PAT

T h e G e o s p a t i a l I n t e l l i g e n c e 

HFINDER

M a g a z i n e

S e p t e m b e r / O c t o b e r 2 0 0 7

t h e n a t i o n a l g e o s p a t i a l - i n t e l l i g e n c e a g e n c y

N G A — Th e n a n d N ow,

B y Vi c e Ad m . Mu r ret t

N G A M ove s A h e a d i n 1 2 

Foc u s A re a s

Vol. 5 No. 5

Taking the

Right

Path

S e r v i n g t h e F r o n t L i n e
On My Mind

Focus Areas Guide NGA’s Strategic Direction

For the last several years, a climate of stability and continuity at NGA has allowed all of us to concentrate 

on our mission and move out on the vital and dynamic support that we provide for the nation and our 

allies. Based on last year’s transition with retired Lt. Gen. James Clapper, now Undersecretary of Defense 

for Intelligence, NGA’s Executive Leadership identified a list of enduring focus areas that would serve as the 

Agency’s framework for tackling challenges, advancing our role in the defense and intelligence communities, and strengthening the geospatial intelligence (GEOINT) discipline. Inevitably, our Agency will face 

many challenges, and NGA’s 12 Focus Areas will assist with our strategic direction over the next several 

years. This edition of the Pathfinder provides further insight into the 12 Focus Areas and discusses activity 

taking place under each. I am very proud of the work NGA has done to advance these 12 Focus Areas. Our 

progress to date has been impressive and, based on your efforts, will continue for the foreseeable future.

Partnerships and Multisource Analysis Are Key

Our nation and our allies continue to face rapidly evolving threats. In order to confront and defeat those 

threats, NGA, along with its Intelligence Community (IC), Department of Defense (DoD) and international 

partners, is advocating a culture of collaboration and integration. Three of our key Focus Areas are based 

on developing new ways of looking outward, expanding partnerships and strengthening our multisource 

analysis capabilities to better counter the threats of today and prepare for the future. Additionally, we are 

looking to use new sources and methods for gathering GEOINT data, including open-source information 

and imaging technology using the entire electromagnetic spectrum. By recognizing the growing needs of 

our mission partners and through our governance of the National System for Geospatial Intelligence, we 

continue to boost the acquisition of cutting-edge technologies for our workforce that will provide computerassisted query and search tools, as well as real-time coordination and rapid-response capabilities.

Workforce Can Expect Facility Enhancements 

Through our Focus Areas, NGA continues to improve its internal programs, business processes and 

governance structure to best meet the needs of our people. NGA’s leadership training, career development 

and award programs are top-notch and are viewed as best practices by the IC and DoD. We continue to 

improve and enhance our facilities and, over the next four years, will deploy our east mission to a new site 

in Springfield, Va. This change will affect every member of our workforce, and we are taking the necessary 

steps to ensure a smooth transition to our new, state-of-the-art facility. We will also continue to improve 

our facilities in St. Louis.

GEOINT Mission Will Continue to Expand

We as an Agency, a community and a nation must remain agile and adaptable to change. Threats to our 

nation will continue to evolve. New technologies will continue to be developed. The demands for GEOINT 

across the nation and with our allies will continue to grow. The NGA footprint and partnership with the 

IC will continue to expand. We must embrace these changes and position our resources to meet new 

challenges head-on. I am proud of the accomplishments NGA has made over the past year. The dedicated, 

talented and highly trained men and women of NGA remain steadfast in their commitment to the GEOINT 

mission, the mission sets of our partner organizations and the preservation of our national security. As we 

make progress against our Focus Areas, we will continue to strengthen the GEOINT tradecraft, expand our 

international and domestic partnerships, develop our workforce, upgrade our facilities and enhance our 

ability to provide timely, accurate and relevant GEOINT when and where it is needed most.

 Robert B. Murrett

Vice Admiral, USN

Director
13 36

4

Contents

2 Letter to Our Readers

3 Up Front: Continuous Learning Gets a New 

Approach

›› F E A T U R E S

4 NGA—Then and Now: Celebrating 10 Years of 

GEOINT

13 NGA Moves Ahead in 12 Focus Areas, Looks to 

Challenges of Future

14 NGA Establishes Unified GEOINT Operations

16 Initiatives Promote Diverse, Multi-Skilled 

Workforce

18 Training, Reviews and Hard Problems Scrutinized

19 Commercial Imagery Strategy Focused on Enduser

21 Three Achievements Crucial to Airborne 

Integration

23 Access on Demand is Goal of GEOINT Online

24 InnoVision Directorate Focuses on ‘After-Next’

26 Diverse Alignment Activities Focus on Customer

28 Actions Taken to Build International Relationships

30 New Campus Moves from Plans to 

Implementation

31 Do the Right Thing First

32 Strategy Achieved through Governance Framework

›› D E P A R T M E N T S

35 Partnerships: NGA and U.S. Coast Guard Come 

Together in Middle East

36 Working for NGA: NST Chief Values Collaboration 

in NSA Footprint

39 Our Heritage: GEOINT Analysis Reveals Life in 

Feudal Times

Pathfinder ›› September/October 2007 ›› Vol. 5 No. 5

On the Cover

Instructors train students to use the Global Positioning System (GPS) during an intensive 14-week advanced geodetic survey course at NGA’s School 

of Geospatial-Intelligence, part of the National Geospatial-Intelligence 

College at Fort Belvoir, Va. Members of this class include military personnel 

from the United States and coalition partners from the Czech Republic, 

South Korea and Taiwan. Taking the right path may require accurate GPS 

readings, made possible in part by NGA data. More than ever, it may also 

involve collaboration, based on the need to share geospatial intelligence 

quickly in response to threats, both natural and manmade. NGA has 12 

Focus Areas to ensure it stays on the right path. This issue looks at the 

progress made and challenges ahead. Photo by Tony Boone. 

 

1 Pathfinder ›› September/October 2007
2Pathfinder ›› September/October 2007 

PATHFINDER

Published by the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency

Office of Corporate Relations

Strategic Communications Branch (OCRNS)

4600 Sangamore Road, Mail Stop D-54

Bethesda, Maryland 20816-5003

Telephone: (301) 227-7388, 

DSN 287-7388, or

In St. Louis: (314) 263-4142, 

DSN 693-4142

E-mail: pathfinder@nga.mil

Director

Vice Adm. Robert B. Murrett

Office of Corporate Relations, Director

Paul Weise

Deputy Director

Art Haubold

Strategic Communications Branch, Chief

Louis Brune

Editor

Paul Hurlburt

Managing Editor

Jennifer Harris

Visual Communications Division, Chief

Richard Hardwick

Graphic Designer

Carmella Bender

Contributing Authors

Frank Calabrese

Anita Davis

Craig Donovan

Richard Fravel

Gary W. Fuller

Juanita Hartbarger

Vonna Weir Heaton

Danielle Henderson

David C. Hill

Jeff J. Leonard

Allene (Lainey) Mikrut

Ernie Moore

Lynne Mueller

Vice Adm. Robert B. Murrett

Kathleen Neary

Dr. Eileen M. Preisser

Gene Reich

Cynthia R. Ryan

Betsy K. Scrivener

Mark Shelberg

Dr. Gary E. Weir

GETTING PUBLISHED

All members of the geospatial intelligence community are welcome to submit articles of community-wide interest. Articles are 

edited for style, content and length. The copy deadline is the last 

Friday of the third month before publication. For details on submitting articles, send an e-mail to pathfinder@nga.mil.

The Pathfinder is the medium with which the National GeospatialIntelligence Agency enhances and promotes public awareness 

and understanding of the discipline of geospatial intelligence. The 

Pathfinder is an authorized Department of Defense publication for 

members of the Department of Defense. Contents of this publication are not necessarily the official view of, or endorsed by, the 

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

Pathfinder may be reproduced in whole or in part without permission, unless stated otherwise. If they are reproduced, please 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

Taking the Right Path

As NGA completes its yearlong decennial 

celebration, our Director, Vice Adm. Robert B. 

Murrett, takes a comprehensive look at what 

we’ve accomplished. NGA has responded to 

unprecedented threats to our nation, created a 

whole new discipline—geospatial intelligence 

(GEOINT)—and much more, he notes in “Then 

and Now, Celebrating 10 Years of GEOINT.”

After looking back with pride at how far we’ve 

come, the Director also brings us to the present 

and where we intend to go in the future. That 

direction was made clear in the 12 Focus Areas 

NGA’s executive leaders established as the 

Agency embarked on its second decade. Now, 

it’s time to ask the question, “Are we on the right path?” And so the Pathfinder 

asked experts representing the 12 Focus Areas to recount their milestones and 

discuss the challenges ahead.

To keep up the momentum and share the excitement, I encourage you to give 

these 12 Focus Area reports a close look. Together, they should give you the 

feeling that great strides are being taken across NGA. You will also see that the 

whole is greater than the sum of its parts, as progress in each Focus Area moves 

the whole Agency forward.

My desire for our friends outside of NGA is that this annual report will give you 

a better understanding of NGA’s many contributions and potential. For NGA readers, I hope it will give you insight into the accomplishments of colleagues outside 

your area and some of the challenges they face. Perhaps you will be motivated 

to collaborate even more and expand the impact of GEOINT across our broad 

mission set. 

