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

Vol. 8 No. 2

A Network of Support—

Forward and Direct
On My Mind

NSTs: Leveraging the Power of GEOINT

NGA Support Teams (NSTs) leverage the power of geospatial intelligence by putting our experts inside 

our mission partners’ footprint.

In the current threat environment, GEOINT is a force multiplier for our military servicemembers and our 

civilian mission partners. GEOINT helps put other intelligence into context. It is an independent discipline as 

well as a primary source of confirmation and corroboration. When fused with other intelligence disciplines, 

GEOINT’s impact increases exponentially.

As a member of the Intelligence Community and a Department of Defense combat support agency, NGA 

continues to reach out to our partners within and across both communities to apply GEOINT effectively to 

the hard intelligence problems. But more is required for mission success. NSTs bring that added value to 

the challenge by integrating GEOINT personnel and services wherever they are needed.

We have our people at locations around the world coordinating and implementing GEOINT strategy 

with the U.S. Combatant Commands and key federal agencies, as well as with our military service and 

international partners.

NST personnel know the operations tempo because they work on site with the mission partner for up 

to five years—and often longer. A typical NST includes imagery analysts, geospatial analysts, information 

technology specialists, and data and collection managers. These professionals represent a true crosssection of the skills that NGA brings to the fight.

The men and women at the U.S. Central Command NST work with the command team to support our 

military servicemembers in Iraq and Afghanistan. Our U.S. Southern Command NST experts provide 

GEOINT resources for the command’s rescue, relief and recovery operations after natural disasters, 

like the Haitian and Chilean earthquakes, and for its other mission areas, including counterdrug and 

counternarcoterrorism operations.

When GEOINT is required in the wake of a manmade or natural disaster in the United States, NGA’s 

Department of Homeland Security NST answers the call. The Federal Emergency Management Agency, 

part of DHS, is the lead U.S. disaster relief organization. At FEMA’s official request, the DHS NST steps 

in to collaborate with its experts to determine GEOINT requirements and then mobilizes to deliver those 

requirements. These are just a few examples of how NSTs partner with host organizations to maximize 

the power of GEOINT.

NSTs combine NGA’s high level of expertise with longer-term assignments, putting us in a position to 

proactively tailor our products to enable mission success. At our NSTs, we don’t wait for the host organizations to ask us for GEOINT; the NST embeds our experts inside the host organization’s footprint, working 

side by side with their team for extended periods.

NSTs are part of the decision-making process, collaborating on site with our partners to determine what 

kind of GEOINT is needed, where it’s needed and when it’s needed.

Providing timely, relevant and accurate support for the national security of the United States and our 

allies is our mission. By looking outward and pushing GEOINT forward through our NSTs, we are able to 

execute our mission more effectively.

Robert B. Murrett

Vice Admiral, USN

Director
12 18

Contents

Pathfinder ›› March/April 2010 ›› Vol. 8 No. 2

On the Cover

With its substantial reach, NGA routinely plays a part in numerous success 

stories. Many of these achievements may not be disclosed in a public 

forum, but among those that can are found dramatic reminders of the 

value of geospatial intelligence (GEOINT). Throughout 2008, the agency 

and its partners repeatedly demonstrated the value of GEOINT and of 

the advances that NGA pursues to maintain and expand its premier 

position within the geospatial community. These noteworthy victories 

are just some of the ways in which NGA fulfills its crucial role in the daily 

intelligence mission. The first image taken by the GeoEye-1 satellite, over 

Kutztown University, Pa., illustrates one such accomplishment—NGA’s 

continuing NextView partnerships with private industry. 

More to the Story?

The online Classified Pathfinder, which is accessible 

by members of the Intelligence Community, may include additional information and expanded sections 

of some Pathfinder articles. The Classified Pathfinder 

provides a forum for reading and discussing topics 

at the level of “Unclassified//For Official Use Only” 

and higher. For information please contact the editor, 

Heather Cox, at 301-227-2290.

1 Pathfinder ›› September/October 2009 

2 Letter to Our Readers

›› E Y E S W I D E O P E N

4 NGA Mounts Unprecedented Support for 2008 Olympic 

Games

5 GeoEye-1 Satellite Fulfills Agency Requirements

6 NGA Support Team Bolsters SOCOM’s Special Operations 

Forces 

8 Sidebar: Special Operations Forces Truths

›› E N A B L I N G D E C I S I O N S

10 Successful Terrorist Prosecution Employs NGA Terrain 

Models

11 NGA Magnifies the Value of Open Source GEOINT

12 Advancing GEOINT Standards Across the NSG

›› V I S U A L I Z I N G I N T E L L I G E N C E

14 Military GEOINT Cells Foster Closer 

Relationship

16 Training Increases Google EarthTM Proficiency

17 Agency Extends Information Technology Infrastructure

18 Multimedia Communicators Tell the NGA Story in 

New Ways

›› R E A C H I N G F O R W A R D

20 Research and Development Highlight 

Collaborative Partnerships

21 Ethical Standards Reinforce Agency Focus

22 New System Rewards Effective Performance

›› D E P A R T M E N T S

23 Partnerships: NGA Hosts Afghan Mapping Agencies 

for Executive Training

24 New Campus East: NCE Tours Host 2,000 in Two 

Months

›› S P E C I A L G E O I N T S U P P L E M E N T

16 19

3

Contents

1 Pathfinder ›› March/April 2010

2 Letter to Our Readers

›› F E A T U R E S

3 Support Teams Essential to Haiti 

Earthquake Response 

6 Electronic Readers Promise Digital Flight 

Information Publications

8 GEOINT Keeps TRANSCOM Moving

10 Medical Intelligence Relies on Teamwork

12 Agency Team Delivers GEOINT to Africa

14 NGA Liaison Strengthens Space Operations 

›› D E P A R T M E N T S

16 Partnerships: 

COCOM Support Teams Exemplify Future of NSTs

19 Our Heritage:

Knowing the Neighborhood

On the Cover

The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency makes a big footprint. 

Almost a third of NGA’s government personnel are externally assigned 

to over 200 locations. NGA Support Teams, large and small, deploy 

members worldwide. These geospatial intelligence specialists form a 

global network—a web of direct support working to resolve the most 

pressing intelligence issues of our day. Embedded with NGA’s mission 

partners, and with constant access to the agency’s expansive resources, 

these forward-facing teams of GEOINT experts work side by side, hand 

in glove, with those with whom they serve, reaching out to identify 

needs and assisting with any and all GEOINT requests. Photos courtesy 

of DOD and NGA. Cover design by Richard Hardwick.
2 Pathfinder ›› March/April 2010 

Published by the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency

Office of Corporate Communications

4600 Sangamore Road, Mail Stop D-54

Bethesda, MD 20816-5003

Telephone: (301) 227-7388, 

DSN 287-7388

E-mail: pathfinder@nga.mil

Director

Vice Adm. Robert B. Murrett, U.S. Navy

Deputy Director

Lloyd Rowland

Office of Corporate Communications, Director

Kimberly Thompson

Public Affairs, Chief

Karen A. Finn

Editor

Jason K. Michas

Associate Editor

Laura L. Lundin

Art Editor

Carmella Bender

Graphic Designer 

Jason Collins

Contributing Authors

Robert B. 

