WWII 'Mapping Maidens' 

chart course for today's mapmakers

2018 Future State Vision

NGA participates in mission 

to recover missing WWII 

service members
2 Pathfinder • Winter 2014

The Pathfinder 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 GeospatialIntelligence 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

Chief Operating Officer: Ellen McCarthy

OCC Leadership

Director: William M. Caniano

News & Information Chief: Christine Phillips

Editor: Glenn Holloway

Designer: Valorie Brinson

Contact us

Telephone: 571-557-5400

DSN 547-5400

Approved for Public Release, 14-093.

Find out more about NGA

pathfinder@nga.mil

www.nga.mil

@NGA_GEOINT

NatlGEOINTAgency

Putting the

power of GEOINT

in users’ hands

Looking back on 2013, it was 

indeed a busy year. Our agency, 

the Department of Defense and 

the Intelligence Community 

faced many challenges – from 

sequestration and budget cuts to 

natural disasters and manmade 

crises – and in every instance, the 

men and women of the National 

Geospatial-Intelligence Agency 

stepped up to the plate big league 

style and, with professional 

aplomb, delivered on our 

obligations to the nation and 

the world. 

I am proud of the commitment 

to excellence you demonstrated 

throughout the year. The members 

of NGA’s workforce are the reason 

the agency was successful in 

2013 and the reason it enjoys the 

outstanding reputation it does.

Your contributions were again 

numerous and varied in their range 

and scope. You trekked across 

Arctic ice to help the Coast Guard 

find missing World War II service 

members. And when disaster struck 

at home and abroad, you were there 

to provide first responders and 

aid organizations with the critical 

information they needed to help 

save lives and restore order. 

On the academic front, you 

pushed the limits of our corporate 

knowledge and took us toward 

future capabilities that will solidify 

NGA’s status as the premier 

provider of geospatial intelligence. 

Through cooperative agreements, 

like those with Penn State 

University and the University of 

Tennessee highlighted in this issue 

of Pathfinder, you explored ways 

The way ahead

to improve on our already worldclass capabilities. 

That progress and forwardleaning approach is critical to our 

future success. In fact, this issue 

of Pathfinder contains a glimpse at 

the NGA of the future. The NGA 

Future State Vision describes where 

the agency will be in 2018 when we 

have met the objectives laid out in 

the NGA Strategy. It is exciting. It is 

ambitious. It is the future of NGA. 

I encourage you to read it. I 

also encourage you to read my 

article in the Association of Former 

Intelligence Officers journal, The 

Intelligencer, to see my thoughts on 

activity based intelligence. Each of 

these will serve as a foundation to 

build upon as we go into the next 

year and become even better at what 

we do – Know the Earth, Show the 

way and Understand the World. 

I hope you enjoy this issue 

of

Letitia A. Long

Director

On mY Min

!

2 Pathfinder • Fall 2013
Pathfinder • Winter 2014 3

4

NGA Salute: U.S. Air Force Maj. Mark Klee

5

NGA, University of Tennessee partner in

study of mass graves

7

New senior enlisted advisor returns to GEOINT ro

14

WWII 'Mapping Maidens' chart cou

for today's mapmakers

26

2018 Future State Vision 

In Th

s 

8

NGA GEOINT critic

during disaster relief 

efforts in Philippines 

12

From surveys to 

satellites, NGA's

history on display 

in St. Louis

10

NGA participates in

mission to recover 

missing WW

service members 

On the cover: The “We Can Do It” poster created by J. Howard Miller, 

an artist employed by the Westinghouse Company, became a symbol of the 

nation’s call for women to join the workforce during World War II. Image 

courtesy of the National Archives and Records Administration.
4 Pathfinder • Winter 2014

U.S. Air Force Maj. Mark Kleeman w

in the National Geospatial-Intelligence 

Agency’s Information Technology 

Services directorate. He determines 

what computer hardware is needed 

for the many NGA systems to operate 

effectively, and looks for ways to save 

the agency money in the process. 

“The job allows me to see how 

different systems interoperate and hear 

Salute:

NGA

U.S. Air F r c Maj.a k K

Photo by Kevin Clark, Office of Corporate Communicati

how each one plays an important part 

in NGA's mission,” said Kleeman. 

“This is a great job if you want to really 

know how NGA delivers its product to 

the warfighter.”

Kleeman was recently recognized for 

saving the agency nearly half a million 

dollars while serving as the engineering 

lead for a multimillion dollar project.

“Kleeman has been a huge asset in 

his role as the (the directorate’s) senior 

military representative,” said Scott 

D’Agostin, his civilian office director. 

“He gives 100 percent and willingly 

takes on challenging assignments, 

focuses on self-improvement, and 

provides valuable contributions to the 

job while being a role model to fellow 

military – and civilian – personnel.”

Kleeman also sponsors and aids in 

the in-processing of new Air Force 

officers into NGA. 

“Coming into a new job and moving 

to a new area can be tough,” said 

Kleeman. “You have to adjust to the 

job, find a home and schools for your 

kids, and make new friends. As a 

sponsor, I help in any way possible to 

make the transition easier.”

Kleeman has a master’s degree in 

computer engineering from the Air 

Force Institute of Technology, where 

he is also enrolled in a doctorate 

program he hopes to complete in the 

next six months.

“My parents instilled in me a 

strong work ethic and taught me the 

importance of working,” he said. 

“My wife has supported me and my 

family through many moves around the 

country. My kids always find a way to 

put a smile on my face after a rough 

day at work. Without my family’s 

support, I doubt I would be where I 

am today.”

Kleeman’s assignment at NGA ends 

in 2015, he said. He is proud of the 

work he does at NGA.

“Making sure our customer is happy 

is our primary concern, and I know we 

can find ways to reduce costs without 

sacrificing performance,” he said. “Even 

when my knowledge is limited, there 

are so many smart people at NGA that, 

as a team, we can accomplish almost 

anything. I have been very fortunate 

to be surrounded by people who have 

incredible passion for their job.” 

By Kris Mackey, Office of Corporate Communicati

A 1993 NASA satellite image shows flooding at the confluence of the 

Mississippi and Missouri rivers and their tributaries near St. Louis. 

The Mississippi River reached a crest of 49.58 feet at St. Louis, its 

highest in recorded history, according to NOAA.

A 2002 Landsat image of the area shows how the river normally looks.

Those Driving along the River City Casino Bouleva

Louis County pass over the National Geospatial-Intelligence 

Agency’s past. The road runs over what was Building 4 of 

the South Annex of the Defense Mapping Agency Aerospace 

Center, an NGA predecessor organization where about 1,000 

employees worked in professions ranging from geodesy to 

acquisitions. 

That is, until the summer of 1993, when despite the 

mammoth efforts of DMA employees, the facility was 

destroyed by a record level of floodwater. 

Three to 10 feet of water soaked the buildings, destroying 

equipment, documents and furniture. By fall, the water had 

receded, leaving behind mud, mold and the remains of fish, 

snakes and other water creatures. DMA never fully moved 

back into the facility. Employees were shuffled to other 

locations throughout St. Louis until a replacement location 

was identified, funded and built. 

In 1998, employees moved into a new, state-of-the-art 

facility in Arnold, Mo. 

The summer of 2013 marked the 20th anniversary of the 

flood that remains the most costly and devastating flood in 

modern U.S. history, according to the National Oceanographic 

and Atmospheric Administration.

By Jessica Daues, Office of Corporate Communicat

Flood of ’93 changes face f N
Pathfinder • Winter 2014 5

Scientists from the National Geospatial-Int

Agency and the University of Tennessee are combining 

resources to improve remote identification of mass 

graves during conflicts and humanitarian crises.