Focus Area 1—“Look outward and be the most collaborative partner with the 

Intelligence Community (IC) and warfighter”—has received renewed emphasis. 

Soon after his appointment, Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell 

called for a different mindset within the IC, from “need to know” or even “need to 

share” to “responsibility to provide.” That spirit is captured by a recent deployer, 

who commented about how his job has changed. Before, he said, “We weren’t 

looking to resolve an issue, solve a problem or answer specific requests. We were 

just looking to make a product.” He continued: “I couldn’t have even imagined 

doing what I did on my last deployment, where my only goal was to get the customers what they needed. The best part of being a deployer was seeing the impact my analysis had on our warfighters.” Regardless of our where we sit in the 

Agency, we all need to capture that spirit and let it influence everything we do.

Paul R. Weise

Director, Office of Corporate Relations
In keeping with one of NGA’s 12 Focus Areas, investing in our people, the Acquisition Contracts Office (AC) 

has started an innovative program to encourage continuous learning. Called AC Continuous Experience, Skill and 

Study, or ACCESS, the program taps the knowledge of 

senior leaders, emphasizes team learning and takes advantage of online resources, all at little or no cost. 

NGA’s senior procurement executive, Sharon Parish, 

had charged staff to determine the best method of meeting training and education needs of the workforce as a 

supplement to Defense Acquisition Workforce Improvement Act (DAWIA) certification. Within 90 days, the 

ACCESS was born. 

Three characteristics of the program are essential for its 

success. First, ACCESS relies on the “TEAM” principle—Together Everyone Achieves More.” This aspect stresses the 

important role each AC professional plays in knowledge 

Up Front

Continuous Learning Gets a New Approach

By Ernie Moore

sharing and in the growth and development of their colleagues. Second, senior, more experienced employees in 

AC mentor, coach and share their knowledge, expertise 

and best practices with the less experienced staff. Finally, 

individual self-study of contracting and leadership 

competencies is encouraged and expected as a matter of 

routine. Collectively, these characteristics allow ACCESS to 

generate learning opportunities that are flexible, dynamic 

and just in time. 

Special features of ACCESS include an easy-to-use, online tool and an ACCESS Guide and Toolkit. The online tool 

provides structure for the continuous learning process and 

allows instantaneous access to a wealth of information 

that is pertinent and useful throughout NGA, the Department of Defense, the federal government and beyond via 

the World Wide Web. P

3Pathfinder ›› September/October 2007

Ernie Moore

coordinates the 

ACCESS program for 

the Acquisition Contracts 

Office as a contractor 

employee. 
NGA—Then and Now

Celebrating 10 years of GEOINT

By Vice Admiral Robert B. Murrett, Director, National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency

This year NGA celebrates 10 years of the geospatial 

intelligence (GEOINT) discipline. A decade ago, NGA’s 

predecessor, the National Imagery and Mapping Agency 

(NIMA), was formed when eight different organizations 

and a critical mass of skills and technologies were 

combined. NIMA’s essential experts brought together 

diverse capabilities to create ideas and possibilities never 

imagined before. This convergence laid the foundation 

for GEOINT and one unified mission. The creation of NGA 

in 2003 was an acknowledgment of this revolutionary 

step in both name and practice. Today NGA is the premier 

provider of GEOINT, supporting defense and intelligence 

missions worldwide and some of the nation’s most difficult intelligence challenges. In addition, NGA has played 

a key role in support of natural disaster and humanitarian 

crisis response and national security defense. From NGA’s 

discovery of ethnic cleansing atrocities in Kosovo to 

support for cities hosting the Olympics and response to 

Hurricane Katrina, NGA’s 10-year anniversary has been a 

yearlong celebration of an incredible legacy and a rich 

history of support. 

NIMA: The Early Years

NIMA was formed in October 1996 when the nation’s 

most capable imagery and geospatial assets were 

combined. NIMA brought together the Defense Mapping 

Agency, Central Imagery Office, Defense Dissemination 

Program Office and National Photographic Interpretation 

Center. This new Agency also incorporated parts of the 

CIA, Defense Airborne Reconnaissance Office, Defense 

Intelligence Agency and National Reconnaissance Office.

 From 1996 to 2003, the organizations forming NIMA 

were learning to work together. This posed many challenges, among them learning to work with personnel and 

missions from eight separate organizations, each with its 

own history and corporate culture. NIMA, however, continued the work of its predecessors. For example, the Agency 

influenced world events by creating animated renditions 

of imagery and geospatial data that allowed users to 

visualize inaccessible terrain. These types of technological 

innovations were the hallmark of NIMA’s formative years, 

even in the face of its greatest challenge: to consolidate 

diverse ideas, technologies and missions. 

NIMA’s first year saw unprecedented advances. As part 

of this, NIMA joined forces with the NASA Goddard Space 

Flight Center to create the Earth Gravity Model (EGM96). 

This revolutionary new model improved accuracy in 

Global Positioning System readings, satellite orbit determination and measurements collected by geodetic 

satellites, which meant more accurate navigation and 

targeting. 

NIMA: Expanding its Footprint

During the late 1990s, NIMA’s footprint expanded, bringing its technologies to regions of global 

concern. In 1997, NIMA produced 78 imageryderived maps covering a total of 13 million acres 

in support of the effort to suppress the wildfires 

in Indonesia. These maps not only helped the 

Indonesian authorities identify affected areas, 

but also enabled the U.S. military reserve 

units deployed to assist with fire suppression 

efforts. That same year, NIMA became the 

4Pathfinder ›› September/October 2007
5Pathfinder ›› September/October 2007

leader of the Image Collateralization Initiative, providing 

operational sites to electronically distribute secret collateral satellite imagery within the Department of Defense 

(DoD). By eliminating higher security restrictions, NIMA 

was better able to develop the system needed for this kind 

of imagery and ensure more timely delivery of its products 

to those who needed them.

In 1998, NIMA brought support to the decades-old border dispute between Peru and Ecuador. The new Agency 

created maps and image products used in the negotiations between Peruvian President Albert K. Fujimori and 

Ecuadorian President Jamil Mahuad. The conflict came to 

a conclusion on May 14, 1999 with a ceremonial laying of a 

boundary stone in the disputed area of the Amazon jungle. 

That same year, NIMA also provided support to Operation Desert Fox in Iraq. This conflict emerged when 

Baghdad was bombed by American and British forces for 

violating a United Nations order for inspection of weapons. NIMA’s role was to create products like digital terrain 

data over Iraq, which was used for mission planning. The 

Intelligence Community (IC) came together to support the 

operation, with NIMA playing an essential role in increasing weapon accuracy.

In 1999, NIMA supported Operation Allied Force 

in Kosovo. In that conflict, NIMA personnel provided 

NATO-led Operation Allied Force over Kosovo with maps, 

navigational support, imagery-derived products and 

intelligence briefings. These products were used not 

only by the 21,000 U.S. military personnel involved in 

the operation, but also by military personnel from the 

other 19 countries comprising NATO. Additionally, NIMA 

developed NIMA-in-a-Box in support of U.S. armed forces. 

The product is a combination of hardware (a notebook 

computer) and software containing NIMA’s imagery and 

geospatial information, providing on-the-spot information 

to deployed units. Two configurations of NIMA-in-a-Box 

were developed for Operation Allied Force in Kosovo.

In the late 1990s, NIMA assisted the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency and its international partners in stopping 

the production and international transport of illegal drugs 

through the production of reports monitoring suspected 

international drug trafficking in multiple hemispheres.

During that same time period, NIMA supported humanitarian relief efforts in Rwanda and Uganda with quickly 

produced Landsat images used by United Nations relief 

workers to deliver aid shipments to refugee camps.

At the beginning of the new century, NIMA was exploring new frontiers through the expansion of its technologies and capabilities. The Shuttle Radar Topography 

Mission (SRTM), launched aboard the Shuttle Endeavour 

in 2000, was a joint mission between NIMA and NASA. 

The Space Shuttle Endeavour spent 11 days in flight and 

acquired elevation data over approximately 80 percent of 

the Earth’s surface using the technique known as interferometric synthetic aperture radar. Producing this volume 

of quality data through cartographic means would have 

taken tens of thousands of extraction hours. 

After nearly a decade, SRTM data continues to yield 

data for a variety of scientific applications in geology and 

geophysics, including earthquake research, volcano monitoring and hydrological modeling. Civilian applications 

include enhanced approach and ground safety systems for 

aircraft and better location of cell phone towers. Military 

applications include improved flight simulators and missile and weapons guidance systems.

In 2000, as part of NIMA’s effort to enhance system 

capabilities and geospatial production tools, the National 

Imagery Exploitation System (NIES) replaced the Imagery 

Data Exploitation (IDEX II) system. The NIES included the 

Integrated Exploitation Capability (IEC), which provides 

access to both NGA and commercial imagery, all-source 

intelligence and tools for multi-intelligence data fusion. 

As part of the National System for Geospatial Intelligence 

(NSG), the NIES brought more accurate imagery and 

GEOINT to the warfighter in less time.