Maj. Larry Colby, U.S. Air Force

Michael C.

Jay D. Krasnow

Damien K. 

Mike K. 

Laura L. Lundin

Nick W.

Dr. Gary E. Weir

SUBMISSIONS

The Office of Corporate Communications accepts articles 

of geospatial intelligence community-wide interest for 

consideration. Articles are edited for style, content and length. 

Submit articles by e-mail to pathfinder@nga.mil.

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 publica¬tion 

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 

permis¬sion, 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.

Letter to Our Readers

A Network of Support—

Forward and Direct

The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency 

takes pride in its partnerships. Their value 

cannot be overestimated. Bringing geospatial 

intelligence to bear against national intelligence priorities has proven its merit again 

and again. A vital component of delivering 

GEOINT is the extensive network of NGA 

Support Teams (NSTs) located around the 

globe. These dedicated teams ensure that the 

agency’s partners have on-demand access to 

GEOINT and the quality analysis needed to 

exploit it. This issue of the Pathfinder explores 

a few of the many contributions made by NSTs 

throughout the world. 

NSTs provide the crucial first-person knowledge of a situation. Embedded 

with those they support, these teams are best suited to discover partners’ 

needs and to offer the best GEOINT solutions. The NSTs’ on site analysis 

capabilities means that requirements are worked as quickly as possible, 

with mission partners frequently receiving products in near-real time. Also, if 

needed, the teams can access resources from elsewhere in NGA to augment 

their work.

As the world responded to the violent earthquake in Haiti, NGA provided 

its critical expertise. As readers will discover, the Crisis Action Team formed 

immediately after the disaster struck coordinated GEOINT among the NSTs 

supporting the many agencies and partners responding to the earthquake and 

its aftermath. The agency’s efforts also ensured that humanitarian responders 

and even nongovernmental organizations received needed GEOINT resources. 

In an entirely different example, the NST supporting the U.S. Air Force “created something special from just an idea,” testing and demonstrating how 

electronic readers could eliminate a flight crew’s need for substantial quantities of heavy paper flight information publications, now required on every 

flight, saving the military significantly on flight costs.

Also in this issue, the NST at the Defense Intelligence Agency, among its 

other responsibilities, supports the DIA’s National Center for Medical Intelligence, applying its ingenuity to help the center identify and prepare for health 

threats overseas.

NSTs and the GEOINT they provide also remain essential, whether supporting U.S. Transportation Command, U.S. Africa Command, or any of the other 

regional or functional combatant commands, as several articles illustrate.

The value of GEOINT is real, and NGA’s network of support teams will continue to deliver it.

Kimberly Thompson

Director, Office of Corporate Communications

2 Pathfinder ›› March/April 2010 
3Pathfinder ›› March/April 2010 

Support Teams Essential to Haiti Earthquake Response

By Laura L. Lundin and Jay D. Krasnow

In response to the Haiti earthquake on Jan. 12, 

the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, using 

its vast resources and partnerships, provided dynamic 

and timely geospatial intelligence products to assist 

federal and nongovernment agencies with the 

ongoing relief efforts. 

As U.S. government agencies, including the Department of State and the Agency for International Development, responded to the disaster, many looked to NGA 

for help with planning and carrying out recovery efforts. 

Enlisting its network of NGA Support Teams (NSTs), the 

agency worked closely with U.S. Southern Command, 

U.S. Strategic Command, the Defense Intelligence 

Agency and other agencies to make sure the most effective GEOINT products quickly reached those on the 

ground in Haiti. 

Because the NGA teams faced the challenge of 

managing large volumes of information 

effectively and producing GEOINT 

products under tight deadlines, 

the agency formed the Haiti 

Crisis Action Team (CAT) to 

coordinate the around-theclock GEOINT response with 

NGA’s mission partners. 

Practicing the collaborative principles of Unified GEOINT 

Operations (UGO), the agency applied the full capabilities of the National System for Geospatial Intelligence 

(NSG). The leader of the Haiti CAT, as the Americas NSG 

Operations Executive, enlisted the full gamut of available 

GEOINT. Employing UGO allowed decision makers, such 

as the Naval Oceanographic Office and U.S. Transportation Command, to assess the needs of the situation, 

align efforts and get GEOINT into the hands of emergency 

responders more efficiently.

Since SOUTHCOM led the Department of Defense’s 

response to the crisis, NGA expanded its NST of GEOINT 

professionals at the command’s headquarters in Miami, 

Fla., and sent down the Domestic Mobile Integrated Geospatial-Intelligence System, a self-contained command 

vehicle operated by experts who are able to produce 

additional geospatial products on site. 

NGA worked closely with 

other responders to the 

Haiti earthquake to ensure 

that GEOINT quickly reached 

those on the ground.

DOD photo
4 Pathfinder ›› March/April 2010 

While panchromatic (black-and-white) imagery provided NGA’s support team at SOUTHCOM with a baseline 

for analysis, the command needed additional sources 

and products in order to be effective in its response. 

High-resolution, three-dimensional data offered the 

most practical solution to the needs of the command. 

As a result, light detection and ranging, more commonly 

known as LIDAR, proved useful in a variety of areas. 

LIDAR is an optical remote sensing technology that uses 

light from a laser to detect and locate objects, using 

measurements of light properties to collect data on 

elevation, depth or height. 

Within 48 hours of mission authorization, the NST at 

SOUTHCOM, in collaboration with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Lincoln Laboratory, had deployed, 

collected, processed, analyzed, stored and disseminated 

vital GEOINT products. 

Within 72 hours, the first mission from Miami was 

flown over Haiti to image initial United Nations food 

distribution points, and less than a day later, images 

and products were in the hands of SOUTHCOM analysts.

The LIDAR technology and NGA’s analysis of the data 

provided a day-to-day growth rate of internally displaced 

persons camps. Understanding the growth of the camps 

assisted relief operations planning, allowing aid workers 

to determine food distribution locations. LIDAR also 

identified previously unknown encampments within 

forested areas. 

“We definitely did a better job of using the information 

to establish a baseline to determine areas of need and 

areas that had no change,” said a watch officer with 

SOUTHCOM’s Joint Task Force–Haiti. 