The cooperative research and development 

agreement, or CRADA, pairs UT’s expertise in 

human decomposition with NGA’s proficiency in 

remote sensing, said Whitney Nelson, a project 

scientist with the agency’s InnoVision directorate.

Apart from having observers on the ground, there 

is no verifiable method for remotely identifying a 

grave once it has been covered, said Nelson. 

“We’re hoping to create an entire methodology for 

identifying these graves from a distance,” said Nelson. 

Creating a verifiable method for remotely detecting 

mass graves could improve the accuracy of geospatial 

reporting during a humanitarian crisis and negate the 

need to put observers in harm’s way, said Nelson.

Faculty and staff from UT’s department of 

anthropology buried 10 bodies across three graves 

in February and left another grave empty as a 

control, said Katie Corcoran, a doctoral student in 

the department of anthropology who works on 

the project. All of the bodies were donated for 

scientific research.

Scientists will monitor the graves for three years 

looking for detectable signatures, said Nelson. In the 

first year, scientists used various instruments to detect 

changes in the earth, variations in temperature, and 

the presence of gasses or residues, said Nelson.

NGA, University of Tennessee partner in study of mass grav

By Jason Moll, Office of Corporate Communicat

“Initially, the biggest signature is the disturbed 

earth – and that’s readily seen from panchromatic 

imagery,” said Nelson. “As time moves on, it starts to 

get hotter inside the grave as the body breaks down. 

This process is well understood when it’s a single 

person. What we really want to know is what 

it looks like when you have multiple bodies in a 

single grave.”

“So far, we have collected only ground-based 

data, said Nelson. If we determine there are unique 

observables, we hope to begin collecting data from 

(other) platforms.” 

Researchers have so far received a significant 

amount of data, which they are analyzing, said 

Corcoran. Initial results appear to show higher 

temperatures in and around the graves at certain 

times of day.

But the research is more complicated than simply 

taking measurements, said Corcoran.

Creating a verifiable method for remotely

detecting mass graves could improve the 

accuracy of geospatial reporting during 

a humanitarian crisis and negate the 

need to put observers in harm’s way.

–Whitney Nelso

John Szajgin, a contractor with the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency’s InnoVision directorate, and U.S. Air Force Maj. Andy 

Lundin, use a Light Detecting and Ranging, or LiDAR, scanner to create a three dimensional image of graves at the University of 

Tennessee’s Forensic Anthropology Center. NGA and UT scientists are using LiDAR and other instruments to create a verifiable 

method for remotely detecting mass graves. Photo by Amy Smotherman Burgess, courtesy of Knoxville News Sentinel 

Continued on page 6
6 Pathfinder • Winter 2014

ability to access data that are not very easy to 

get a hold of in any other context. In a broad sense, 

our access to data will help us understand what 

sensors will be better than others.”

Scientists will monitor the graves to see how 

they change over time, said Nelson. NGA scientists 

hope to partner with the department as they create 

mass graves in different parts of the country to see 

if the observables are affected by different soil types 

and climate regimes.

The department of anthropology hopes to 

develop an entire course dedicated to the study 

of mass graves once their research is complete, 

said Corcoran. 

Ultimately, the most important part of their 

research is that it helps people, said Corcoran.

“Hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of 

people remain missing from conflict,” said 

Corcoran. “There are a lot of people who would 

like to find them. Whether it’s for bringing 

criminals to justice, or finding and identifying the 

victims so they can be repatriated back to families, 

there are a lot of very good reasons for doing 

this work.” 

Nighttime and daytime (inset) thermal images of a grave containing six cadavers show a measurable difference in surface temperatures 

between the two times. Scientists from the University of Tennessee’s anthropology department and NGA’s InnoVision directorate are trying 

to determine if the difference can be attributed to subsurface temperature increases caused by body decomposition. NGA photos. 

Nighttime Thermal Image Daytime Thermal

“There is a lot of activity that happens 

underground and in graves,” said Corcoran. “But 

it all depends on the (composition of the bodies), 

the soil, the temperature, and how moist it is.” 

The department has enlisted the help of multiple 

departments at the university, and at Oak Ridge 

National Laboratory to account for these variables, 

said Nelson. ORNL is supporting the processing of 

data on its high performance computing systems. 

“There is a team from the UT Institute of 

Agriculture that does soil chemistry work,” 

said Nelson. “There’s a team from the biology 

department that is looking to see if there is any 

(chemical) difference in the vegetation over the 

graves, as opposed to where there is nothing. And, 

there are also people looking at microbes and what 

kinds of gases or volatile organic compounds are 

being released. So, what the (department is doing) is 

one small part of a much larger project.”

Partnering with NGA has provided the department 

of anthropology with instruments and access to data, 

said Corcoran.

“NGA is providing a tremendous opportunity for 

data collection,” said Corcoran. “Now we have the 
Pathfinder • Winter 2014 7

New senior enlisted advisor returns to GEOINT

By Nancy McGillicuddy, Office of Corporate Communicat

Photo by Kevin Clark, Office of Communicatio

As the National GeospatialIntelligence Agency’s se

enlisted advisor, U.S. Air Force 

Chief Master Sgt. Rachel Ziegler 

serves as Director Letitia A. Long’s 

eyes and ears on all military 

matters, from the training to the 

health, morale and welfare of the 

agency’s service personnel.

But, the 24-year veteran did 

not always picture herself in the 

military, she said.

“I did not see myself joining the 

service at all,” she said. “But, I got 

to a point in my life where I wanted 

a job where I could use my brain.”

She decided to follow her 

father’s footsteps into the Air 

Force, said Ziegler, who hails from 

Brookfield, N.H.

“Once I made that decision – I 

was going to go all the way,” she 

said. “Chief was always a goal 

for me.”

Zeigler came to NGA from Scott 

Air Force Base in September and 

is slated to serve as the senior 

enlisted advisor for three years, 

she said. She is responsible for 

providing counsel and professional 

development guidance for enlisted, 

officers and the civilians.

“Chief Zeigler brings a wealth 

of leadership experience to NGA 

that will benefit our military and 

civilians,” said NGA Director 

Letitia A. Long.

While many military members 

are used to working in a joint 

environment, one of the challenges 

younger service members may 

face at NGA is working in an 

environment that is mainly civilian, 

said Zeigler.

“It’s not a traditional military 

structure,” said Ziegler. “I think 

just navigating the agency can be 

a challenge.”

Her areas of responsibility 

include NGA’s military intern 

program and GEOINT certification.

Once established, the military 

intern program will bring junior 

noncommissioned officers and 

commissioned officers to NGA 

for three years, said Zeigler. 

Participants will have an 

opportunity to work in multiple 

key components and take classes 

in the NGA College. 

“They will walk away after 

three years very ‘NGA smart’ 

on the products (the agency) 

can provide, (and can) then take 

that information back out to the 

services,” said Zeigler.

The intern program should be 

up and running by the summer of 

2014, said Zeigler.

GEOINT certification applies 

to military and civilians, and is 

part of a Department of Defense 

initiative, said Zeigler. As part 

of the workforce objective in 

NGA’s strategy, certification will 

help standardize training and 

ensure GEOINT practitioners 

perform at specific proficiency 

levels by demonstrating 

common competencies.

“Regardless of the agency you 

work in, if you are a GEOINT 

analyst there is common 

foundational knowledge you 

(must) have,” said Zeigler.

Returning to the GEOINT world 

is something she enjoys about her 

new position, said Zeigler, who 

began her career in strategic and 

imagery intelligence. 