In support of the presidential inauguration in 2001, 

NIMA provided near real-time situational awareness 

for the first time by combining commercial maps, aerial 

photography and imagery in support of the military, Secret 

Service and FBI. In 2001, NIMA assisted U.S. agencies 

in charge of aiding the Ecuadorian government with the 

cleanup of a fuel spill affecting Ecuador’s Galapagos 

Islands. NIMA provided a map of the concentration of the 

spill. The map was essential to conducting the cleanup 

and preventing additional damage to the unique ecosystem of these islands. 

Even in light of NIMA’s many successes in advancing 

the geospatial discipline in the first years of the new century, there was no one event that defined NIMA’s history 

more than the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade 

Center and Pentagon. Never before had an attack of such 

magnitude been achieved on American soil. It was NIMA’s 
support following the terrorist attacks that spurred the 

recognition of GEOINT as an individual intelligence entity 

and ushered in a new era for the Agency. 

NGA and the Emergence of GEOINT

Two days after the Sept. 11 attacks, retired Air Force Lt. 

Gen. James R. Clapper Jr. took the helm as NIMA’s second 

director and first civilian director, succeeding geospatial 

pioneer Army Lt. Gen. James C. King. Soon after Clapper’s 

arrival, he began to promote products that emerged from 

a variety of new initiatives. This fusion of source and imagery that had emerged during Gen. King’s tenure at NIMA 

now became known as geospatial intelligence, or GEOINT. 

As Director of NGA, Clapper also assumed the role 

of GEOINT Functional Manager of the NSG. In this role, 

he quickly developed and published a series of formal 

communications that established a working doctrine for 

GEOINT. The first of these, the Geospatial Intelligence 

Basic Doctrine, appeared in July 2004.

The ensuing global war on terrorism and the events 

surrounding Sept. 11 dramatically changed the nature 

of NIMA’s priorities and products. Recognizing that new 

threats could occur at any time or place, Clapper decided 

to make regional analytic overview more robust and 

embed NIMA analysts throughout the combat support and 

IC networks. His innovative concept of a unifying discipline 

and doctrine evolved into a new agency name, the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA). 

NIMA officially became NGA with the Nov. 24, 2003, 

signing of the fiscal 2004 Defense Authorization Act. The 

name change was more than just semantics. It reflected 

both the new product NGA was developing as well as the 

growing unity of the Agency’s parts. GEOINT combined 

traditional geospatial, imagery and other resources to 

present digital representations of world locations and 

natural and manmade activities. This evolution meant 

that NGA could keep ever-growing masses of information 

up-to-date. The information or data could be quickly transmitted, easily stored and efficiently used by those in the 

military, civilian and national sectors. 

The passage of the Homeland Security Act in 2002 clarified NIMA’s role in supporting its national partners and 

helped strengthen the Agency’s relationship with other 

domestic agencies. After the Sept. 11 attacks, the Agency 

quickly began to utilize tactics, techniques, procedures 

and solutions it had long used overseas, applying them to 

domestic situations with congressional approval. 

Some of these new tasks included surveying the World 

Trade Center site to aid reconstruction efforts and supporting the CIA’s counterterrorism activities. NGA played a 

significant role in site examination and response planning 

for major national and international events, such as the 

Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City in 2002 and Turin in 

2006 and the summer games in Athens in 2004. During 

these events, NGA provided maps and GEOINT for training 

and security. The same period saw more involvement in 

newly intensified efforts to protect the President of the 

United States, Vice President and other high-ranking officials and provide better security for U.S. military and other 

government facilities.

To provide this support, NGA utilized the same capabilities for scene visualization, situation analysis, intelligence 

data fusion and contingency planning that were provided 

to its military customers. The same technology that 

enabled flight simulation was now being used for walkthrough and drive-through animations for special world 

events. Analysts collected data from a variety of sources, 

just as they did in support of the military. During deployments in support of security planners at national political 

conventions, NGA added commercially available terrain 

data, derived from radar, to avoid the limitations of cloud 

cover. Such high-resolution data has become the standard 

for other major, non-intelligence activities.

With the challenges, changes and events that transformed NIMA into NGA, there also emerged new tools 

and practices that better defined and advanced GEOINT. 

During Operation Allied Force in Kosovo, for example, NGA 

recognized the need for a deployable system that could 

withstand harsh terrain and environmental conditions. 

This new system had to move with the troops to bring 

more robust, timely and actionable GEOINT directly to 

wartime consumers. It was out of this idea that the Mobile 

Integrated Geospatial Intelligence System (MIGS) was 

born. MIGS is a mobile, fully self-sustaining suite of communications, life support and transportation equipment. 

It utilizes the High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle 

and includes a mounted satellite link, integrated power 

and server control and internal backup power. The MIGS 

has proven highly useful in military operations in the Near 

Photo © 2004 DigitalGlobe

Kabul International Airport, Afghanistan

6Pathfinder ›› September/October 2007
East and during cleanup operations after Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans in 2005. In each instance, the MIGS 

permitted remotely accessible GEOINT exploitation and 

the ability to reach back to other facilities for support.

Shortly after Sept. 11, NIMA developed systematic ways 

of using the emerging technology for real-time airborne 

tracking and targeting. Just prior to the launch of the 

military action in Afghanistan, NIMA set up new centers 

at three of its main offices for exploiting airborne imagery. 

In mid-2002, NIMA leadership established an Airborne 

Analysis Cell, recognizing airborne imaging platforms as 

an untapped source of raw intelligence. The cell was constructed in less than four months and improved support 

to U.S. combat forces. An Operational Fusion Center was 

also established, placing geospatial and imagery analysts 

together in the same spaces. This union of analysts created a synergy that provided even more complete and 

accurate answers to forces in the field.

On Oct. 7, 2001, in swift response to the attacks of Sept. 

11, NIMA’s new product, GEOINT, followed American forces 

into Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF). When OEF began, 

the Taliban controlled more than 80 percent of Afghanistan and seemed poised to overwhelm their domestic 

opponents. By Oct. 20, U.S. and coalition forces had 

destroyed virtually all Taliban air defenses, and U.S. Army 

Special Forces detachments joined with anti-Taliban leaders to coordinate operations on multiple fronts. By midDecember, U.S. Marines had secured Kandahar Airport, 

and the Taliban capital was in the hands of anti-Taliban 

forces. Within weeks, the combined international effort 

reduced the Taliban and al Qaeda to isolated pockets of 

fighters. Seventy-eight days after the beginning of combat 

operations on Dec. 22, Army Gen. Tommy Franks arrived 

in Kabul to attend the inauguration of the Afghan interim 

government. By mid-March 2002, the coalition removed 

the Taliban from power in Afghanistan. The U.S. Transportation Command addressed all force positioning and 

most logistical needs in theater through the assistance of 

special maps, aeronautical navigation data and NIMA-supplied GEOINT products.

On March 19, 2003, U.S., United Kingdom and other 

coalition forces began conducting military operations 

designed to depose Saddam Hussein and identify and 

remove any possible weapons of mass destruction in its 

possession. During Operation Iraqi Freedom, imagery from 

reliable commercial satellites supplemented the Agency’s 

own assets to supply the necessary imagery in support 

of diplomatic initiatives, humanitarian relief and reconstruction efforts. The military and humanitarian efforts in 

Afghanistan and Iraq spurred the largest overseas deployment of NGA personnel in the Agency’s history. 

Borrowing practices used by other agencies and defense consulting firms, NGA began embedding analysts 

with deployed customers. The NGA deployments formed 

part of a concerted effort to extend the NSG into each 

command headquarters and national government agency. 

By providing support team experts at each customer site 

to help interpret and manipulate GEOINT products and 

services, NGA gave warfighters and the IC a worldwide, 

firsthand intelligence baseline for their own analytical and 

operational needs.

 NGA’s support to some of the most difficult defense 

and intelligence missions extended to its support of 

several significant humanitarian efforts. In 2003, following 

the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster that killed the seven 

astronauts on board, NIMA analysts worked with NASA 

and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) 

to precisely map the likely trajectory of shuttle debris 

to focus search efforts more precisely. The NIMA efforts 

helped recover human remains and most of the dispersed 

debris.

Following the Dec. 26, 2004, undersea earthquake and 

subsequent tsunami in the Indian Ocean, NGA provided 

daily imagery products of the affected 

areas to agencies supporting 

humanitarian relief 

activities. 

7 Pathfinder ›› September/October 2007
8Pathfinder ›› September/October 2007

These agencies included the U.S. Agency for International 

Development’s Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance 

(OFDA) and the U.S. Pacific Command (PACOM). 

With these geospatial products, OFDA and PACOM 

determined priorities for emergency relief efforts and 

orchestrated the deployment of life-supporting supplies and personnel to the region. 

The imagery products showed the 

scope of the damage caused by the 

earthquake and resulting tsunami. 

NGA assessed the impact on infrastructure, including damage to roads, 

bridges, ports and airfields, and identified how that destruction affected access 

to damaged areas. 

In the fall of 2005, NGA was poised 

to provide unprecedented support for 

relief efforts during the most destructive 

hurricane season on record. Before the 

first waves hit the Louisiana shore on 

Aug. 29, 2005, NGA’s assistance to 

Hurricane Katrina relief had begun. For 

first responders from the Gulf Coast 

counties in the hurricane’s path, the 

Agency provided numerous graphics 

for relief efforts that depicted the 

locations of major airports, police 

and fire stations, emergency 

operations centers, hazardous 

Photo courtesy of Department of the Army © 2005 DigitalGlobe

NGA photo by Phil McCabe
9Pathfinder ›› September/October 2007

materials, highways and schools. FEMA and other government agencies effectively utilized NGA information and 

products, which were based on imagery from commercial 

and U.S. government satellites and American military 

airborne platforms. 