Additionally, NST members assessed debris and vertical obstructions, helping identify the best travel routes 

for responders and helicopter landing areas, as well as 

plan for recovery and clean-up efforts. 

The LIDAR missions eventually expanded to include 

collection of data over a broader area. According to the 

watch officer, “NGA’s data will also be used to determine 

floodplains and potential areas susceptible to landslides 

and mud slides as the rainy season approaches.”

The global reach and collaboration of NGA and its 

mission partners is evident in other areas as well. For 

instance, NGA’s support team at DIA provided GEOINT 

products that assessed the earthquake’s effects on 

structures in Port-au-Prince as well as assisted with the 

search for internally displaced people outside the 

city’s borders. 

NGA’s foreign partners also played a key role in 

responding to the crisis. The Canadian Directorate of 

Geospatial Intelligence pulled together a suite of GEOINT 

products, including topographic line maps, image city 

maps and route studies between the major cities of 

Port-au-Prince, Leogane and Jacmel. The United Kingdom 

Hydrographic Office shipped up-to-date charts to aid in 

disaster relief planning and operations. 

Due to the magnitude of the disaster and the number 

of agencies and organizations involved, the needs of the 

mission in Haiti had to be balanced with NGA’s and the 

combatant commands’ commitments to ongoing operations in other areas, such as Iraq and Afghanistan. 

The job of balancing and coordinating those efforts for 

NGA’s intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance mission fell to the NGA element at the Defense Intelligence 

Operations Coordination Center. This team is similar to 

an NST, but is responsible for coordinating ISR issues 

between NGA and the combatant commands, while 

reaching back to access the expertise housed in NGA’s 

core components. 

The team at DIOCC also supports STRATCOM’s Joint 

Functional Component Command for Intelligence, 

Surveillance and Reconnaissance, which balances 

airborne collection resources and assesses the risks 

of reallocating these resources through careful global 

force management.

“It’s imperative to balance the competing demands to 

meet the highest priorities,” said U.S. Army Maj. Jennifer 

DOD photo

Responders relied on GEOINT to assist in the earthquake’s aftermath.
5 Pathfinder ›› March/April 2010

NGA provided a day-to-day growth rate 

of internally displaced persons camps, 

allowing aid workers to determine food 

distribution locations. 

DOD photo

5 Pathfinder ›› March/April 2010 

Smith-Heys, who is the Airborne Operations division 

chief with the NGA element to DIOCC and JFCC–ISR. 

“Haiti offers a great example of how we used global 

force management to maintain our operations on a 

global scale.”

For example, SOUTHCOM requested full-motion 

video support for the mission in Haiti; however, a majority of the assets needed for that function resided outside 

SOUTHCOM’s area of responsibility. NGA’s component 

at the DIOCC was able to coordinate with NGA and 

the relevant commands, to allocate the needed 

collection aircraft. 

Furthermore, working with the agency’s Crisis Action 

Team, the NGA element aligned agency personnel and 

assets to ensure that sufficient analytic resources within 

NGA were available to assist the U.S. Air Force’s own 

efforts to exploit the full-motion video data provided by 

the Predator collection platforms flown. Between NGA 

and the Air Force, analysts were able to provide GEOINT 

analysis and products within 24 hours of collection. 

“Using full-motion video collected through the NGA 

elements’ efforts, commanders of the 82nd Airborne on 

the ground in Haiti were able to divert friendly forces 

away from potentially hostile situations,” said SmithHeys, illustrating just one example of GEOINT’s usefulness in Haiti.

Although the ISR mission has been scaled down, some 

assets are still operating to assist with the recovery and 

reconstruction efforts. 

The involvement of NGA and its mission partners in 

the humanitarian relief effort in Haiti demonstrates the 

global reach and support of the agency’s mission and 

reflects the growing importance of GEOINT to the global 

community. While the recovery for Haiti will take months 

and even years, an integrated, collaborative community 

of GEOINT professionals will be on hand to assist whenever and wherever needed. 

Laura L. Lundin and Jay D. Krasnow are public affairs 

officers in the NGA Office of Corporate Communications.
6Pathfinder ›› March/April 2010

Electronic Readers Promise 

Digital Flight Information Publications 

By Lt. Col. Larry Colby, U.S. Air Force

Imagine every 28 days lugging 50 pounds or more

of paper to your office in cumbersome boxes in order for 

yourself and your teammates to work. Now substitute 

“aircraft” for “office.” Depending on the aircraft’s size, 

you may be dragging pounds of safety of navigation 

publications around every time you fly. Moving all this 

paper takes time, extra fuel and a lot of money in printing and shipping costs. Yet every Department of Defense 

pilot does this before each flight.

“Why not just view all this GEOINT [geospatial intelligence] flight information publication [FLIP] data on an 

electronic viewer?” asked Lt. Col. Michael Kitching, chief 

of the U.S. Air Force NGA Support Team, in June 2009.

The idea of purchasing and testing an electronic 

reader that can hold over 6,000 pages of data but only 

weighs about a pound came about after researching 

how private, corporate and commercial cargo pilots were 

using digital FLIPs in their cockpits. The Air Force NST 

purchased and tested an electronic reader at several 

locations, including an NGA parking garage, to see if it 

would be feasible for military use. Members of the NST, 

many of them current and former military pilots, were 

ecstatic about the idea. Here was a simple, inexpensive 

product, intended for reading books or newspapers, that 

allowed viewing NGA FLIPs in digital form.

“This idea and initial results were overwhelmingly 

favorable,” said Col. William Miles, chief of NGA’s Office of Military Services, which oversees the military 

NSTs. “Here we have a group of creative civilian and 

military teammates, supporting their fellow warfighters 

and intelligence community members, which created 

something special from just an idea. Best news of all is 

that they did something about it. This speaks ultra-high 

volumes about our GEOINT team; this concept embraces 

our military forces going digital, enables the warfighter 

to instantly update their critical flight information and 

brings the warfighter to 21st century technology,” 

Miles said.

NST members knew they had something remarkable 

after sharing their findings with other team members 

in the agency’s St. Louis, Mo., facility. In St. Louis, the 

Air Force NST collaborated with staff from the Office of 

Global Navigation, Aeronautical Services, and the Enterprise Operations and InnoVision Directorates to form the 

NGA Electronic Flight Bag Team. With the EFB concept, 

aircrews would electronically download their flight data 

from a secure website directly to their device, bypassing 

the traditional paper route and avoiding the wait for the 

boxes to arrive. All over the world, aircrews, from Kabul 

to the Pacific Ocean, would have accurate GEOINT data 

delivered instantly.

Excited about supporting the warfighter, the teammates calculated that NGA spends about $23 million a 

year printing and shipping materials to global aircrews. 