“The other part I enjoy is being 

able to talk to the enlisted folks and 

having the opportunity to mentor 

and teach,” she said. 

She encourages the men and 

women she mentors to perform to the 

very best of their abilities regardless 

of the position, said Zeigler. 

“I know a lot of folks think they 

need a set path to be successful,” she 

said. “But, it’s not so much about 

the duty position or the location, 

it’s what you do with the job.”
8 Pathfinder • Winter 2014

NGA GEOINT critical during disaster relief efforts in Phi

By Jason Moll, Office of Corporate Communicat

The National Geospatial-Intel

Agency’s critical role in humanitarian 

assistance and disaster relief was again 

at the forefront of recovery efforts 

in the Philippines following Super 

Typhoon Haiyan.

When the typhoon reached the 

Philippines Nov. 8, NGA was ready 

with geospatial information to help 

assess damage and prioritize recovery 

efforts in support of Operation Damayan. 

“Initially, the situation was bleak,” 

said Nathaniel Wolpert, a geospatial 

intelligence analyst with NGA’s 

Integrated Work Group‐Readiness, 

Response and Recovery, or IWG‐R3. 

“Communications were down. Power 

was also down in just about every 

region that was hit. You had no 

power, no supplies and no cell phone 

coverage. There was also no safe water 

and nowhere to go. It was pretty bad.”

As the extent of the damage became 

more evident in the days following 

the storm, the demand by foreign and 

domestic partners for NGA products 

and services grew, prompting the 

agency to create a cross-functional 

focus cell to provide specialized 

assistance, said Wolpert. 

As it did for the first time following 

2012’s Hurricane Sandy in the U.S., 

NGA analysts provided geospatial 

products and data to federal partners 

through an online disaster event 

page and responded to requests for 

information from customers in the 

field, said Wolpert. International 

partners and non-governmental 

organizations accessed NGA 

products through the All Partners 

Access Network.

NGA also assisted the U.S. Agency 

for International Development and 

the Department of State through 

U.S. Pacific Command. PACOM, 

meanwhile, supported a joint task 

force of U.S. Marines and sailors and 

equipment, said Jeff Redinger, lead for 

IWG-R3 partnerships and outreach.

“The data NGA provided to our 

geographic information experts 

allowed us to rapidly identify 

areas that were hardest-hit by the 

storm,” said Aimee Lauer, a response 

manager for the USAID Response 

Management Team for Typhoon 

Haiyan/Yolanda. “In the early days of 

the response effort, this information 

was invaluable.”

Continued use of NGA’s GEOINT 

is ongoing in the recovery effort, said 

Redinger. The agency’s analysts are 

available for specialized analysis and 

to monitor the progress of fresh water 

supplies, sanitation, hospitals and 

power restoration. 

8

Philippine citizens gather around a MH60S 

Seahawk helicopter as it delivers relief supplies 

during Operation Damayan. Photo by U.S. Navy 

Petty Officer 3rd Class Peter Burghart.

NGA’s IWG-R3 used commercial imagery 

provided by DigitalGlobe to create an 

atlas in for U.S. Pacific Command’s 

search and rescue operations. The image 

on Page 8 shows the coastal area of 

Tacloban City after the typhoon. The 

image on Page 9 shows the same area 

before the storm with a red overlay 

indicating catastrophic damage across 

the entire area.
Pathfinder • Winter 2014 9

Among the Nati

Geospatial-Intelligence

Agency’s core missions is its 

role in helping ensure U.S. and 

allied ships can safely navigate 

the world’s oceans. NGA’s

Maritime Intelligence Cell, 

MIC, is vital to that effort, a

following Typhoon Haiyan, it

helped USS Mustin navigate to

Ormoc Bay in the Philippines’s 

Tacloban Province. 

 NGA received the ship’

request Nov. 12 and spent

1000-m cell, 100-m grid, MGRS World Geodetic System 1984 Datum Grid Zo

Designation: 51P 100,000-m Square Identification: YN Map / Vector Data Sourc

Streetmap Image Source: ©DigitalGlobe 2013 (These are national level assets an

cannot be verified accurate at the local level.) 

Not to be used for navigation. For information and planning purposes only

TACLOBAN, PHILIPPINES | 1K GRID CELL: 51PYN2139 | 10K MAP

Est Poulation by 1

Tacloban Ciy 

INDEX

three days helping the Arliegh 

Burke class guided missile 

destroyer safely navigate the 

Philippine waters, said Michael

Harrison, chief of the Maritim

Intelligence Branch.

The Mustin is part of the USS

George Washington Carrier

Strike Group assigned to the 

U.S. Pacific Command.

“The crew was concerned 

about hazards that could 

impact the ship,” said Harrison.

“So, they requested transit 

NGA helps U.S. Navy safely navigate typhoon-ra

*Note: Damage assessments ar

not necessarily complete.

Damag

of 11 Novem

Catastrophi

Extensive

Moderat

Limited

assistance by pointing out 

those things presenting a 

navigation hazard.”

 Relying on imagery an

sensor data, analysts helped 

the Mustin avoid oil spills,

swamped boats and small 

debris, said Harrison

“Among their concerns, 

Mustin was anxious to avoid

petroleum or other chemicals 

that could be drawn in through 

intakes designed for cooling 

and making potable water,” 

said Harrison. “Of course, they

also wanted to avoid debris 

that might damage screws and 

the rudder.”

 In a Nov. 15 email, the Mus

thanked NGA analysts for

their assistance. 

“We made it to our (operational 

area), and we’re working the 

plans to start providing aid,” 

wrote Chief Petty Officer J.

Rickard. “We couldn’t have

done it without your assistance 

and hard work.”
10 Pathfinder • Winter 2014

NGA Office of Corporate Communicati

The National Geospatial-Intel

Agency plans to continue in 2014 as 

part of a historic U.S. Coast Guard 

mission to recover three World 

War II-era U.S. service members

entombed in 40 feet of Greenland ice. 

The search for Coast Guardsmen 

Lt. John Pritchard and Petty Officer 

First Class Benjamin Bottoms, 

and Army Cpl. Loren Howarth, 

who have been missing since their 

plane crashed in November 1942, 

falls under the auspices of the Joint 

Prisoner of War/Missing in Action 

Accounting Command, and includes 

NGA, NASA and the Naval Research 

Laboratory. Pritchard and Bottoms 

are the only remaining MIAs in the 

Coast Guard according to the service.

The men’s disappearance involves 

three downed aircraft, according 

to USCG historical reports. First, 

a U.S. Army cargo plane made an 

emergency landing Nov. 5, 1942, on 

an ice cap in Southeast Greenland. 

Its crew survived and needed to be 

rescued. A second plane, a modified 

B-17 bomber, crashed during the 

search and rescue mission. Several of 

its crew members were injured, but 

all survived.

Then, on Nov. 28, a Grumman 

Duck amphibious biplane, piloted 

by Pritchard, left USCG Cutter 

Northland to rescue men from the 

B-17, according to records. Pritchard 

and his radio operator, Bottoms, 

evacuated two men from the site and 

returned to the crash the next day and 

retrieved Howarth. Despite weather 

warnings from Northland, the three 

took off in the Duck toward the ship. 

They didn’t make it. The last radio 

communication from them came nine 

minutes after takeoff, requesting 

directions back to the ship.

Several days later, another plane 

located the Duck and reported 

it badly wrecked with no signs 

of life. Since there had been no 

communication from the first plane’s 

crew for 30 days, the Coast Guard 

decided to focus its efforts on the 

B-17 crew. The remaining survivors 

were rescued in March 1943. 