In support of both Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, NGA 

forward-deployed more than two dozen analysts and two 

MIGSs to the affected areas to provide timely, on-site 

support.

GEOINT’s New Frontiers

Over the last 10 years, GEOINT has demonstrated its 

unique ability to illuminate critical situations 

in ways that permit relevant intelligence and military 

policy decisions and humanitarian response actions. Today NGA is meeting the ever-increasing need for relevant 

and responsive GEOINT in an era of unprecedented global 

change. As the Agency’s priorities evolve and shift with 

changing times, new challenges emerge. 

To ensure NGA’s success in this new environment, the 

Agency’s leaders developed 12 strategic goals. These 12 

Focus Areas are designed to guide NGA’s strategic direction, enable the Agency to better accomplish its objectives 

and align the Agency with the nation’s larger intelligence 

and defense directives. 

NGA photo by Rich Benjamin
10Pathfinder ›› September/October 2007

One of the Focus Areas 

calls on NGA to “look outward 

and be the most collaborative partner with the IC and 

warfighter,” setting a high 

standard for collaboration 

and integration across the 

intelligence and defense 

communities. At the swearing-in ceremony for the new 

Director of National Intelligence in 

February this year, President Bush charged Director Mike 

McConnell to “better integrate” and continue to improve 

collaboration within the IC. Soon after, Director McConnell 

announced the need to move the IC beyond the “need-toknow” and “need-to-share” philosophy to a “responsibility to provide” mindset.

Recognizing that increased collaboration is key to its 

mission success, NGA has invested heavily in building 

collaboration based on three key principles: partnerships, 

technology and standards.

Partnerships

NGA has a strong tradition of collaborating with colleagues across government, non-profit academia and 

industry arenas to exchange ideas, share best practices, 

display new GEOINT solutions and technologies and 

discuss potential tradecraft advances as they relate to 

GEOINT. 

NGA is not the only producer of GEOINT in the government, but it is the only agency with the unique and important role as the Functional Manager for the NSG. The NSG 

vision is an integrated collaborative community of GEOINT 

professionals embedded within the Agency’s operational 

partners to meet their warfighting and intelligence needs. 

Through the NSG, NGA strives to combine technology, 

policies, capabilities, doctrine, archives, people, data and 

communities necessary to produce GEOINT in an integrated multi-intelligence, multi-domain environment.

Experience has shown that embedding personnel with 

mission partners is the most effective way to ensure 

GEOINT is accessed, understood and absorbed. Since 

2003, NGA has made a concerted effort to embed personnel with IC, DoD and coalition partners through its NGA 

Support Teams. NGA continues to provide the precise 

“foundation” of knowledge about the Earth that all other 

intelligence disciplines build upon. At present, NGA personnel are on the ground in about 150 locations around the 

world, putting GEOINT to use as part of the mission team. 

NGA is also increasingly relying on international partners 

to move GEOINT into new arenas. Foreign partnerships enable data and analytic exchanges that enhance the effectiveness of coalition activities. These additional sources of 

data also improve the timeliness and cost-effectiveness of 

NGA’s GEOINT products. In the complex, frequently volatile 

world of international affairs, one constant remains: the 

need to deepen existing relationships and explore new 

ones as the globalization of GEOINT continues. 

NGA’s contractual relationships with industry also remain an integral part of the overall success of the GEOINT 

tradecraft. In January 2003, NGA established the Industry 

Interaction Program to serve as the single point of contact 

for industry to interact with NGA. This streamlined process 

facilitates collaboration on topics of potential interest 

to NGA, with the goal to make it easier to bring ideas 

and products right to NGA’s doorstep. NGA will continue 

expanding and developing the relationship with industry 

to successfully manage the intelligence challenges of 

tomorrow.

Technology

NGA’s mission partners have a growing need for userfriendly and responsive access to GEOINT information and 

services in the current online, on-demand environment. 

In addition to providing information on demand, NGA is 

moving toward a source-agnostic tasking, processing, 

exploitation and dissemination architecture. This means 

that the source of data is transparent to the end user.

Prior to 2003, NGA relied primarily on information from 

government satellite systems. Also, the Agency had little 

ability to ingest or disseminate still or motion imagery, and 

commercial imagery was received via hard media. Today 

NGA is able to exploit foreign sources and airborne still 

photography and full motion video feeds and can process 

electronic images collected through commercial imagery.

The Agency has made a significant investment to better 

integrate capabilities and technology with commercially 

available products, increase information sharing with 

mission partners and expand available mission support 

today and in the future. Commercially available products 

are enabling information to travel to the front lines more 

quickly and are better tailored to consumer needs. Prior 
to NIMA/NGA, DoD and the IC were dependent on 300 

IDEX workstations at 11 sites worldwide. Today, NGA has 

installed over 3,000 IEC high-performance exploitation 

workstations at over 150 sites worldwide. 

NGA is working to facilitate Agency-wide transformation toward the dynamic, market-driven provisioning of 

geospatial data and services. By strengthening acquisition 

processes, NGA is better able to leverage commercially 

available technology and align GEOINT capabilities to 

changes in the operating environment. Because they 

are unclassified sources of geospatial data, commercial 

products facilitate broader information sharing with an 

ever-expanding number of domestic, intelligence, military 

and international mission partners.

For example, through an NGA partnership with industry 

leaders, the public has access to commercial geospatial 

imagery through the “public access” tab at http://www.

NGA-Earth.org. First established in 2005 in direct response 

to Hurricane Katrina, NGA Earth provides current imagery 

to first responders, aiding in rescue and recovery efforts, 

while also providing unclassified views of the world in 

support of military and intelligence customers. In the near 

future, NGA Earth will deliver expanded area coverage, 

additional third-party data and near real-time unclassified 

imagery for operational planning. 

Standards

As the functional manager for GEOINT, NGA has the 

responsibility for establishing GEOINT standards to ensure 

data is readily discoverable, accessible and usable. Data 

standards are critical for data sharing and collaboration and essential for Unified Geospatial Operations 

among NGA’s mission partners. The National Center 

for Geospatial Intelligence Standards has engaged the 

GEOINT community and private sector to develop and 

mature a set of standards and specifications that will enable data and service interoperability in the context of a 

service-oriented architecture. These standards allow NGA 

to exploit all possible resources for data and ensure NGA 

can better provide the right GEOINT to the right consumer.

More to Come

These NGA initiatives illustrate how innovative technologies, capabilities and business practices are paving 

the way for multi-use and cross-over GEOINT products. 

GEOINT’s ever-increasing relevance in combat and intelligence operations, disaster relief and homeland security 

planning highlight the need to continue providing userfriendly, timely and robust GEOINT. As in the past, NGA 

will continue to adapt as new priorities emerge, evolving 

with the changing environment. The NSG will work to 

best leverage commercial products to ensure delivery of 

predictive and actionable GEOINT to key decision makers. 

The applications for GEOINT are potentially limitless, and 

NGA will continue to explore new frontiers in exploiting 

all available sources and methods for GEOINT-derived 

products—today and beyond. P

This article also appears in Space Vision 21, a publication of Belmont International Inc.

11Pathfinder ›› September/October 2007 

Photo courtesy of DoD
12Pathfinder ›› September/October 2007 

1 2 3

4 5 6

7 8 9

10 11 12
NGA Moves Ahead in Focus Areas, Looks to 

Future Challenges

Last fall the Executive Leadership Group, in a collaborative, cross-directorate effort, met to consider the 

key challenges facing NGA and build on the Agency’s rich 

tradition of mission success. The executives considered 

ways to strengthen the geospatial intelligence (GEOINT) 

tradecraft, expand mission partnerships, develop the 

workforce and work environment, promote business transformation and foster overall mission success.

As a major outcome of their efforts, the executive leaders chose 12 Focus Areas to drive NGA’s strategic direction, 

enable the Agency to better accomplish its objectives, 

and align with the nation’s larger intelligence and defense 

objectives.

In the articles that follow, representatives of each Focus 

Area discuss the progress made in their Focus Area during 

the last year and the challenges that remain.

The Focus Areas are as follows:

» Look outward and be the most collaborative partner 

with the Intelligence Community and warfighter

» Invest in our people, with a commitment to diversity, 

to preserve our nation’s GEOINT advantage

» Strengthen quality of analysis in concert with other 

intelligence community partners

» Develop and execute a comprehensive 

commercial imagery strategy

» Integrate airborne with National Technical Means and 

other sources

» Implement an information technology structure to 

provide access to and discovery of GEOINT 

» Advance basic research and development of leadingedge science and technology

» Achieve front-end-back-end alignment extending 

from collection platforms, to building a foundation 

knowledge base, to providing comprehensive access 

to and assimilation of NGA products and services

» Build new and enhance enduring international 

partnerships

» Transform mission performance through the New 

Campus East and further development of our facilities 

in the West 

» Maintain the highest standards of conduct 

» Strengthen governance and performance 

management P

13Pathfinder ›› September/October 2007 
Focus Area 1

Look Outward and Be the Most Collaborative Partner With the IC and Warfighter

NGA Establishes Unified GEOINT Operations

By Frank Calabrese

For NGA, collaboration is the deliberate linking of 

people, the processes they employ and the systems they 

use across the National System for Geospatial Intelligence 

(NSG) and the national security community. NGA recognizes the importance that collaboration plays in analyzing 

and reporting on crucial geospatial intelligence (GEOINT) 

issues and strives to be a lead partner in using this 

important tool. In fact, the Director of NGA has challenged 

the NSG community and NGA to set the collaboration 

standard for the broader community in a multi-intelligence 

(multi-INT) environment.