“From a business model perspective, this has a tremendous potential cost savings. NGA could one day 

reduce their printing costs and delivery costs, while the 

deployed aircrew would have a rapid delivery of data for 

their mission without waiting for the mailbag to arrive,” 

said Kitching. This is also in step with the U.S. military’s 

Tri-Service Aeronautical Working Groups, which work 

together on a variety of safety of navigation issues, 

including a digital aeronautical future.

When compared to the heavy weight of paper FLIPs 

that must be constantly replaced within thousands of 

aircraft, the electronic reader is a pleasant alternative. 

Electronic readers have the potential to replace the 

majority of each crewmember’s personally issued paper 

reference library. As estimated in a study published by 

the Air Force Expeditionary Center’s Air Mobility Battlelab before the lab’s deactivation in 2008, 

electronic readers could eliminate approximately 50 pounds per aircraft, in turn reducing aircraft fuel consumption and decreasing 

operating costs by approximately $3 per flight 

hour (a calculation incorporating crew salaries, 

maintenance, fuel, insurance and aircraft costs). In 

one example noted by the study, a typical airlift squadron could save approximately $68,000. Potential savings 

may also result from fewer excess baggage charges, 

often $50 to $100 per bag, when a military flight crew 

flies commercially.
7 Pathfinder ›› March/April 2010

Members of the U.S. Air Force NGA 

Support Team view a digital flight 

information publication on an 

electronic reader during tests.

Photo by Tony Boone

Electronic readers, with NGA’s support, will one 

day rapidly deliver time-sensitive GEOINT data to 

warfighters in a more cost-effective manner, 

saving millions of dollars a year. A variety of 

electronic readers available on the market 

are being looked at by NGA. The Office of 

Aeronautical Services is seeking to identify 

vendors who have the functional and techni-

cal expertise to ingest NGA’s aeronautical 

flight information documents into any future 

electronic flight bags. Eventually, the EFB Team 

would like to help deliver additional digital aero-

nautical products to the military services.

U.S. aircrews have been flying with pa-

per-based FLIPs since the early airmail 

operations of the 1920s. However, 

digital GEOINT data has significantly 

increased the timeliness and ef-

fectiveness of mission planning, 

situational awareness and target-

ing for NGA’s partners. The use of 

paper in military cockpits is one 

of the last holdouts; electronic 

readers are today’s answer, 

and electronic display of 

FLIPs in the cockpit is 

the goal. 

Lt. Col. Larry Colby 

is a staff officer on 

the NGA Support 

Team for the 

U.S. Air Force.

7 Pathfinder ›› March/April 2010
8Pathfinder ›› March/April 2010 

GEOINT Keeps TRANSCOM Moving 

By Nick W. and Mike C.

The NGA Support Team (NST) for the U.S. Transportation Command, located at Scott Air Force Base, 

Ill., consists of a large team of geospatial intelligence 

(GEOINT) analysts who support TRANSCOM’s mission to 

provide air, land and sea transportation for the Department of Defense in times of both peace and war.

TRANSCOM supplies the nation with the world’s most 

responsive strategic mobility capability, conducting 

thousands of air, ship and ground movements weekly. 

Working with TRANSCOM transportation analysts to 

depict seaports, the NST creates GEOINT with its GeoPort 

database and supporting software. Additionally, the NST 

assists the Air Mobility Command’s global air mobility 

mission with a special air product, the Layered Airfield 

Graphic. Both GeoPort and Layered Airfield Graphics 

have matured into a customizable product for a variety 

of missions.

Seaport Production

During the last three years, the NST’s port production has moved from very product-centric to more 

data-centric. In the past, the imagery analysts created detailed, static graphics that were not georeferenced, along with an excessively detailed port 

description. Similarly, the graphics were quite 

detailed, with each part of the port depicted 

by a point, line or polygon. Port products were 

recreated every one to three years, some more 

often. The length of time to complete each port 

depended on the size of the port as well as the 

skill level of the analyst and ranged from one 

week to two months.

The redundant reporting and time-intensive graphics were the catalysts for 

developing GeoPort, which consists of a 

geospatial database, a layered GeoPDF, a 

vector product for use in Google EarthTM, 

and a Supplemental Imagery Report (SUPIR). Analysts extract port features using 

ArcGIS tools and store them in a common 

geospatial database with the previously 

extracted port data, saving significant 

amounts of time during each port update. While an 

initial port update requires about the same amount of 

time as previous methods, the time saved for revisits is 

approximately 75 percent per port. Analysts then upload 

the data into Intellipedia, the Intelligence Community’s 

classified wiki, for users to access if they desire the raw 

The NGA Support Team for the U.S. Transportation Command 

developed GeoPort to improve production of port graphics, 

such as this one of Haina Port, Dominican Republic. 

NGA graphic
9Pathfinder ›› March/April 2010

security teams for force protection of aircraft and by 

pilots for situational awareness before flying into unfamiliar airfields. NGA Aeronautical Services helps acquire 

additional data for some of the airfields and 

is now also producing LAGs as part of its 

standard production.

Through ingenuity and teamwork with other NGA 

components, the TRANSCOM NST has transformed port 

production into a modern, time-saving process with 

several benefits. The creation of multiple databases 

allows a myriad of users to take advantage of the work 

of GEOINT analysts in a number of different formats. 

More importantly, analysts have turned the significant 

time saved to performing more analysis in the areas 

of transportation and logistics that keep TRANSCOM 

moving assets around the world. 

data. Analysts also make a Google EarthTM file for quick 

visualization. The non-georeferenced static graphic has 

been replaced with a layered GeoPDF in which users can 

select the different vector layers, customizing an overlay 

product to their own specifications and desired detail. 

The layered GeoPDF can also serve as a Force Protection 

Graphic or simple base image. The extensive attribution collected during the GeoPort process is embedded 

within the GeoPDF, creating a standalone product. Each 

analyst also writes a SUPIR report that demonstrates the 

value of the product.

Airfield Production

The NST’s diverse liaison support to the Air Mobility 

Command has developed one standing air product that 

has endured not only within the NST but also within 

NGA’s Aeronautical Services. Previously, the command 

required imagery oriented to the north, with a limited 

number of graphics depicting parking aprons, temporary housing and the fence line. The requirement for 

product updates depended on the particular airfield and 

sometimes needed to be performed on a monthly basis. 

Though not very time-consuming to create, each product 

was basic and didn’t convey an adequate amount of 

information to users.

Building on the components of GeoPort, the 

NST created Layered Airfield Graphics, also known as LAGs, that allow 

users to customize products to their 

needs. With limited resources available for feature extraction, the NST 

applied data that NGA had already 

collected though the Stereo Airfield 

Collection program. 