The Coast Guard could not recover 

the Duck or its crew, but the 1942 

report was detailed enough to allow 

researchers, including NGA, to begin 

recovery operations again – nearly 

seven decades later. 

Known as “Duck Hunt,” there 

have been four recovery missions 

since 2010, each yielding incremental 

success, said Cmdr. Brian Glander, 

chief of the U.S. Coast Guard Office 

of Aviation Forces. 

The latest recovery team worked 

from June to September 2013, until 

weather conditions became too harsh, 

said Glander. NGA's support allowed 

researchers to get closer to the 

crash site.

NGA’s involvement included its 

Department of Homeland Security 

NGA Support Team, the 3D model 

shop, and elements of Analysis and 

Source directorates, said Wayne 

Stephenson, the agency’s Coast 

Guard liaison. The NST coordinated 

NGA’s efforts, introducing airborne 

ground penetrating radar imagery 

surveys from NASA and the Naval 

Research Laboratory, and providing 

analytic support from the Army 

Corps of Engineers cold weather lab. 

The model shop produced 3D 

models of the crash site and the 

aircraft, said Stephenson. The 

Analysis directorate analyzed 

historic imagery and current data, 

conducted surveys and deployed 

an imagery scientist for the 2012 

mission. Source provided imagery 

and foundation data and collection 

support, and deployed geodetic 

surveyor Ben Fuchs on the 

2013 mission.

“Surveying on the ice cap is like 

nothing I have ever experienced in 

my 18 years as a field surveyor,” 

said Fuchs, who works for NGA 

in St. Louis. “The hardest issue 

to overcome is the lack of 

landmarks. Basic orientation is 

nearly impossible without today’s 

surveying technologies.”

Fuchs marked the location of the 

crash with a 50-by-50 meter grid and 

oriented the excavation site to use 

the natural slope of the landscape, 

minimizing the time and effort used 

during excavation, he said. 

The team used the grid to do 

radar surveys of the site, said Fuchs, 

who used the survey data to produce 

a current topographic map of the 

proposed evacuation site. He and 

other team members created an 

excavation plan indicating the snow 

and ice to be removed. 

“The team assembled to recover 

the Duck in 2013 was like a modern 

day ‘A-Team,’” said Fuchs. “What a

pleasure it was to be a part of such 

a meaningful mission.”

Timeline for the initial hunt

A U.S. Army C-53

Skytrooper cargo 

plane makes an 

emergency landing 

on an ice cap in 

southeast Greenland. 

All five service 

members aboard 

survive initially, but 

are never recovered.

A B-17 bomber, 

modified for search 

and rescue and 

designated PN9E,

crashes during an 

attempt to locate the 

downed C-53. All

nine aboard survive. B-17 crew. Back row: William 

O'Hara, navigator, Armand 

Monteverde, pilot, and Harry 

Spencer, co-pilot; front row: 

Alexander Tucciarone, assistant 

engineer, Loren Howarth, radio 

operator and Paul Spina, engineer. 

Photo courtesy of Peter Tucciarone 

and family. 

A Grumman Duck piloted by 

Lt. John Pritchard taxis away 

from USCG cutter Northland. 

Pritchard and his radio operator, 

Petty Officer 1st Class Benjamin 

Bottoms, flew to the Koge Bay 

glacier and retrieved two of the 

nine crewmen from the B-17 

crash. U.S. Coast Guard photo, 

courtesy of Charles Dorian.

Nov. 5, 1942Nov. 9, 1942

10 Pathfinder • Winter 2014

A Grumman Duck

from USCG cutter

Northland, piloted by

Lt. Pritchard, rescues 

two members of the 

B-17 crew.

Nov. 28, 1942
Pathfinder • Winter 2014 11

Coast Guard Lt. John

Pritchard J

Pritchard was born on Jan.

12, 1914, in Redfield, S.D

He graduated high school

in Beverly Hills, Calif., and served a

enlistment in the U.S. Navy. In 1938, h

graduated the U.S. Coast Guard Academy,

received his commission and became an 

aviator. His sister, Nancy Pritchard Morg

Krause, was in college when her brother 

went missing. Krause described her 

brother as confident, self-assured, gentle 

and caring, according to Mitchell Zuckoff’s

book, Frozen in Time. The pilot was 28 

when he died. 

Coast Guard Petty Offi

1st Class Benjamin Bott

Benjamin Autrell Bottoms 

grew up in Marietta, Ga.

While assigned to the Coast

Guard air station at Salem, Mass., he

met his wife, Olga. In 1942, Bottoms was

assigned to Coast Guard cutter Northlan

as the radio operator of the J2F-4

Grumman amphibious plane, known as 

the Duck. Bottoms was 29 when his plane

disappeared. He was survived by his wife

and a stepson. 

Army Cpl. Loren Howa

Loren Howarth was born

in 1919 and hailed from 

Wausaukee, Wis. He enlisted

in the Army in 1942 after 

attending La Crosse Teachers

College. He was a radio operator on th

B-17 bomber that crashed in Greenland 

Nov. 9, 1942. Rescued by Pritchard an

Bottoms, he was aboard the Grumman 

Duck when it disappeared. His obituar

in the Wausaukee newspaper read, 

“The sadness and sacrifice of war has 

fallen on a mother who now must carry 

Wausaukee’s first gold star ... Taps 

for Corporal Loren Howarth, a fine bo

and a hero.” Howarth was 23 when

he disappeared. 

U.S. oast Guard hoto U.S. Coast 

The me of the G

Pritchard and Bottoms 

return to the site of 

the downed B-17 to 

rescue more men. 

Despite weather

concerns and 

warnings from USCG

cutter Northland, the

two left the glacier 

with Army Cpl. Loren

E. Howarth. The plane

never made it to the 

Northland

After 30 days with 

no communication 

from the C-53 crew,

rescue and recovery 

efforts for the cargo 

plane are halted. The 

five men were never 

located.

A B-17 bomber 

piloted by Capt.

Kenneth Turner 

locates the Grumman 

Duck and reports,

“Grumman located. 

No sign of life. Badly

wrecked.”

The final survivors of 

PN9E are rescued.

Efforts to recover 

Pritchard, Bottoms 

and Howarth

continue.

Nov. 29, 1942

Dec. 5, 1942Dec. 7, 1942

March 1943

August 201

Pathfinder • Winter 2014 11

Who they wer

A forensic anthropologist from the Joint POW/

MIA Accounting Command checks the placement 

of bore hole markers at the excavation site near 

Koge Bay, Greenland, Aug. 13. The team used 

a subsurface camera to look inside the holes 

for evidence of the crew of the Grumman 

Duck aircraft that reportedly crashed there 

in 1942. Photo by U.S. Coast Guard Petty 

Officer 2nd Class Jetta H. Disco. Read 

more: www.dvidshub.net

Compiled from U.S. Coast Guard News
12 Pathfinder • Winter 2014

This pocket 

stereoscope and 

its carrying case 

were made by 

Abrams Instrument 

Corp. Stereoscope 

variations are still 

essential tools in 

imagery analysis, 

allowing the viewer 

to see the image in 

three dimensions. 

Imagery analysts 

used camera sets, 

such as this set by 

Leica, for close 

proximity work and 

training exercises.

From surveys to satellites, NGA’s history on display in St. 

Story and photos by Kevin Clark, Office of Corporate Communicati

From continental surveyors and mapm

to modern-day GEOINT analysts, more than 

two centuries of hard work and traditions of 

the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency 

and its predecessor agencies are on display at 

the NGA Museum in St. Louis. 

Originally constructed in 1906 as part 

of the U.S. Army’s St. Louis Arsenal, the 

building that houses the museum was used as 

the post commander’s quarters before taking 

on a variety of other purposes throughout the 

following century, according to the NGA’s 

history department. 

Director of National Intelligence James 

Clapper opened the building as a museum 

Oct. 15, 2005, while serving as NGA’s 

director, and since then, more than 500 

visitors pass through its walls annually.

The museum is open weekdays from 10 

a.m. to 2 p.m., Central time. School groups 

and other public visits can be coordinated 

with the museum manager at 314-676-3246.
Pathfinder • Winter 2014 13

Last calibrated in 1981, 

this Vietnam-era altimeter 

made by Wallace & Tiernan 

was used by the U.S. Army. 

Found during an 

excavation in 1986, 

this pick axe head 

dates to the late 19th 

or early 20th century. 
1414 Pathfinder • Winter 2014 Pathfinder • Winter 2014
Pathfinder • Winter 2014 15

By Al Anderson, National Geospatial-Intelligence Alumni Associati

As the demand for its products escala

in World War II, the Army Map Service, a heritage 

organization of the National Geospatial-Intelligence 

Agency, was losing much of its largely male workforce 

to the armed forces. 

A solution to the urgent need for replacements 

emerged when the University of Chicago’s Geography 

Department developed a course in military map 

making and began offering it to women’s colleges in 

the East and Midwest. 

Pathfinder • Winter 2014 15

Continued on page 16
16 Pathfinder • Winter 2014

Selected schools taught the

60-hour course, which was first

offered in 1942. In its inaugural 

year, 200 women completed the 

course, said Bea McPherson, who 

participated in the program. As 

the program expanded to more 

colleges, the Army Map Service 

provided a four-week course that 

gave recruits further training. AMS 

leaders began assigning women 

graduates to various operations, 

depending on their aptitudes 

and interests.

“The editor of the magazine, 

AMS Reference Point, soon 

coined the name ‘Military 

Mapping Maidens’ for (us),” said 

McPherson. “They called us the 

3M’s, (and) we thought it was 

appropriate and rather cute.”

McPherson joined AMS in 

1943 after graduating from Ohio’s 

Kent State University, she said. 

She was assigned as a drafter and 

worked in Montgomery County, 

Md., at the Charles Ruth Building 

on MacArthur Boulevard. Because 

of the secret work done there, the 

building was camouflaged and 

isolated from other buildings there. 

The 3M’s charted strategic 

locations, churches, schools, land 

contours, bodies of water and 

roads. They used foreign maps, 

aerial photos and other information 

to create the maps. Some were 

printed on silk and carried 

by troops as handkerchiefs and 

survival tools.

“I (helped) develop various maps 

for the Battle of the Bulge and 

initiatives in and around Fiume, 

Italy,” she said. 

She traveled on orders to New 

York to deliver maps and to Ohio 

to recruit women from Kent State 

“I (helped) develop various maps for the

Battle of the Bulge and initiatives in and 

around Fiume, Italy,”

–Bea McPherso

16 Pathfinder • Winter 2014

Bea McPherson meets with Director Letitia Long during a visit to 

NGA headquarters in Springfield, Va. Photo by Kevin Clark, Office of 

Corporate Communications 
Pathfinder • Winter 2014 17

to work at AMS, she said. She 

received $6 a day for travel expenses. 

The men at AMS treated the 

women with respect and as part of 

the team, said McPherson. 

“The male employees knew that 

we answered Uncle Sam’s call to 

help fill war vacancies,” she said. 

“There were only two male drafting 

employees in the project drafting 

department. We all got along and 

they did social things with us. Some 

of the 3M’s dated male employees, 

and a few of my friends married 

them and were very happy.”

McPherson and the other 3M’s 

found time for softball, canoeing, 

horseback riding and Saturday 

afternoon tea dances, she said. They 

worked well together, though they 

came from various backgrounds 

and parts of the country. 

“We were there for one common 

purpose – to make maps for 

our country’s war effort,” said 

McPherson, who resigned from 

AMS shortly after the war ended. 

McPherson donated her AMS 

papers to Kent State University. 

They are available at http://www.

library.kent.edu/page/16427.

Pathfinder • Winter 2014 17

Bea McPherson 

briefs a map in 

1943 during her 

time as a military 

cartographer. Photo 

courtesy of Bea 

McPherson

Continued on page 18
18 Pathfinder • Winter 2014

“Harry Truman, Doris Day, Red China, Joh

... moonshot, Woodstock, Watergate, punk rock,” 

as the Billy Joel song says, a lot has happened over 

the years in American culture. Among them is the 

national attitude toward women in the workplace. 

When the call went out for women to become 

military cartographers during World War II – to fill 

the void left by male cartographers deployed to the 

various theaters around the globe – women like Bea 

McPherson responded in astounding numbers. 

About 350,000 women joined the armed forces 

between 1942 and 1945, and the percentage of 

women making up the workforce in the aviation 

industry exploded from about 1 percent pre-war to 

65 percent by war’s end, according to the History 

Channel’s website. 

After the war, however, many women found 

themselves unemployed as men re-entered 

the workforce.

Some women, though, weren’t content with 

being relegated to their “normal” domestic roles. 

Those women, like many of the “Military 

Mapping Maidens,” a phrase coined for the women 

who entered military cartography during the war, 

continued to serve in the military and other federal 

agencies after the war. They pushed the limits of the 

accepted norms of the day, and their efforts paved 

the way for future generations of women in federal 

service – women like Nancy McDermott, a 28-year 

veteran cartographer. 

“When I first started in Louisville in 1985, we 

used manual methods to produce our maps and 

By Glenn Holloway, Office of Corporate Communicatio

Photos by Kevin Clark, Office of Corporate Communicati

Mapping demand, pioneering spirit remain

high among today’s cartographers

the end product was negatives for printing,” said 

McDermott, who has a Bachelor of Science in 

meteorology and entered the federal hiring pool with 

hopes of working at the National Oceanographic and 

Atmospheric Administration. 

In her time as a cartographer with the National 

Geospatial-Intelligence Agency and its predecessor 

agencies, maps have migrated from silk prints 

to personalized on-demand maps viewable on 

smartphone and computer screens, said McDermott, 

a New Jersey native who now lives in Maryland. 

And they continue to evolve and improve. 

Mapmaking technology changes to keep up 

with map users. Today’s digital maps allow endusers to motor through life following directions 

from a handheld device with GPS or a map, said 

McDermott. Digital technology has 

made the mapmaking process faster 

and more consistent. 

“I doubt very many people use 

paper maps to figure out how to 

get somewhere,” said McDermott. 

“Most people have GPS, type in their 

destination and look to their device 

to tell them the directions. If you’re 

not using GPS, you probably use your 

computer or smart phone to look at 

a map.” 

NGA’s “Map of the World” is a 

good example of that, she said. Instead 

of cartographers updating multiple 

charts and maps, the Map of the World 

allows for updates in a “one-feature, 

one-time” production environment. 

Through on-demand access to 

foundation geospatial data, users can 

record observations of any given object 

in the data. The Map of the World 

will streamline updates to charts and 

increase the safety of navigation in the air and at sea. 

The map does more than change the product, 

it changes how cartographers and other users of 

geospatial intelligence must think about “our content, 

customers, technology and acquisitions strategy – the 

entire system surrounding foundation GEOINT,” said 

NGA Director Letitia A. Long, in a message to the 

workforce in April 2013. 

Though a lot had changed between the time of the 

“Mapping Maidens” and when McDermott first made 

a map, much remained similar, said McDermott. 

She and World War II military cartographers, like 

Bea McPherson, shared a common workspace and 

common tools. 

“I worked in the Ruth Building for several 

years and remember seeing photos of the building 

Nancy McDermott and Bea McPherson discuss all the changes in map making since 

World War II as McDermott demonstrates the process of revising a modern map. 

18 Pathfinder • Winter 2014
Pathfinder • Winter 2014 19

camouflaged, said McDermott. “I also saw photos of 

cartographers of that era at work on light tables. My 

job is mainly quality control, and although I use a 

computer for my work, I also use a light table when I 

review maps. It is (still) the best method to get a good 

look at the finished product.” 

The agency’s efforts to make geospatial data 

available to the users in whatever form they need also 

remains strong, said McDermott. 

“There will always be the need for good data, 

whether (for) a database in support of digital 

(products) or traditional paper maps,” said 

McDermott. “Cartographers possess the knowledge 

needed to provide the data and to transform that data 

into usable maps.”

She and McPherson also share a fondness and 

pride for the time spent as cartographers. A moment 

that stands out for McDermott came on the heels of a 

different war, she said. 

“After Desert Storm, Saddam Hussein attacked the 

Kurds in Northern Iraq,” said McDermott. “President 

(George H. W.) Bush initiated Operation Provide 

Comfort to shield the Kurds from further attack 

and to deliver humanitarian supplies. The military 

requested terrain analysis products over the area, and 

I was on the team that produced the hand-drafted 

overlays in six days. As soon as the overlays were 

completed, they were delivered to the military. We 

knew our work was important and was going to be 

used right away. That felt good.” 

That feeling continues today, she said. 

“I am proud to work in support of the military 

and to provide a service that is still needed,” 

said McDermott.

“I worked in the Ruth Building fo

several years and remember seeing 

photos of the building camouflaged ... 

I also saw photos of cartographers of

that era at work on light tables.” –Nancy McDerm

Nancy McDermott performs a quality control check on a map 

using a light table. 

Pathfinder • Winter 2014 19
20 Pathfinder Pathfinder 

•• Winter 2014 Winter 2014

By JasonMoll, Office ofCorporateCommunication

TheNationGeospati-IntelligenAgency

and Penn State University entered into the 

fourth of a five-year partnership in January

designed to improve how geospatial analysts 

learn and practice their craft.

Researchers from the two organizations 

involved in the cooperative research and 

development agreement, or CRADA, are 

studying how to improve the training and 

education of the geospatial analyst. 

The goal has led Penn State to study how 

the mind works, or “makes sense,” when 

processing geospatial information, said 

Todd Bacastow, director of the geospatial 

intelligence program at Penn State.

Bacastow’s disappointment with collegelevel geospatial intelligence courses caused 

him to approach NGA about a CRADA, 

he said.

20 Pathfinder • Winter 2014
Pathfinder • Winter 2014 21

“We were interested, because whatever makes Penn State’s 

program better is likely to make (NGA's) program better,

–Kristen Anderson

“I realized that universities were teaching 

people how to do analysis the way we teach 

someone to use geospatial software,” said 

Bacastow. “We never considered what it 

takes to make someone a good geospatial 

intelligence analyst.”

The academic outreach team at NGA’s 

National Geospatial-Intelligence College, or 

NGC, also saw an opportunity to enhance 

course design, said Kristin Anderson, 

academic outreach program manager at 

NGC. The industry outreach division of 

NGA’s InnoVision directorate is partnering 

with NGC to manage the CRADA. 

“We were interested, because whatever 

makes Penn State’s program better is likely 

to make our program better,” said Anderson. 

CRADA partnerships do not involve 

monetary exchanges, which also benefits 

NGA during the currently austere fiscal times, 

said Anderson.

The CRADA gave Bacastow an opportunity 

to sit with NGA geospatial analysts for several 

days in January 2013 to understand how 

analysts think on the job, he said. Bacastow 

made a note of everything analysts did when 

they worked alone and in a group. One of the 

first things he realized is that analysts do their 

jobs without fully understanding the thought 

processes that drove them to their conclusions.

“When we asked people about their work, 

most of our conversations revolved around 

what they did and not what they thought 

about,” said Bacastow. “The metacognitive 

aspect, or how they think about their thinking, 

is a missing component, even though it’s 

sorely needed.” 

Bacastow and his colleagues came to 

appreciate that spatial analysis is “sense 

making,” or the process by which humans are 

able to develop explanations from data that 

are sparse, noisy and uncertain, he said. This 

is a core ability of geospatial analysts.

“The analytic process starts with 

discovering and builds to describing, 

explaining, interpreting and anticipating 

geospatial phenomena,” said Bacastow. 

“But, not every analyst will be called upon 

to work at all levels, nor will the analyst be 

able to perform skillfully at a level without 

preparation. The question is how do we 

train and educate analysts to incorporate the 

appropriate aspects of sense making into 

this hierarchy of analysis when they're 

solving problems?”

Individual experience dictates how 

analysts navigate the sense-making process, 

said Bacastow. Experience is so important 

that clinical education should be seen as 

a key part of “tradecraft,” since hands-on 

experience is also required if one is to become 

an expert craftsman.

“Experience is one of the key factors that 

separates the very best analysts from their 

peers,” said Bacastow. “Since you can’t go to 

a reference guide and learn how to do analysis 

well, a lot of what you learn must be based on 

your experience,” said Bacastow.

Disciplines that require hands-on learning, like 

the study of medicine, may have the best models 

for teaching geospatial analysis, said Bacastow.

“Medicine uses clinical education, where 

you're actually learning on the job while 

performing under the guidance of a trained 

and skilled clinical educator who helps you 

learn the craft,” said Bacastow. “You really 

wouldn't want someone to operate on you 

unless they've actually done it successfully 

before – perhaps many times before – under 

the guidance of an expert practitioner. The 

same should be true for geospatial analysis.”

Instructional designers at NGC are also 

interested in how clinical education might be 

applied to training at NGA, said Anderson.

Bacastow and his Penn State colleagues are 

also researching different educational aids to 

help the learner, he said.

“We're looking at applications, such as mind 

exercises, that help the learner identify the key 

spatial elements of a problem, the analyst's 

spatial biases, and then place these into a 

sense-making paradigm,” said Bacastow.

While it is too early to tell how the 

CRADA’s findings will affect NGC’s 

programs, “anything is on the table,” said 

Arthur Cobb, a project scientist with NGA’s 

InnoVision directorate.

“Whatever works and helps us produce 

the best analysis, I’m sure would be 

implemented,” said Cobb. For more 

information on NGA CRADAs, contact 

crada@nga.mil. 

Pathfinder • Winter 2014 21
22 Pathfinder • Winter 2014

Social media integral to agency communications

By Regina Galvin, Office of Corporate Communicati

In the “old days,” communication b

government agencies and the public was 

primarily one way – public affairs 

professionals disseminated information, and 

the public received it. 

The old days are gone. 

Today, via social media platforms like 

Facebook and Twitter, agencies, including 

the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, 

actively engage their stakeholders and the 

general public. Comments, “likes,” “dislikes” 

and “shares” are now part of the social media 

dialog agencies have with the public.

In fact, nearly every U.S. federal agency and 

all of the U.S. armed forces have embraced at 

least one social technology platform, according 

to HootSuite, a social media management site. 

As of May 2013, 72 percent of online adults 

were social networking site users – up from 8 

percent in 2005, according to the Pew Research 

Center, a Washington, D.C., think tank. And 

in a 2010 study, Pew found that 30 percent of 

online adults used some sort of social platform 

to learn about government activities. 

More and more, communicators at 

government agencies know that to reach the 

public, they must use the media the public uses. 

And there lies the dilemma for the agencies 

comprising the U.S. intelligence community. 

Within the IC, security considerations are 

heightened, and social media activity varies 

from agency to agency. However, the Office 

of the Director of National Intelligence is on 

social media’s cutting edge with a presence on 

Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, YouTube and Tumblr. 

“Over the last year, we've adopted new 

procedures that make social media an implicit 

and vital part of every major ODNI external 

communications effort,” said Shawn Turner, 

ODNI’s public affairs director. “Social media 

engagement is no longer a special case for 

ODNI – it's standard operating procedure.” 

NGA has an active social media presence 

on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube and has 

established a more limited presence for possible 

future development on other sites, like Google 

Plus. Similarly, the Defense Intelligence 

Agency actively uses Facebook, Twitter, 

YouTube and Instagram. The National Security 

Agency has focused their social media efforts 

on a recruiting Twitter account and Facebook 

page and a page for their National Cryptologic 

Museum, according to its public affairs office. 

The use of social media by individual 

employees within the IC varies as much as 

the agencies, themselves. Zina Henshaw, for 

example, is an NGA employee who has never 

visited the NGA Facebook site.

“I don’t like Facebook or Twitter,” said 

Henshaw. “I was in the Navy for 21 years doing 

cryptology. You just didn’t talk about things.”

But more and more people in the intelligence 

community are using social media, including 

NGA Chief Operating Officer Ellen McCarthy.

“The U.S. government is committed to 

operational transparency, and the long-standing 

Department of Defense policy is to make 

accurate and timely information available to the 

public,” said McCarthy. “Social media is a very 

effective tool for meeting these obligations. 

:
Pathfinder • Winter 2014 23

"It’s not wrong to use social media sites, users

just need to be cognizant of the things they 

post, links they click and files they download."

–U.S. Air Force Capt. Shawn Wes

Equally important, social media allows 

NGA and the public to engage in a two-way 

conversation, which promotes accountability 

and allows us to receive feedback.”

As NGA and the IC grow their social media 

presence, the balance comes in deciding what to 

post and what to protect, said Christine Phillips, 

NGA’s chief of News and Information within 

the Office of Corporate Communications. She 

and her team manage NGA’s various social 

media sites with help from others within OCC. 

“We work closely with others around the 

agency to find ways to highlight the important 

work NGA does, without giving our adversaries 

information they can use,” said Phillips. “There 

will always be a security concern, and we take 

that very seriously. But we must communicate 

with the taxpayers who pay our salaries and 

fund our programs if we want them to 

understand what we do and why it matters, 

and social media is increasingly where they 

go for information.”

Security concerns should be important to any 

social media user, and operational concerns 

are added factors for government employees, 

said Air Force Capt. Shawn West, NGA cyber 

defense watch officer.

“It’s not wrong to use social media sites,” 

said West. “Users just need to be cognizant of 

the things they post, links they click and files 

they download.” 

Users should carefully consider their privacy 

settings and check them frequently to ensure 

the site has not made changes that caused them 

to change, said Phillips. They should also 

consider how information they post could be 

used to cause harm and avoid posting too much 

information. For example, it’s a bad idea to post 

detailed vacation plans, as doing so informs 

would-be intruders that your home will 

be unattended. 

“Post the vacation photos after you get 

home,” said Phillips. 
2424 Pathfinder • Winter 2014 Pathfinder • Winter 2014 WWW.roadskillmap.com

near Chulumani, Boli

You might want to skip that taxi 

ride. A new, interactive map 

by the Pulitzer Center uses its

extensive network of journalists 

around the world to report on 

traffic fatalities and abysmal 

road safety, primarily in 

developing nations. The “Roads

Kill” map aims to increase 

awareness of the problem, 

which was recently ranked by 

the World Health Organization

as the fifth leading cause of 

death worldwide. Map data

includes fatalities per capita, 

law enforcement, modes of 

transportation and more. The 

number one road to avoid? 

Bolivian death trap Yungas 

Road, also known as the

Road of Fate.

Pine Island Glacier

Antarcti

“It’s not you, it’s me.” Iceber

breaks up with Pine Island

Glacier after a major crack 

formed in the Antarctic ice 

sheet in 2011. Named B-31,

the Singapore-sized iceberg 

broke away from the glacier 

in late 2013 and is currently 

drifting toward open ocean. 

NASA captured before-andafter imagery, with the fissure

formation and eventual 

breakage clearly visible. 

Scientists say events such as 

this are not unexpected and 

usually occur every five to 

six years.

Photo: NASA 

www.earthobservatory.nasa.

www.fs.fed.usWashington

Smokey Bear would approve! 

In a move expected to benefit

both firefighters and travelers, 

the U.S. Forest Service has 

made a variety of digital maps 

available to iOS and Android 

users. The interactive app 

will allow users add photos 

and data, plot place marks, 

measure distances and more. 

Users can download detailed 

maps prior to visiting areas 

without Internet accessibility,

including vast swaths of U.S. 

forest and extensive wetlands. 

While the Forest Service will 

still produce paper maps, 

nearly 700 maps will be 

available digitally beginning 

in March 2014.

WWW.

workshop.chromeexperiments.comMilky W

Explore the galaxy – no 

rocket ship needed. Home to

some 400 billion stars, the 

Milky Way is now open for

tours to armchair astronauts 

via the Google Chrome

project “100,000 Stars.” 

The experiment combines 

data from multiple sources, 

including NASA and the

European Space Agency, to plot 

the location of stars closest to 

our home planet. The 60 most 

prominent stars are interactive, 

allowing the user to click for 

a digital rendition and more 

information about each. 
Pathfinder • Winter 2014 25

www.sensefly.comMatterhorn, Swis

border, Eu

Mt. Everest enviously awaits

its turn for the 3-D treatment.

A team of senseFly engineers 

and partners coordinated 

the flight of multiple eBee 

minidrones around the 

Matterhorn, sometimes called

“the most beautiful mountain” 

in the Pennine Alps. The 

project included 11 flights that 

captured nearly 2200 images. 

The stunning result is a highdefinition 3-D “point cloud,” an

animated model incorporating 

nearly 300 million data points 

at an average resolution of 

20 centimeters. 

www.nla.gov.auCanberra, A

Mt. Everest enviously awaits

Even with a map, it’s still 

possible to lose yourself in 

wonder. A partnership between 

Esri Australia and the National

Library of Australia combines 

ancient and rare maps with 

cutting-edge technology to 

create a fascinating exhibit of 

cartographic history. “Mapping

Our World” uses a series of 

interactive, GIS-based apps to

provide layers of contemporary 

context to historical maps. 

Visitors can take the trip from 

New Holland to Australia, trac

and display real-time air traffic 

patterns, and explore the 

famous Frau Mauro map.

Pathfinder • Winter 2014 25

www.thelocal

Oslo, Nor

A retired Norwegian

history teacher, long 

fascinated by rumored 

Nazi tunnels beneath

Oslo’s West End, is raising 

money for a geo-radar 

project to explore 

a subterranean bunker. 

Built by German occupiers 

in 1941, it was subsequently 

controlled by the Norwegian

military until the early 2000s, 

when it was turned into a 

memorial museum. 
26 Pathfinder • Winter 2014

TheNGA Future State Vision d

where NGA will be in 2018 based on the 

mission, vision and objectives identified in 

the NGA Strategy. It is aligned with DOD 

and DNI priorities described in the national 

security, military, and intelligence strategies 

and in “DOD Priorities for the 21st Century.” 

Specifically, the FSV describes how NGA 

will create new analytic value and enhance 

customer service. It emphasizes partnerships 

with international, commercial, IC, DOD, 

and academic institutions, and focuses 

our analysis on unique and essential 

content creation.

By 2018, NGA has transformed from a 

producer of predominantly static products 

to a provider of dynamic GEOINT 

content, analysis and services. We deliver 

our analytic judgments, foundation data, 

and suite of GEOINT services to our 

customers and partners. We leverage our 

NSG, international, academic and industry 

partnerships to fulfill requirements against 

those issues where these partners bring 

capabilities and insight, while we focus 

our tradecraft, tools, processes and sources 

to solve complex problems and provide 

anticipatory intelligence. Our unique 

contributions sustain our position as the 

indispensable GEOINT provider.

By 2018, NGA has enabled multi-INT 

integration for the IC. We provide the 

foundation upon which NGA, along 

with our partners, layers and synthesizes 

intelligence information. This foundation 

is the basis for a common, integrated 

intelligence picture.

Our workforce has enabled this 

transformation. We recruit, train and 

retain a diverse and agile workforce. We 

develop critical skillsets, such as big data 

analytics, visualization and advanced sensor 

phenomenology. Our analysts are worldclass experts in geomatics, global GEOINT 

content, intelligence issues and emerging 

technologies. They are part of a career 

service with multiple levels of expertise, 

certifications and career paths. Our 

workforce uses cutting-edge technology that 

underpins our content and service offerings.
Pathfinder • Winter 2014 27

We provid GEOINT wherever and whenever i

By 2018, NGA provides dynamic GEOINT analysis 

content and services that are accessible anytime, 

anywhere. Any customer – whether policymaker 

or warfighter, homeland security operator or first 

responder, ally or coalition member – can easily 

discover and access what we offer through various 

stationary and mobile devices and security domains. 

To ensure timely and relevant access to GEOINT, we 

maintain close relationships with our customers and 

employ business analytics to enhance the GEOINT 

consumer experience, usage and usefulness of our 

content. Most customers increasingly rely on self- and 

assisted-service options, with full-service support 

available to those who need it. We provide powerful 

self-service capabilities that make it easy for customers 

to find and use our GEOINT as well as access our 

experts' knowledge. We provide customers with a 

sophisticated array of intuitive self-help support tools, 

tutorials and resources. When a GEOINT-related

issue arises that our customers cannot resolve alone, 

we quickly and effectively teach customers how to 

answer their questions and when necessary, connect 

the customer to a professional with deeper expertise. 

To meet more challenging and time-sensitive mission 

needs, we continue to embed our workforce with 

our customers – whether at their headquarters or in 

expeditionary locations.

Our Map of the World enables integrated in

Our seamless, dynamic Map of the World enables users 

to visualize and access integrated intelligence content 

fixed to accurate and authoritative geographic features 

on the Earth. The MoW provides a unified, online, 

geospatial, temporal and relational view of the world 

through the integration of our foundation GEOINT and 

navigation datasets, our features, our imagery and our 

intelligence. The MoW is the foundation for the IC's 

object-based production environment. It provides the 

geospatial bedrock for all intelligence, information and 

knowledge to be anchored, integrated, presented and 

accessed. It enables multi-INT integration by allowing 

analysts from across the intelligence community to 

start from a common frame of reference, bringing 

together multiple sources of information on one object. 

It is available through multiple security domains, on 

multiple devices, and it can be customized by the user 

as needed. It displays not only NGA-generated data, 

but also data generated by our partners, and the origin 

of all data is easily accessible.

We continue to advance our analytic trad

Our analytic insights fuel the MoW. We continue 

to evolve our analytic tradecraft through the 

implementation of advanced analytic techniques 

and processes that are applied to the full spectrum 

of GEOINT. Our resulting analysis is structured, 

metadata-tagged and accessible. To leverage and 

navigate new large-volume data sources, we employ 

big data solutions, so analysts spend less time 

navigating data stores and more time generating 

knowledge and creating analytic judgments. 

We manage active partnerships to synchronize 

requirements and resources and unity actions that allow 

NGA to focus our finite resources and capabilities on 

the most important intelligence problems.

Our workforce drives ch

Our workforce is agile and adaptive, aggressively 

driving change to increase the value of GEOINT 

to our customers. Our workforce is shaped by the 

skills, capabilities and knowledge that we require to 

produce the best GEOINT possible. We have retrained 

employees with lower-demand skills and prioritized 

the hiring of higher-demand skillsets to include data 

science, visualization and phenomenology experts. Our 

GEOINT analysts are certified to ensure the work they 

perform is commensurate with specific proficiency 

levels gained through demonstrated knowledge and 

common competencies. All NGA employees have 

a career advancement path. They fully understand 

the opportunities afforded to them within NGA, and 

through career broadening joint duty assignments. We 

reward our highest performers through a rank-in-person 

promotion system, which judges performance against 

corporate criteria.

We meet the challenges of an increasingly com

In 2018, our primary purpose and function continues 

to be as a cornerstone in providing strategic warning, 

situational awareness, military operational planning, 

combat support and foundational GEOINT. We build 

upon these to deliver context and insight, enabling 

multi-INT integration. The demand for GEOINT 

knowledge, information and data continues to grow, 

and it is our responsibility to meet this demand when 

and where it is needed. By realizing this vision, we 

will propel our nation ahead of our adversaries by 

ensuring that we can see what they cannot, know 

what we should not, and act first. Read 

more about NGA’s Future State Vision at 

www.nga.mil/mediaroom/

The Future State Vision describes the NGA of 2018. It doe

not replace the NGA Strategy. Rather, it more fully describe

the deeper analytic value and enhanced customer service 

we will provide through the implementation of our Strategy. –Letitia A. Long
NGA

National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency

am

I

nga.mil | FB: NatlGEOINTAgency | @NGA_GEOINT

Equal opportunity in the workplace is a 

life for Monica Boney. She is a disabled Army 

veteran, who was injured while on active duty, 

she’s a community volunteer and a consultant in 

the Diversity Outreach and Training Center at the 

National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency’s Office

of Diversity Management and Equal Employment 

Opportunity. She serves as a trainer, adviser and 

EEO specialist, and recently received a Department 

of Defense “Achievement Award for Individuals 

with Disabilities.”

It is not always evident when someone has a 

disability, which is why I love to train and educate 

people on perception versus reality,” said Boney. 

As a master trainer, Boney identifies and addresses 

employment barriers, shares insights and supports the 

agency’s core mission as a combat support agency 

and member of the Intelligence Community.

“You must have an inclusive environment to 

meet the mission,” said Boney. “My job at NGA 

is to encourage an inclusive work environment 

and enhance employment for individuals of all 

backgrounds and disabilities.” 

Boney served in the Army for 20 years and retired 

as a sergeant major. She has a master’s degree 

in human resource management from Webster 

University in St. Louis. During her time in the Army 

and at NGA, she has taken advantage of completing 

numerous senior service schools, and in 2012, she 

deployed to Bagram, Afghanistan, as a logistics 

supervisor, overseeing the movement of IC personnel 

and equipment in, out and through the country.

“Being a mediator, trainer and counselor, I was 

able to help (people) work effectively together,” 

said Boney.

Learn how you can be a part of NGA by visiting 

our website or following us on Facebook and Twitter.

Photo by Dick Fonner, Office of Corporate Communicati