Unified GEOINT Operations

Since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, moving 

from a “need to know” model to a “need to share” model 

in the intelligence business has become a rallying cry. 

Unity of effort is now the predominant theme, and that’s 

what Unified GEOINT Operations (UGO) delivers.

A new way of thinking about the GEOINT business 

process, UGO is a collaborative and coordinated effort to 

assess, align and execute GEOINT analysis and production across the NSG and its partner organizations. UGO 

is based on shared responsibility and trust to optimize 

GEOINT capabilities in a rationally prioritized, needsbased approach to analysis and production. 

UGO initiatives include the formation of collaborative 

communities, adoption of collaboration tools and procedures, development of an NSG analysis and production 

strategy, documentation of a UGO model and concept of 

operations, and issuance of an NSG community directory. 

Collaboration Initiatives

NGA promotes collaboration through town halls hosted 

by senior leaders, through small group sessions and by 

rewarding collaborative efforts. 

14Pathfinder ›› September/October 2007 

U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Ronald Reeves
With guidance and training, NGA has championed the 

use of emerging collaborative tools, such as wiki sites, 

blogs and chat rooms. It has established Communities of 

Practice and Communities of Interest, where teams share 

similar interests, tradecraft or goals. And it has appointed 

issue managers to ensure the integration of their functional or regional issues with other efforts both within and 

external to NGA. A recently created analysis cell in one 

physical location provides a multidisciplinary collaborative 

environment in which analysts can study specific issues. 

NGA also hosts numerous Intelligence Community forums, 

working groups and facility visits.

Joint duty—working in other organizations on a temporary basis—is a priority at NGA. Such collaboration allows 

participants to widen their perspective and cultivate crossorganizational networks, facility knowledge and information sharing. To foster collaboration, NGA has undertaken 

activities to acquire appropriate accesses for production 

analysts, expanded the number of accessible workstations and worked closely with the Office of the Director 

of National Intelligence on its collaborative initiatives. 

Collaborative activities have also included the use of seals 

from both collaborating agencies on products. 

Challenges to the accomplishment of these activities 

include the efforts required in securing the appropriate 

hardware and software that streamlines collaboration 

as well as time constraints imposed on the workforce 

required to achieve acceptance and familiarization of new 

tools and procedures. The benefits will be seen in the 

quality of NGA’s products and services.

One future goal is the development of a GEOINT 

Knowledge Base (GKB), a virtual repository for all GEOINT 

holdings and analytic support material. GKB will provide 

Web-based services for the discovery and dissemination 

of GEOINT, allowing access for analysts to engage in collaborative multi-INT analysis and product generation.

Collaboration is certainly not limited to the analytic 

ranks. Plans call for operators of source collection assets, 

with specialized knowledge of the assets they control, to 

work together to allocate tasking in a manner that best 

optimizes and synchronizes collection utility. 

The Future Is Now

Collaboration challenges the cultural mindset of retaining knowledge in a close-hold environment. It requires a 

paradigm shift among community analysts and leadership 

commitment. In summary, the keys to successful collaboration consist of a network of community expert partners, 

interoperable access to sources, enabling tools and information, and a culture that values, encourages and rewards 

outreach. P

15Pathfinder ›› September/October 2007

Frank Calabrese

is a staff officer in the 

Analysis and Production 

Directorate.
Focus Area 2

Invest In Our People, With a Commitment to Diversity, to Preserve Our Nation’s 

GEOINT Advantage

Initiatives Promote Diverse, Multi-Skilled Workforce

By Betsy K. Scrivener and Allene (Lainey) Mikrut 

The 500 graduates of Annandale (Va.) High School

this year represented 89 nations and spoke 29 languages. 

The keynote speaker, news anchor Maureen Bunyan of 

WJLA-TV in Washington, a foreign-born black woman, told 

the class that she grew up in the 1960s when the world 

was a far different place from the one into which they were 

embarking. She predicted that theirs would be the generation that would elect a black president and a woman 

president and pass a constitutional amendment to allow 

a foreign-born American citizen to become president. 

So many dreams! All that diversity! It’s not just a vision 

anymore.

Today’s graduates are tomorrow’s NGA workforce. The 

Human Development Directorate (HD) and Office of Diversity Management and Equal Employment Opportunity 

(ODE) have been charged with implementing Focus Area 2. 

ODE has a number of programs under way to support a 

diverse and inclusive working environment to build a 

culture of partnership, collaboration, inclusion and 

respect. The office is revamping its training approach to 

ensure that training on diversity, equal employment opportunity, reasonable accommodation and 

alternative dispute resolution is integrated into all 

NGA training programs, including supervisory and 

leadership programs.

As a strategically focused organization, HD 

leads NGA in fostering a positive, creative culture 

of excellence in geospatial intelligence (GEOINT). 

Workforce Excellence (WE) at NGA is a corporate strategy 

that broadens the Agency’s commitment to Focus Area 2 

and documents NGA’s pledge to invest in its most valuable 

resource, its people. (See the sidebar on Workforce Excellence (WE) at NGA.) 

Recognizing a need to be proactive in developing Intelligence Community Officers (ICOs), HD has also established 

the Civilian Joint Duty Assignments Office (CJDA). Expertise in more than one intelligence discipline contributes to 

the GEOINT product. CJDA will bring together at NGA ICOs 

from across the community who have experience in more 

than one discipline. These are the people who will become 

the leaders of tomorrow anywhere across the Intelligence 

Community (IC). NGA personnel will be available to other 

IC agencies and return to NGA equipped with skills and 

talents previously untapped.

Investing in workforce skills is critical. So, too, is fitness 

and good health. NGA’s Advantage Fitness Program (AFP) 

is now permanent at NGA. The program gives employees 

flexibility to make physical fitness part of their lives. A 

regular exercise program keeps the individual mentally 

alert and physically fit, improves health and enhances the 

quality of work life and work product.

NGA continues to offer a variety of alternate work schedules, flexible work arrangements and leave options for 

employees to use in balancing their work and life needs. 

The ultimate goal of these and other accomplishments 

is a diverse workforce that emulates America so that NGA 

can have the right people in the right place at the right 

time to preserve our nation’s GEOINT advantage. P

16Pathfinder ›› September/October 2007

Betsy K. Scrivener and Allene (Lainey) Mikrut

Betsy K. Scrivener supports NGA as a contractor employee. 

Lainey Mikrut is Chief of the Diversity Management Division, Office of Diversity Management and Equal Employment Opportunity.
Workforce Excellence (WE) at NGA

By Kathleen Neary

Signed into effect by NGA 

Director Vice Adm. Robert 

B. Murrett last March, 

Workforce Excellence (WE)

at NGA is a strategy to 

meet personnel needs 

now and in the future.

WE at NGA lays out 

a course of specific 

actions and activities 

to accomplish over 

the next five years 

to strengthen and 

support the NGA 

workforce. The 

document derives 

its strategic intention 

from the human capital plans of the 

Department of Defense and the Office of the Director 

of National Intelligence. The strategy reflects actions 

specific to NGA within the larger context of its role as a 

member of the defense and intelligence communities. 

Similarly, it supports the broader government-wide effort 

to further integrate the disparate elements of the communities and spur collaboration and engagement across 

agencies, commands and other parties. 

WE at NGA acknowledges that meeting today’s mission 

challenges and preparing for the future will require a 

technically superior NGA workforce that is more agile 

and empowered than ever before. The strategy provides 

guidance for addressing workforce challenges through a 

framework represented by three overarching goals.

Goal 1: A mission-ready workforce. The emphasis of this 

goal is on ensuring that the NGA workforce is aligned to 

the mission and fully prepared (developed and skilled). 

Through appropriate workforce planning, NGA can 

determine skill issues and meet them head on to close 

the gaps.

Goal 2: A leadership corps that is engaged in and 

responsible for the continual development of the workforce. Recognizing that leadership is crucial to ensuring 

that the workforce is equipped to perform the mission, 

this goal focuses on ensuring leadership responsibility. Leaders have a tremendous responsibility to leave 

behind a legacy of success through the development 

of the workforce. This goal emphasizes appropriate 

leadership and supervisory training, effective alignment 

within the organization, support tools and processes, 

and accountability procedures.

Goal 3: An “NGA Employee Value Proposition” that 

reflects a work environment committed to individual 

growth and mission performance. Goal 3 sets out to 

differentiate NGA from the multitude of organizations 

seeking a talented workforce with similar skills. In this 

regard, an “Employee Value Proposition” was created to 

encapsulate the unique and distinctive benefits of being 

part of the NGA team and demonstrate how NGA is an 

employer of choice. It’s not enough to package these 

descriptors without ensuring they are embraced. Within 

this goal, measures of success will be created to engender full commitment across the Agency to deliver:

• important work in a safe and secure work environment

• performance-based compensation

• a learning environment

• a diverse and inclusive workforce

• balance between work and life.

Kathleen Neary

is Chief of the Strategic Workforce 

Planning Branch.

17Pathfinder ›› September/October 2007
Focus Area 3

Strengthen Quality of Analysis in Concert With Other Intelligence 

Community Partners

Training, Reviews and Hard Problems Scrutinized

By Danielle Henderson

Strengthening the quality of analysis has been a

long-standing, all-encompassing concern of national 

security. NGA has several initiatives under way to bolster 

the quality of geospatial intelligence (GEOINT) analysis in 

concert with other Intelligence Community (IC) partners. 

Analyst Training Strengthened

The Analysis and Production Directorate has developed 

a Strategic Communications Plan to engage the workforce 

in a two-way information exchange on quality. The plan 

includes briefings and training on the Terrorism Prevention 

Act, intelligence reform and various quality activities. 

It also aims to build understanding of the directorate’s 

strategic vision.

Another training initiative is a three-day, intermediatelevel Structured Analytic Tools and Techniques Workshop. 

Structured analysis uses tools and techniques to mitigate 

bias and mindsets by exploring and challenging analytical 

arguments. Participants are introduced to 14 tools that 

have proven to be very effective in reducing analytical 

errors and strategic surprises in intelligence analysis. 

Examples of these tools include a key assumptions check, 

a look at indicators, brainstorming, an analysis of competing hypotheses and the “devil’s advocate.” These tools 

and techniques have been taught throughout the IC, including the CIA, Defense Intelligence Agency, Department 

of Homeland Security and FBI.

Quality Programs Expanded

NGA has expanded the Intelligence Quality Review Program from a single office to multiple locations. This expansion increases the number of post-production reviews 

available to NGA’s intelligence production offices as well as 

the capacity for hosting managers, analysts and editors in 

a two-week guest review program. During the two weeks, 

guests learn how to efficiently and effectively review 

intelligence products and provide constructive feedback 

to producers using the NGA quality-assurance checklists. 

These have been revised to align with standards of the 

Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI).

An initiative currently under way, called Critical-to-Quality (CTQ), focuses on the efficiency and impact of analysis. 

Data integrity is crucial to carrying out the mission and 

ensuring that appropriate intelligence is analyzed consistently and proportionally to the issue. Providing a systemic approach to performance analysis, CTQ is assisting 

NGA in conceptualizing new ways to operate and identifying the associated changes involving people, processes 

and technical capabilities. CTQ is designed to facilitate the 

quality of intelligence, increase productivity and improve 

communications with NGA customers, stakeholders and 

mission partners.

Several quality-enhancing forums have been carried 

out. Most recently NGA conducted a senior-leader offsite 

focused on analytic quality. Guest speakers from ODNI 

briefed on issues related to quality. The leaders identified 

a number of promising best practices that they will explore 

further in their organizations. 

Hard Problems Studied

NGA participated in the DNI’s 2007 Summer Hard 

Problem Program (SHARP). This initiative was conceived 

by ODNI to improve the quality of analysis, as called for 

by Congress and the Commission on Weapons of Mass 

Destruction. Participants engaged with external experts 

on a problem of critical interest to the IC. The program 

lasted four weeks and enhanced the IC’s ability to collect, 

analyze and integrate intelligence relevant to threats to 

national security. NGA will continue to identify methods 

and processes for improving analytic quality in partnership with ODNI.

In the future, GEOINT analysis will continue to be applied across regional and global issues. Analysis will vary 

with complexity and require data models and standards 

that allow interoperability. Recognizing the need for the 

future is one step in ensuring quality of analysis. Carrying 

out the need and implementing it strategically across the 

IC ensures our national security. P 

18Pathfinder ›› September/October 2007

Danielle Henderson

is the Geospatial Intelligence 

Quality Assurance Office 

Communication and Outreach 

 Officer.
19Pathfinder ›› September/October 2007

Focus Area 4

Develop and Execute a Comprehensive Commercial Imagery Strategy

Commercial Imagery Strategy Focused on End-user

By Jeff J. Leonard and Lynn Mueller

As an unclassified source, commercial imagery is 

used extensively when data sharing and interoperability 

are critical; this ability to share is an immensely valuable 

asset. Commercial imagery is available in many different 

resolutions, spectral bands, modes and accuracies, supporting a diverse array of defense, intelligence, federal, 

civil and coalition partners. Applications range from 

defense and military operations to disaster response and 

relief efforts.

NGA’s commercial imagery strategy has three components:

1. A focus on end-users of commercial imagery in the 

National System for Geospatial Intelligence (NSG) and 

the tools, training and infrastructure to support them

2. An acquisition strategy that ensures access to all 

relevant commercial imagery sources across NGA’s 

customer base

3. Web services and tools to support ordering, ingesting, discovering, disseminating and exploiting commercial imagery across domains

Focus on End-users 

In the first six months of 2007, the outreach staff of 

NGA’s Commercial Remote Sensing (CRS) program briefed 

or attended more than 45 events. Outreach briefs, covering topics such as program overview, policy, licensing, 

capabilities, current architecture and discovery and dissemination tools, have reached over 1,000 end-users. 

In addition to traditional defense and intelligence customers, audiences included civil agencies such as the Bureau 

of Land Management, Forest Service, National Oceanic 

and Atmospheric Administration, U.S. Geological Survey 

and the Office of Surface Mining and many others. Demand has nearly doubled in the past year. 

Commercial imagery representatives sit at various NGA 

and customer facilities to offer support on demand to 

commercial imagery users. NGA is also working to incorporate commercial imagery into its formal training programs.

Acquisition Strategy 

Through its NextView program, NGA is monitoring the 

development of two commercial satellite systems to ensure the future availability of commercial imagery for customers. NGA guarantees the availability of high-resolution 

imagery from U.S. commercial satellites through contracts 

under this program. Both satellites are scheduled for 

launch this year. NGA also gathers satellite and airborne 

imagery from civil, foreign and other commercial sensors.

To ensure best value for its customers, NGA has negotiated broad licensing agreements that allow for the same 

image to be shared by users in the defense and intelligence communities. Dissemination statistics indicate that 

each image is used an average of 2.8 times.

Since 2000, NGA has acquired approximately 66 million 

square kilometers of high-resolution commercial satellite 

imagery. Given increasing demand, NGA projects that it 

Lytle Creek, Calif.: Comparison of natural color versus near-infrared 

multispectural bands reveals in contrast burned areas from the stillhealthy vegetation. 

Baghdad, IZ: Inset of a GeoEye near-infrared composite reveals well-watered 

palace grounds with pool. Water’s absorption of infrared energy produces 

returns that indicate the deep end of pool (north). 

©2003, DigitalGlobe ©2003, DigitalGlobe

©2000 Space Imaging, LLC 

(All Rights Reserved)

©2000 Space Imaging, LLC 

(All Rights Reserved)

QuickBird Natural Color Image QuickBird Color Near-Infrared Image
will buy more than 69 million square kilometers in both 

fiscal 2008 and 2009.

Web Services and Tools

NGA’s primary exploitation and production system, 

the Integrated Exploitation Capability, is being upgraded 

to provide analysts the ability to discover, retrieve and 

download commercial imagery. Already deployed to several sites, the upgrade allows commercial imagery to be 

delivered and exploited much like national sources. 

Infrastructure modifications are under way to accommodate increases in data volume from future U.S. satellites and from the growing number of foreign satellites 

and commercial airborne sources. This will allow users to 

take full advantage of expanding capabilities and different 

types of commercial data.

NGA offers Web-based information management 

systems that provide the capability to capture customers’ 

commercial imagery requirements, perform geospatial 

imagery research, order commercial imagery and download imagery on all networks.

A Look Ahead 

NGA has made significant progress in its comprehensive commercial imagery strategy and is investing in its 

infrastructure to prepare for the future. Two major challenges to the successful accomplishment of this objective 

are the standardization of data and the dissemination of 

very large volumes and varieties of data. As the number 

and variety of sensors and the volume of data they 

generate increases, NGA must promote, develop and 

adopt standards that will allow for these to be efficiently 

ingested into the NSG.

NGA is actively pursuing transition of U.S. high-resolution commercial satellite imagery to the National Imagery 

Transmission Format (NITF) standard of the Department 

of Defense and Intelligence Community. Compliance with 

NITF 2.1 will provide enhanced imagery compression and 

metadata (information describing a dataset) and improve 

data flow. Because NGA’s customer base is not only 

geographically dispersed, but spans a broad spectrum 

of infrastructures, the dissemination demands related to 

commercial imagery are equally complex.

Bolstered by the accomplishments to date, the CRS 

Program is committed to full-scale implementation of the 

comprehensive commercial imagery strategy that is so 

critical to NGA’s mission to provide accurate, timely, meaningful GEOINT to its customers. P

Jeff J. Leonard and Lynn Mueller

Jeff J. Leonard has more than 

20 years’ experience in commercial remote sensing, including 

10 years as president of EarthData 

International. He is currently a contractor employee supporting the 

NGA Commercial Solutions Division. 

Lynn Mueller was an account manager with SPOT Image Corp. and Erdas Inc. and Director of Sales for 

Core Software Technology. She is currently a contractor employee 

supporting the NGA Commercial Solutions Division.

20Pathfinder ›› September/October 2007
Focus Area 5

Integrate Airborne With National Technical Means and Other Sources

Three Achievements Crucial to Airborne Integration

By Gene Reich

The challenge of airborne integration is considerable, encompassing systems, processes and lines of 

jurisdiction. However, NGA’s vision for airborne integration 

is clear. 

“In order for airborne integration to be successful, the 

geospatial intelligence (GEOINT) data source needs to be 

invisible to the user community,” the Airborne Executive 

Agent of the National System for Geospatial Intelligence 

(NSG) said. “National Technical Means, airborne and 

commercial data should appear together in the same 

profile, allowing the analyst to select the best imagery to 

meet stated requirements. We must develop a seamless 

enterprise solution with common standards to allow 

interoperability among all relevant systems: one GEOINT 

source—one Agency solution!”

Getting to “one Agency solution” will not be easy. 

However, the payoff of airborne integration for NGA and 

the NSG could be enormous. Mindful of the benefits, 

the Airborne Executive Agent remains focused on the 

interlocking tasks of building systems, building processes 

and—most importantly—building relationships to advance airborne integration.

“We must continue to strengthen the NSG airborne 

community so we can share available resources to fill 

capability gaps,” the Airborne Executive Agent said. 

“Reaching out to the services, Office of the Secretary of 

Defense Joint Functional Component Command for Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (JFCC-ISR), Joint 

Unmanned Aircraft Systems Center of Excellence and Department of Homeland Security, for example, are essential 

for our success in moving airborne integration forward!”

In the Airborne Executive Agent’s 

view, three achievements 

are essential to airborne 

integration:

The first is the ability 

to bring airborne imagery 

from the key tactical platforms—Predator, Global 

Hawk and U-2—into NGA, 

and then disseminate it to the NSG. This critical step was 

realized in 2003. 

The second key achievement deals with integrating 

airborne into analysis. The standup of several Airborne 

Centers within NGA was vital to bringing airborne into 

the flow of time-dominant operations and value-added 

analysis. 

The third key achievement—yet to be accomplished but 

well under way—is the integration of airborne data with 

all other sources of geospatial intelligence (GEOINT).

The Airborne Executive Agent sees the boom in development of unmanned aerial systems and the flourishing 

industry in airborne imagery as helping to provide robust 

support to GEOINT in the years ahead. He emphasizes that 

the key to exploiting the value of airborne is integration.

How will we know airborne integration has arrived? The 

Director of Source Operations and Management scarcely 

paused in offering an answer.

“Someday there will no longer be ‘airborne program 

managers,’ ‘airborne executive agents’ or ‘airborne tasking 

protocols,’ said the Director. “When that happens, and 

airborne seamlessly flows through NGA and the NSG along 

with other sources, then airborne integration will be a 

reality.” P

21Pathfinder ›› September/October 2007 

Photo courtesy of NASA
Satellites are now synonymous with strategic reconnaissance. But it wasn’t always this way. For most of the 20th 

century, overhead imagery was captured from platforms 

operating within Earth’s atmosphere, first balloons and 

then aircraft. During a significant portion of the Cold 

War, airborne collectors—such as the U-2 and the SR71—were essential for meeting our needs for national 

imagery. 

With the Corona program of the 1960s, satellites began 

collecting strategic imagery. By today’s standards, the 

first generations of satellites were primitive, but the 

technology of satellites and their supporting systems 

advanced rapidly. Soon, through their combination of 

reliability, resolution and comparative invulnerability, 

satellites came to dominate overhead imagery collection. 

As satellites assumed a central position in strategic 

reconnaissance, airborne collectors moved to the periphery, serving mainly to support the tactical requirements 

of combatant commands. 

Just as advances in technology put reconnaissance 

satellites on the map, it was technology that triggered 

the resurgence of airborne. The Bosnia conflict was the 

testing ground for the Predator, an unmanned airborne 

collector produced under the Defense Department’s 

Advanced Concept Technology Development program. In 

Bosnia, the Predator demonstrated its capabilities and 

proved it is possible to conduct airborne-intelligence 

collections without a pilot. 

This success 

inspired creation of a 

second generation of unmanned 

aerial systems, the Global Hawk, which flies higher, 

farther and faster than the Predator. In addition to 

these unmanned craft, the venerable U-2 is still providing intelligence. 

In Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi 

Freedom, airborne collectors—manned and unmanned—have proven their value. Further, in the threat 

environment of the global struggle against violent extremism, where priority targets are often highly mobile, 

airborne platforms offer the advantage of being able to 

loiter over an area for extended periods.

“Clearly, airborne intelligence collection is here to stay,” 

said the Director of the NGA Source Operations and 

Management Directorate. “Our objective—and 

our challenge—is to integrate the wealth of airborne 

material into NGA and the National System for 

Geospatial Intelligence.”

Airborne Reconnaissance Makes a Return

By Gene Reich

22Pathfinder ›› September/October 2007

Gene Reichis

is Chief of the Communications Branch in 

the Source Operations 

and Management Directorate.

Photo courtesy of NASA
Focus Area 6

Implement an Information Technology Structure to Provide Access to and Discovery 

of GEOINT 

Access on Demand Is Goal of GEOINT Online

By Gary W. Fuller

Focus Area 6 addresses the need for online, ondemand access to geospatial intelligence (GEOINT) across 

the National System for Geospatial Intelligence (NSG).

Providing interactive discovery of and access to GEOINT 

in a user-friendly, highly responsive environment is the 

focus of GEOINT Online. This initiative will provide more 

than a portal, a Web page or a system; the culmination 

of many people’s efforts, it will integrate many systems 

and establish a new business model for NGA. (See “New 

Business Model Enables GEOINT Online” in the NovemberDecember 2006 Pathfinder.)

GEOINT Online will horizontally integrate NGA’s existing 

online capabilities. The process of horizontally integrating user interfaces and underlying capabilities involves 

such systems and Web sites as NGA-Earth, PalanterraTM, 

the Analytical Spatial Data Initiative/Top Drawer, Portal 

and Gateway, and Net-Centric GEOINT Discovery Services 

(NGDS) and electronic print on demand. 

With GEOINT Online, internal and external users will 

be able to find, view and analyze GEOINT through a Web 

browser interface or by using the Google EarthTM and ArcGIS ExplorerTM (AGX) client applications.

There has been accelerated progress in developing 

online GEOINT capabilities over the last year, and an even 

greater amount of progress is anticipated in the coming 

year. In June, Google EarthTM rolled out on two military 

networks, and by the end of this year, AGX will also be 

available. These applications complement the capabilities 

available through a Web browser interface by providing 

three-dimensional visualization and the analytical capabilities of a geographic information system.

With the capabilities of multiple discovery and access 

systems through GEOINT Online, NGA’s partners will 

have a much better capacity for finding and retrieving the 

GEOINT they need. GEOINT Online will provide intelligence 

reporting, imagery from National Technical Means or commercial sources, including airborne, and maps and charts 

produced by NGA through a single interface. 

GEOINT Online is not only about content. It will also 

provide integrated access to an array of services to be 

provided by NGA experts and to a comprehensive set of 

support capabilities that will range from online tutorials to 

discussion forums and a searchable knowledge base. 

GEOINT Online will provide a unified Web presence for 

NGA that will equally benefit external and internal users. 

It will not only combine existing capabilities, but, more 

importantly, it will move NGA closer to being an online, ondemand service that brokers GEOINT between providers 

and users based on their needs and proactively populates 

databases and servers so that users can discover and access what they need. When content is not available, they 

will be able to order it quickly and easily.

To create GEOINT Online, a range of data-manipulation 

Web services is being applied to NGA content and embedded within NGA systems. 

Though there are many challenges ahead, the end state 

of GEOINT Online is a self-service interaction model that 

enables partners and customers to intuitively discover and 

access the NGA content, services, expertise and support 

they need to accomplish their diverse missions. P

Gary W. Fuller

is an Executive Advisor supporting the 

Geospatial Intelligence Enterprise Integration 

Team as a contractor employee. He has supported the Intelligence Community for 35 years as a 

government employee, development contractor 

and consultant. 

23Pathfinder ›› September/October 2007
Focus Area 7

Advance Basic Research and Development of Leading Edge Science and Technology

InnoVision Directorate Focuses on ‘After-Next’

By Vonna Weir Heaton

The InnoVision Directorate decides where to focus 

research by exploring existing science and technology 

that has capabilities moldable to the requirements of NGA 

and the broader National System for Geospatial Intelligence (NSG). Essential to this effort is collaboration with 

partners in the Department of Defense (DoD), Intelligence 

Community (IC), industry and academia.

InnoVision looks out to the “after-next,” or the next five 

to 10 years, every step of the way. Examples of initiatives 

the directorate has taken range from examining new 

bioterrorism threat-detection tools to 

testing applications of neuroscience to the work of

intelligence 

analysts. 

(An article in the November-December 2006 Pathfinder, 

“Automated Imagery Analysis: Is Science Fiction Becoming a Reality?” discusses applications of neuroscience to 

intelligence work.)

One of InnoVision’s prime examples of collaboration 

resulted from an employee survey of the work environment. In large part because employees expressed a need 

for better search capabilities, InnoVision launched an investigation of Web 3.0, a new way to access data through 

content-related technology in place of key-word searches.

In working to redefine geospatial analysts’ future work 

environment, InnoVision considers multi-intelligence and 

cross-domain capabilities first. For example, NGA recently 

partnered with the Defense Intelligence Agency to cosponsor an initiative that focuses on the coordination of 

IC-funded academic programs. 

NGA’s Chief Scientist, Harold “Greg” Smith, is a member 

of the Intelligence Science Board, which works to share 

knowledge on the scientific and technical challenges 

facing our nation. As an active member of the National 

Intelligence Science and Technology Committee, which 

includes all of the IC research-and-development program managers, he also works with other members 

to set priorities and enhance collaboration. 

Moving forward, InnoVision has plans to pursue advances like three-dimensional visualization and virtual mapping. As always, the goal 

is to adapt leading-edge science and technology to the needs of NGA’s customers for the 

best geospatial intelligence the Agency can 

provide. P 

24Pathfinder ›› September/October 2007
R&D Requires Open Exchanges of Brain Power

By Vonna Weir Heaton

Developing basic research prudently requires broad 

collaboration among our academic, industry, Department of Defense (DoD) and Intelligence Community (IC) 

partners. Open exchanges of brainpower and resources 

help promote the bonds needed to drive progress. Some 

of the ways we collaborate with other experts in research 

and development (R & D) include programs that we’ve 

developed in InnoVision, such as the IC post doctoral 

fellows program and our support to academic studies 

focused on expanding basic science initiatives. In addition, best practices from subject matter experts across 

the IC, DoD, academia and industry are incorporated into 

our own programs. 

The potential return on investment from a successful 

basic research initiative tempers the high risks involved 

with pursuing it. We are driven by leadership’s tolerance 

for risk-taking and the need to push for new technologies 

that improve the Agency’s effectiveness. The far-reaching 

nature of basic research means it won’t always yield 

usable technology, but the knowledge gleaned from the 

work is invaluable. 

Because of the associated risks, InnoVision’s basic 

research is the most fragile element of our program. 

Fundamentally, conducting basic research is “thinking 

outside the box.” This thinking should be informed by 

today’s issues, but not limited by them. The scope of 

research should look beyond today’s capabilities but 

should not ignore them. This is the delicate balance that 

we maintain in order to push capabilities of the National 

System for Geospatial Intelligence forward. 

To cultivate our field of knowledge at NGA, we not only 

recruit at the junior analyst level, but also through 

an initiative known as the visiting scientist program, 

which seeks out expert scientists to temporarily work 

side-by-side with senior InnoVision experts. This effort 

brings qualified scientists here to walk in the geospatial 

scientist’s footsteps and experience NGA challenges 

firsthand. As we aim to recruit and retain top-notch 

scientists, we also consider those already established in 

geospatial sciences and up-and-coming science-minded 

students. From government to contractor personnel, 

ensuring our workforce‘s bright future in geospatial 

intelligence is a top priority. 

Vonna Weir Heaton

as Director of NGA’s InnoVision Directorate, 

is responsible for the Agency’s research and 

development program. She was a Group Director 

in Source Operations and Management before 

assuming her current position.

25Pathfinder ›› September/October 2007
26Pathfinder ›› September/October 2007

Focus Area 8

Achieve Front-end/Back-end Alignment Extending From Integrating Collection 

Platforms to Building a Foundation Knowledge Base to Providing Comprehensive 

Access to and Assimilation of NGA Products and Services

Diverse Alignment Activities Focus on Customer

By Mark Shelberg

“Achieving front-end/back-end alignment” refers 

to examining and adjusting all intermediate steps within 

the geospatial intelligence (GEOINT) processes to focus 

on, and drive toward, the specific desired outcome. This 

expansive “alignment” concept encompasses all stages of 

the tasking, collection, processing, exploitation and dissemination (TCPED) cycle. 

On the surface, front-end/back-end alignment appears 

to be a complicated concept; but in fact it boils down to 

the simple notion of synchronizing the “front end” (providers and users of GEOINT products) with the “back end” 

(analysts, operators and mission partners). 

Front-end/back-end alignment reinforces the central 

role of the customer. It is essentially about supporting 

NGA’s partners with a heightened sense of urgency, eliminating stovepipes, and both physically and virtually converging people and processes to maximize collaboration. 

Reducing the Gap Between “Ends”

Over the past several years, NGA has steadily progressed toward front-end/back-end alignment, even when 

NGA called it something different. Most notably over the 

past year, NGA has forward-deployed and embedded more 

people, more data and more equipment with its partners 

than ever before. NGA has dedicated more analysts back 

home to providing direct support and to working the 

tough issues of the global war on terror. On a daily basis, 

deployed geospatial and imagery analysts and staff officers, especially those supporting Iraq and Afghanistan, 

provide highly tailored products to meet the immediate 

operational needs of our warfighters. 

In terms of data and equipment, the Geospatial Intelligence Library was deployed a few years ago to the U.S. 

Central Command (CENTCOM) area of responsibility 

(AOR). This is a repository that houses in theater all of the 

GEOINT data for the CENTCOM AOR previously stored on 

servers back in St. Louis and Washington. This local solution has facilitated the rapid creation of compact discs, 

DVDs and other high-capacity storage devices that can 

quickly be distributed to units. NGA has also embedded 

Remote Replication Systems around the world—on land 

and at sea—to swiftly produce tailored products for customers on demand. 

This type of support—moving people, data and equipment closer to the GEOINT end user—best exemplifies the 

true intent of front-end/back-end alignment: It enables 

direct and immediate interaction among planners, collectors, producers, operators and users—significantly 

reducing the gap between the “ends.” As a result, NGA 

is providing the best possible, most timely, tailored and 

relevant GEOINT to joint warfighters—wherever, whenever 

and in whatever form they need. In other words, NGA accommodates its customers’ decision-making cycles, not 

vice versa. 

Through a combination of embedded analysts and support personnel, suites of supporting systems and equipment, and robust reach-back capabilities, NGA provides 

responsive direct support an array of customers. They 

include the National Counter Terrorism Center and National 

Counter Proliferation Center, service intelligence centers 

and other intelligence agencies, and the Defense Joint Intelligence Operation Center (DJIOC), combatant commands 

(and their respective JIOCs) and some subordinate command components. NGA’s unique relationship with these 

partners further achieves front-end/back-end alignment 

because it is at these centers, agencies and commands 

where collaboration is the norm, and information sharing 

across the intelligence disciplines is commonplace. 

NGA, in partnership with U.S. Joint Forces Command, is 

working with the community to ensure this collaboration 

is captured in GEOINT doctrine, procedures and training 

to ensure it remains a consistent, fundamental business 

practice. Such actions directly enable and reinforce 

NGA’s partners’ central role in the effective application of 

GEOINT to support operations and tactical missions.
27Pathfinder ›› September/October 2007

 Community-Wide Collection and Reporting

NGA’s Source Operations and Management Directorate 

has made great strides in developing integrated source 

collection strategies to best respond to customers’ 

requirements. From the identification of a specific intelligence need, NGA source analysts assess and task all 

available collection assets—satellites, aircraft and other 

platforms, including national, foreign, commercial and civil 

systems—and even leverage other intelligence disciplines 

to answer the hard questions. On the back end of collection, NGA is tapping into community-wide collection 

and reporting to help analysts in the National System for 

Geospatial Intelligence (NSG) develop tailored, multisource products for maximum value to the customer. 

In May, NGA stood up a new office to integrate the various 24x7x365 critical operations across NGA and improve 

the Agency’s global situational awareness. The Office of 

Time-Dominant Operations is responsible for indications 

and warning, safety of navigation, targeting, constellation 

readiness, throughput management and data delivery, 

tipping and queuing for other sensors and sources, and 

several other operations. This office will also help ensure 

that NGA provides its partners with a single, integrated, 

timely GEOINT picture of a particular issue. 

“Upstream” Data Fusion to Become Operational 

Finally, NGA’s InnoVision Directorate is involved in many 

research and development initiatives that will fundamentally shape front-end/back-end alignment across the community. One of these is the Global Net-Centric Surveillance 

and Targeting (GNCST) program. Over the past several 

months, the GNCST team has significantly enhanced a prototype that extracts and fuses data “upstream” of normal 

processing, to help warfighters and analysts locate their 

most challenging targets faster and more precisely. GNCST 

is on track to become a community-wide fusion “service” 

that uses net-centric standards to discover and fuse 

data from a wide variety of national and tactical sources. 

GNCST is expected to become operational in late 2008. 

 Front-end/back-end alignment is not achievable 

overnight, and NGA still has far to go. Future challenges 

include getting data and products to remote users more 

quickly; eliminating organizational barriers, such as 

varying security levels and incompatible network environments; improving virtual collaboration; and finding better 

ways to incorporate the data that customers collect in the 

field. Nonetheless, NGA has made significant strides in a 

relatively short time. And with every success, NGA institutes new and better ways to serve NSG customers—the 

ultimate goal of front-end/back-end alignment. P

U.S. Air Force photo by Master Sgt. Andy Dunaway

Mark Shelberg

is Deputy Chief, 

Strategic Planning, