, reload for another mission and perform 

that mission on the return trip to Don Muang. At 

first just a temporary tasking of 30 days duration, 

Able Mable quickly became permanent due to the 

critical nature of the information provided by the 

missions. The 101Cs and the pilots rotated in and 

out of the 45th TRS every six weeks, and from May 

1962 the 15th TRS took over that responsibility. 

RF-101C Voodoo Reconnaissance Aircraft

DOD photo
While the aircraft and the imaging technology fit 

the mission perfectly, the terrain in Vietnam posed 

a very significant problem. Providing revealing 

photography of targets before and after any strike 

proved very difficult because of the thick jungle. 

The reconnaissance crews could achieve absolute 

accuracy only with great difficulty, which very often 

required multiple reconnaissance flights to satisfy 

the same need. The resources certainly existed, 

but the practice soon became dangerous because 

the enemy expected the 101Cs to return to evaluate 

the strike. When they did, the aircraft faced everincreasing small arms fire. This drew some of Able 

Mable’s first casualties. 

In other ways the learning curve proved even 

steeper. Navigation often became difficult because 

very early in the American commitment in Southeast Asia, the USAF suffered from a short supply of 

accurate charts and maps. Meteorology presented 

another hurdle. The pilots operating from Don 

Muang could rarely obtain reliable reports in Thailand on the weather over the course of the sortie 

track, and the regular low cloud cover made highaltitude imaging a very considerable task. In 1961, 

these circumstances began to define the nature 

of the air war and the reconnaissance problem in 

Vietnam and adjoining countries that would persist 

for over a decade. 

According to aviation chronicler Doug Gordon, in 

July 1963 Task Force Able Mable formally became 

part of the Air Force’s 33rd Tactical Group at Tan 

Son Nhut and its complement of RF-101Cs increased. As Detachment 1, the task force took command of all reconnaissance aircraft in the Tactical 

Group. By that time, the 101Cs regularly flew five 

sorties each day, with one of their number standing by for unplanned emergency work. There would 

be many more sorties to come.

22Pathfinder ›› March/April 2011

Dr. Gary E. Weir is the NGA historian. 

A Soviet armored car moves along 

Route 7 in Northern Laos.

DOD photo
23Pathfinder ››

Be the 

 January/February 2011

Nation’s 

es...

A World 

Leader in

Geospatial 

Intelligence

 he National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency is a leading provider of geospatial intelligence. NGA analyzes 

imagery and data from a myriad of sources and delivers 

essential information for national defense, homeland 

security and safety of navigation.

The extraordinary talents and skills of our analysts and 

professionals harness advanced technology to provide the 

right information at the right time to key decision makers 

and mission partners.

Join our force. To apply for a position at NGA, go to 

www.nga.mil/careers.

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