The SAC data was available for 

most of the airfields of interest and 

at the unclassified level. However, 

the SAC data was stored in individual 

shapefiles and was not easy to store 

and sort through. This drove the NST 

to create a new geodatabase specifically to store the SAC data and led 

to the development of the final 

LAG product.

LAGs are similar to the GeoPort 

GeoPDFs and are used by Air Force 

Nick W. is an imagery analyst embedded in the Joint Intelligence Operations Center at the U.S. Transportation Command. 

Mike C. is an imagery analyst embedded in the Aeronautical 

Intelligence Squadron at Air Mobility Command.

The NGA Support Team for the U.S. Transportation Command produced this graphic of Jacmel Airfield, Haiti for 

the Air Mobility Command to support air transportation missions. 

NGA Graphic
Medical Intelligence Relies on Teamwork 

By Damien K.

Comprehensive and significant geospatial 

intelligence (GEOINT) provided by the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency helps the Defense Intelligence 

Agency’s National Center for Medical Intelligence ensure 

successful mission completion. 

“The partnership of NGA’s imagery and geospatial 

intelligence analysts with NCMI’s all-source intelligence 

analysts has created a model for an effective collaborative working relationship,” according to Stephen J., 

deputy director of the NGA Support Team (NST) to DIA. 

Applying imagery and geospatial analysis to medical 

intelligence has proved invaluable to NCMI, the Department of Defense and the Intelligence Community.

Medical intelligence includes the assessment of potential health risks and capabilities that allows planning 

for proper medical countermeasures and field healthcare for deployed forces. NCMI prepares and coordinates 

integrated, all-source intelligence for DOD and other 

government organizations on foreign health threats 

and other medical intelligence issues in support of U.S. 

interests worldwide.

For instance, NCMI’s medical intelligence helps 

protect the health of forces deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as personnel stationed at home and 

throughout the world. NCMI analysts integrate multiple 

intelligence sources to enable decisions to prepare for, 

respond to, and control health threats, particularly in 

situations where foreign countries do not report information to the press or international health organizations. 

NGA’s GEOINT provides insight essential to this effort.

The support team at DIA’s NCMI includes experts in 

imagery and geospatial analysis who regularly engage 

with the center on three major focus areas: foreign 

military and civilian medical systems, environmental 

health risks, and infectious disease risks. NGA collaborates directly and daily with NCMI analysts, from initial 

brainstorming on a problem to fine-tuning the final intelligence product. 

“The in-house imagery analytical quality and content, 

and the unique geospatial data, analysis and tools NGA 

provides, are of paramount value and importance to 

NCMI and their customers,” according to U.S. Air 

Force Col. Anthony Rizzo, director of the 

National Center for Medical 

Intelligence. 

NGA analysts work with 

NCMI’s Environmental 

Health Division to 

NGA Support 

Team analysts are 

called upon to map 

healthcare facilities 

to treat deployed 

U.S. personnel.

DOD photo

10Pathfinder ›› March/April 2010
produce environmental health intelligence reports such 

as industrial hazard assessments, industrial facility 

health risk assessments and chemical and radiological 

hazard area models. Embedded NGA imagery analysts 

identify the locations and operations of facilities that 

could pose a physical or toxicity health threat to U.S. 

forces operating in a specific area in the event of a 

catastrophic release. NGA geospatial analysts provide 

advanced analysis of geography and hydrology to predict 

the type, location and mobility of water contamination. 

These advanced analytic techniques greatly enhance 

the resolution and confidence of NCMI’s assessments of 

potential health threats to U.S. forces overseas.

As an integral part of NCMI’s effort to maintain the 

medical intelligence managed by its Medical Capabilities 

Division, NGA analysts help review a variety of source 

information used to locate medical facilities and assess 

healthcare infrastructures. 

NCMI is routinely asked to recommend suitable 

healthcare facilities to treat U.S. personnel deployed 

overseas in the event of an emergency. “And that’s 

where [NGA analysts] come in,” said U.S. Navy Cmdr. 

David Davies, chief of NCMI’s Medical Capabilities Division. “NGA analysts are often called upon to map locations and other nearby infrastructure.”

Other areas requiring NGA’s expertise include working with NCMI’s Infectious Disease Division. Working 

with NCMI analysts, dedicated senior GEOINT analysts 

forecast, track and analyze the occurrence of infectious 

diseases with pandemic potential. The NGA role and 

mission in supporting the Infectious Disease Division 

dramatically increased during the 2009 H1N1 influenza 

pandemic influenza. “NGA’s success in providing GEOINT 

to NCMI and the community during the first pandemic in 

40 years was due to the mutual understanding, trust and 

cooperation developed between the two organizations 

over the last decade,” according to Dr. Kathryn Morici, 

chief of NCMI’s Infectious Disease Division. 

In response to the potential human health threat 

posed by avian influenza, the NST established the 

GEOINT Pandemic Working Group in early 2008, about 16 

months before the 2009 H1N1 pandemic emerged. Building on strong relationships through regular quarterly 

meetings and effective intra- and interagency cooperation made the working group very effective within the 

GEOINT community before and during the pandemic.

The working group capped a successful 2009 by 

orchestrating the first NGA Pandemic GEOINT Conference 

with sessions in St. Louis, Mo., and Bethesda, Md., 

attended by representatives from throughout the government. Subject matter experts from the U.S. Department 

of Health and Human Services and the U.S. Centers for 

Disease Control and Prevention discussed the challenges with influenza surveillance and provided a basic 

understanding of the biology of the influenza virus.

The conference sessions identified and emphasized 

the value and utility of GEOINT tradecrafts as applied to 

pandemic risk mitigation and warning. Attendees also 

discussed the potential secondary and tertiary pandemic 

impacts on a global scale.

Whether planning a conference or providing GEOINT 

analysis, the bond between NGA and NCMI continues to 

grow. This extensive relationship benefits not only NCMI, 

but NGA partners in the DOD, the Intelligence Community 

and elsewhere. 

Applying imagery and geospatial analysis to medical intelligence has 

proved invaluable. 

11Pathfinder ›› March/April 2010

Damien K. is chief of the NGA Support Team at the 

Defense Intelligence Agency’s National Center for 

Medical Intelligence.

DOD photo
Agency Team Delivers GEOINT to Africa 

By Mike K.

In October 2009, geospatial intelligence (GEOINT) 

analysts from the NGA Support Team for the U.S. Africa 

Command and the agency’s Office of Eurasia–Africa 

attended the AfricaGIS Conference in Kampala, Uganda. 

This opportunity provided the analysts with insight into 

the unique challenges facing geographic information 

system (GIS) professionals in Africa and those working 

African issues around the globe. Following the conference, the analysts worked for several days out of the 

Defense Attaché Office of the U.S. Embassy in Kampala 

providing focused, onsite GEOINT support.

Compared to other continents, there is a dearth of geospatial information about many areas of Africa. AfricaGIS 

provides a forum where geoinformation professionals 

from Africa and abroad can meet, interact and explore 

new developments, products and emerging trends and 

issues. New datasets briefed at the conference, including rainfall and crop monitoring, roads, vegetation and 

land cover, and human footprint, will be integrated into 

the support team’s analysis as required.

The 9th biennial AfricaGIS Conference attracted 481 

participants from five continents. Lectures and plenary 

sessions were divided into four subthemes: Geospatial 

Information for Climate Change, Vulnerability and Disaster Risk Reduction; Spatial Data Infrastructure in Africa; 

Geospatial Information Science for Business Solutions, 

Intelligence, Communication and Education; and Earth 

Observation and Geospatial Technologies for Integrated 

Environment and Natural Resources Management. 

Representatives from several U.S. government agencies, nongovernmental organizations, private industry 

and academia briefed during the conference, such as 

the Department of State on “Humanitarian Risk Mapping,” the U.S. Geological Survey on “Mapping Climate 

Change” and Columbia University on “Human Features of 

Climate Change.” 

African geoinformation professionals also offered 

many briefs, revealing a number of local concerns, 

among them the migratory patterns of pastoral farmers 

in Kenya, mapping land ownership and boundaries in Nigeria, livestock development planning in Uganda and the 

disappearance of Lake Chad. For NGA analysts working 

African topics, the opportunity to learn firsthand which 

geospatial issues are troubling African governments and 

how they are tackling them proved invaluable. Jason B., 

a geospatial intelligence analyst from the Central and 

12Pathfinder ›› March/April 2010 
Southern Africa Branch who attended the conference 

commented, “This international platform gives an analyst a unique perspective: observing how Africans use 

GEOINT to solve African problems.” 

Noticeably absent among the topics briefed at the 

conference was the geospatial analysis of conflict. Many 

briefers discussed individual factors that could potentially cause conflict (water scarcity, climate change, land 

use), but they were not characterized as such. For future 

conferences, there is opportunity to demonstrate the 

value of analyzing second- and third-order geospatial effects of drought, land fragmentation, poorly defined land 

ownership, competition over scarce natural resources, 

etc. and how, where and when they may lead to conflict.

Following the conference, the analysts worked out of 

the embassy for several days supporting one of their key 

partners, the Kampala Defense Attaché Office. During 

that time, they created customized GEOINT products 

supporting the Defense Attaché’s engagements with 

NGA Support Team analysts created GEOINT 

products supporting U.S. Defense Attaché 

engagements with the Ugandan People’s 

Defense Force leadership.

U.S. Navy photo

Mike K. is a geospatial intelligence analyst with the 

NGA Support Team for the U.S. Africa Command.

13Pathfinder ›› March/April 2010

Ugandan People’s Defense Force leadership. Working 

side by side with the Defense Attaché provided an understanding of their mission and requirements, enabling the 

NGA team to support them more effectively in the future. 

The analysts also had the unique opportunity to sit in on 

a Northern Uganda Country Team meeting, which provided a rare opportunity to observe the inner workings of 

a U.S. Embassy and all the players involved.

Attending the AfricaGIS conference and working at the 

embassy in Kampala proved eye-opening and informative. Both new and seasoned African issues analysts 

found the conference highly beneficial, providing 

tremendous exposure to new ideas, tradecraft and technology, and supplying additional opportunities to brief 

projects, further develop existing collaboration networks 

and gain increased recognition for NGA within the Africa 

geospatial analysis community. 
NGA Liaison Strengthens Space Operations By Robert B.

Space analysts with U.S. Strategic Command 

at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., now have “one-stop 

shopping” to fulfill their needs for National GeospatialIntelligence Agency products and services. A full-time 

NGA liaison officer has been assigned to STRATCOM’s 

Joint Functional Component Command for Space. This 

officer serves as the focal point for providing a full range 

of geospatial products and services.

JFCC–Space coordinates, plans, integrates, synchronizes and executes space operations to accomplish 

national objectives and support combatant commanders. In the past, support for JFCC–SPACE was usually 

provided through temporary duty personnel from the 

NGA Support Team (NST) at STRATCOM headquarters, 

Offutt Air Force Base, Neb. NGA recognized the need for 

a full-time NST staff officer to represent the agency at 

Vandenberg in supporting JFCC–SPACE.

The JFCC–SPACE Commander has established four key 

areas with which NGA has aligned its support: 

›› Gain and maintain space situational awareness

›› Assist with all-source intelligence fusion, in 

coordination with the JFCC–SPACE director 

of intelligence

›› Contribute to the continued development 

of space command and control, particularly 

with respect to appropriately established 

datasharing involving NGA resources 

›› Help improve space mission readiness through 

NGA’s training resources

Behind the liaison function at Vandenberg is an 

extensive array of interrelated NGA offices and NSTs 

that specialize in space issues, along with core NGA 

component offices. These combine to provide an 

unprecedented level of expertise and resources to 

the space mission sets. 

It all starts with leveraging dedicated NST space resources at STRATCOM headquarters. The NST, in concert 

with the NGA Time Dominant Operations Center, helps 

enable JFCC–SPACE intelligence analysts to set standards for critical mission information while providing 

ongoing updates against crucial indicators. This support 

also calls on specialized NGA analytical resources for 

longer-term analysis. These combined resources smooth 

the progress of space situation awareness for the commander of STRATCOM and the component commander of 

JFCC–SPACE.

The liaison officer joins a team of liaison officers from 

the Department of Defense and other agencies, embedded with JFCC–SPACE intelligence assets ensuring the 

fullest extent of operationally focused collaboration and 

complementary intelligence production.

This collaboration at Vandenberg mirrors ongoing 

intelligence fusion at STRATCOM and in the Washington, 

D.C., area, which serves to ensure the efficient command 

and control of space resources.

To augment these efforts, NGA Mobile Training Teams 

are also providing tailored on-site geospatial training to 

JFCC–SPACE intelligence personnel. 

Whether directed against imagery requirements or collection management, mission improvements will remain 

an ongoing challenge that NGA will continue to help 

meet. Space may be the “final frontier,” but meeting the 

needs of JFCC–SPACE is proving to be an adventure. 

Robert B. is the NGA liaison officer to the Joint 

Functional Component Command for Space.

14Pathfinder ›› March/April 2010

U.S. Air Force 2nd Lt. Melissa Huffman reviews data received on 

the Delta II site at the Joint Space Operations Center at Vandenberg 

Air Force Base, Calif. 

Air Force photo
15Pathfinder ›› March/April 2010

Base contractors work on a 

Pegasus rocket being prepared 

for launch from Vandenberg 

Air Force Base, Calif.

Air Force photo
Partnerships

COCOM Support Teams Exemplify Future of NSTs

By Laura L. Lundin

The future of geospatial intelligence, or GEOINT,

support to the warfighter will not depend on a single 

product or suite of technologies; instead it will rely on 

people—analysts, scientists and engineers with the 

National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency—who provide 

military commanders, intelligence partners and policy 

makers with critical analysis and products using an integrated, standards-based strategy.

NGA support teams, or NSTs, are vital to the GEOINT 

products the agency provides. Some of these teams 

of experts serve as direct, embedded support to the 

10 regional and functional combatant commands on a 

global scale, providing the nation’s military commanders 

with the analysis and tools that help shape decisions 

affecting the battlefront.

In mid-2009, NGA stood up the Military Operations 

Group within the agency’s Analysis and Production Directorate to address the evolution of the NST component 

to better align with the strategic vision of the National 

System for Geospatial Intelligence (NSG) and meet the 

ever-changing intelligence needs of the warfighter.

According to the 2009 NSG Statement of Strategic 

Intent, “The NSG vision is to create an integrated, collaborative community of GEOINT professionals embedded 

with our operational, national and international partners 

to meet their warfighting and intelligence needs.”

“The mission of the MOG is both to live up to the 

historical mission of the NSTs and also evolve to become 

the NSG enabler—to bring the full capabilities of the NSG 

vision and GEOINT analysis to the COCOMs,” said Joel N. 

Maloney, director of the MOG.

Because GEOINT encompasses a broad spectrum of 

imagery, imagery intelligence and geospatial 

16Pathfinder ›› March/April 2010 
information, NGA recognizes the importance of standardization and integration to provide the best support to all 

mission partners. 

“It’s important for us to realize the concept of Unified 

GEOINT Operations and how that absolutely relates to 

our continued success as we move into the future,” 

said Maloney. “Our goal is to lead GEOINT at those 

COCOMs across the board.” And since NGA serves as the 

functional manager of the NSG, the COCOM NSTs provide 

the perfect forum through which to carry out 

that strategic vision.

A History of Support

The MOG will enable the support teams to represent 

an NSG component that is integrated and collaborative 

in nature. “The MOG is the lens that will help focus the 

way; the goal is to focus those things that are working 

well and harmonize and standardize the best practices 

of the NSTs,” said Maloney.

Working alongside operational partners, the focus will 

be on using multisource technologies, policies, capabilities and expertise to provide everything from foundationbased products that supply baseline information, such 

as mapping support for targeting missions and GEOINT 

support for imagery collections, to special operations 

missions that require intelligence analysis that coincides 

with the operations tempo.

The NSTs, which were created in 2001, have a history 

of support to the COCOMs, providing critical skills in 

imagery and mapping, as well as helping military personnel and leadership understand the purpose of NGA’s 

products. With the focus on GEOINT and the creation 

of the NSG, the COCOM NSTs began to reflect the larger 

effort of analysis and expand the reach of support. 

“The NST concept has matured; now we need to pull 

together to focus and unify support to the COCOMs to be 

successful in meeting the mission needs that arise under 

the demanding intelligence operations tempo,” Maloney 

said. “We are acting to minimize delays and undertake 

more responsibility.”

The MOG has been deliberative in its approach, seeking to apply the best practices and provide the most 

innovative technologies and products while reducing 

duplication and bureaucratic processes that would 

otherwise complicate the ability to provide accurate 

analysis when it’s needed. 

17Pathfinder ›› March/April 2010

Embedded NGA Support Teams serve the regional and 

functional combatant commands 

Photo by Tony Boone
Locating NSTs within each command enables the 

teams to perform critical analysis rapidly and deliver it 

promptly. The teams draw complementary data from NGA 

and other agencies when necessary.

The U.S. Southern Command

One example of this integrated approach is demonstrated at the U.S. Southern Command NST. At the command’s request, NGA personnel are working proactively 

to support intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance 

(ISR) operations and exercises for U.S. embassies. Over 

the past months, the NST has supported several shortnotice ISR operations to countries all over the SOUTHCOM area of responsibility.

In one recent mission, NST analysts examined thousands of still images and hours of video from two days of 

flight operations over multiple areas in the SOUTHCOM 

region. Using softcopy data and performing analysis 

on laptop computers provided by NGA’s Expeditionary 

Operations, the analysts produced first-phase images 

and geospatial products quickly. These products were 

disseminated to analysts at SOUTHCOM headquarters as 

well as to U.S. embassy personnel for eventual release to 

the host nation.

The team also provides technical support to the command. One such effort addressed the challenges associated with ISR deployments and involved NST members, 

including the technical executive, the NGA InnoVision 

Directorate, the SOUTHCOM deputy director for collections and the U.S. Army Communications Electronics 

Research Development and Engineering Center. This integrated team developed a plan that enabled the WATCH-IT 

system, which makes imaging possible through tree 

cover, to be deployed and used by personnel in the field. 

The NST is leading the effort for permanent integration 

of the deployable WATCH-IT for use by the command 

when necessary.

A Global Operation

Overall, the 10 COCOM NSTs’ support to the warfighter 

comprises more than 500 personnel spread globally 

among COCOM bases and facilities. In addition, NGA has 

deployed hundreds of analysts and staff to both the Iraq 

and Afghanistan theaters, most of whom are embedded 

with U.S. forces in theater.

To help manage the overall scope and mission for all 

the NSTs, the MOG works closely with the Analysis and 

Production Directorate’s regional and functional offices 

as well as other offices within NGA, such as the Office of 

Geospatial Intelligence Management, the Source Operations and Management Directorate, the Enterprise Operations Directorate, and the InnoVision Directorate—the 

research and development arm of the agency—in an 

effort to provide the best products and services as well 

as examine future needs and capabilities.

“Maintaining and operating a global operation, 

with teams who are not in the NGA footprint, is 

challenging, so we must prioritize,” said Maloney. 

“The undersecretary of defense for intelligence and Joint 

Chiefs are also engaged in the review process and give 

us added insight into mission needs. The Director of 

National Intelligence and Congress help to inform and 

shape our future allocations.”

The process of standardization has proved challenging. Because each embedded NST brings a unique 

business process as well as various intellectual and 

philosophical underpinnings, changing some of the 

standards and practices can be arduous.

“There is always a trust issue, and a certain amount of 

a culture shift will need to take place,” Maloney stated. 

“The future will be challenging, so we need to rebalance 

our commitments; for mission success, the NSTs will 

not be static but fluid and work in full transparency as 

operational needs change.”

With the nation at war on multiple fronts, the sense 

of urgency that faces the GEOINT community is evident. 

As Vice Adm. Robert B. Murrett, Director of NGA, emphasized, “Geospatial intelligence plays a critical role in 

virtually every Intelligence Community and Department 

of Defense mission; we will not fail to partner as closely 

as possible with our counterpart agencies and ensure 

that GEOINT is effectively utilized whenever and wherever it is needed.” 

Laura L. Lundin is a public affairs officer in the Office 

of Corporate Communications.

18Pathfinder ›› March/April 2010
19Pathfinder ›› March/April 2010

Our Heritage

Knowing the Neighborhood

By Dr. Gary E. Weir

I grew up in a New York City housing authority

project near the City University of New York campus at 

Queens College. All of my earliest memories play out 

against a backdrop of seven-story apartment buildings, 

concrete playgrounds and shooting hoops as darkness 

descended on Public School 201’s park on hot summer 

nights, all to the rock ‘n’ roll sounds provided by WNEWFM. For better or worse, we all carry some of the old 

neighborhood with us for our entire lives. When President Obama reacted vigorously to the recent earthquake 

in Haiti, he referred to the Haitians as our neighbors in 

the western hemisphere. Preoccupied with many places 

in the world, addressing issues from poverty and illness 

to war and terrorism, Americans sometimes forget the 

neighborhood in this hemisphere and the important 

role it has played in the development of the agency 

and its tradecrafts.

NGA knows our neighborhood as well as Eastern Europe, 

Afghanistan, Iraq or any foreign 

land because in the years immediately after World War II, veteran 

colleagues in what became the 

Defense Mapping Agency, or DMA, 

decided to spend their days examining as much of this hemisphere 

as possible. In this case, American geodesists and cartographers 

with a sense of adventure, an 

urge to travel and an affinity for 

field work left the United States, 

sometimes for years, and became 

part of the scene in the Caribbean, Central America and South 

America. They joined the Inter-American Geodetic Survey 

when its work began on April 15, 1946. The IAGS formed 

a unique community of people who for 48 years surveyed 

and mapped the neighborhood in support of American 

foreign policy, commercial ambitions and national defense strategy.

Some of the most productive efforts of the IAGS took 

place during the Kennedy Administration’s ambitious 

and coordinated outreach to Latin America known as 

the Alliance for Progress. When the alliance began at an 

inter-American conference at Punta del Este, Uruguay, in 

August 1961, Col. John Unverforth had recently assumed 

command of IAGS for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. 

His responsibilities and challenges expanded swiftly 

with the Kennedy initiatives.

On all fronts, DMA proceeded to collaborate with the 

geographical and cartographic authorities in many Latin 

American countries to advance the necessary survey 

work: photographic, hydrographic and geodetic. Aviation 

support for survey operations along the Caribbean coast 

of Guatemala in the early 1960s directed by Al Holburn, 

IAGS, averaged 60 hours each month. The images would 

contribute to the composition of maps for the region 

designed to serve both the Latin American countries and 

the United States.

A Salvadoran 

survey party 

with the 

Inter-American 

Geodetic 

Survey. The 

IAGS surveyed 

and mapped 

Latin America.

IAGS photo

IAGS photo
20Pathfinder ›› March/April 2010 

With the advent of new electronic distance measuring equipment, some of the work went more quickly. At 

one point, IAGS treated the president of Honduras to a 

display and demonstration of the role played by the new 

technology in mapping his country. In 1962 the geodetic 

survey opened its first project in Paraguay, while also 

receiving a citation from the State Department for its 

work in the very delicate negotiations that established 

the proper border between Nicaragua and Honduras. At 

the opening of the Alliance for Progress initiative, Jack 

Staples became the IAGS project engineer in Colombia, 

working for the new officer in command Maj. Donald 

Curry. In late 1960, Curry and Staples sent 12 officers 

and 70 enlisted men in four C-130 transport planes to 

Bogota to fly the necessary photographic surveys of 

Colombia and surrounding countries. Doubtless the 

maps and data derived from those surveys have become 

particularly important in recent years. DMA surveyors 

also found themselves in extreme southern Chile placing 

tide gauges and running levels while experiencing gale 

force winds, 18 hours of daylight, and 45-foot tides, all 

under the watchful eyes of penguins and ostriches 

in the hundreds.

Only in Cuba did the IAGS mission contract. With the 

rise of Fidel Castro on that island in 1960, American cartographers and surveyors departed. Remaining as long 

as they could, Ray Johns and William Hidalgo soon left 

the island rather swiftly, abandoning some equipment, 

while ensuring that IAGS had sufficient photo surveys 

and ground control points for full map coverage of Cuba. 

Thus DMA had the data on Cuba needed by the Defense 

Department in 1962 when the missile crisis occurred.

The experience of frequent deployment, living out of 

vehicles and working with what you could carry served 

many IAGS surveyors well. It also served DMA and its 

successor, the National Imagery and Mapping Agency, 

given both the Latin American products that emerged 

from that effort and the groundwork laid for NGA Support 

Team development by our surveyors’ independence 

and initiative. Furthermore, as Operation Iraqi Freedom 

opened in 2003, the skills involved in journeying, living 

and working in remote areas enabled one IAGS veteran, 

as the first NIMA officer on site, to carve out a presence 

for what would soon become the National GeospatialIntelligence Agency. The roots of NGA’s service in Iraq 

reach back to this single person, who initially shared his 

very meager workspace with the command coffee pot. 

He did not mind. It felt a bit more stable than tracking 

the U.S. Navy’s Transit satellites with IAGS in pre-GPS 

days from the roof of a condemned building in Paraguay. 

NGA’s work in this hemisphere has provided enviable 

opportunities and helped to refine the way the agency 

conducts business at all levels. Always remember to 

value those memories of the old neighborhood. 

Dr. Gary E. Weir is the NGA historian.

IAGS photo

An Inter-American Geodetic Survey observation party in Ecuador. 

IAGS surveyors foreshadowed the NGA Support Teams through their 

independence and initiative.
21Pathfinder ›› March/April 2010

•	Act: Be the Global GEOINT Leader

•	Align: Balance Warfighting and

National Mission Requirements

•	Acquire: Discover and Use all

Sources of GEOINT

•	Access: Ensure GEOINT Access,

and Quality Analysis, with our

Partners

•	Accelerate: Demand Technologies

that Drive Community Solutions

•	Achieve: Invest in,and Challenge,

a more Diverse and Expert

Workforce

•	Advance: Seize the Opportunities

Presented by the NCE Era

NGA FOCUS AREAS

Know the Earth...Show the Way

2010
www.nga.mil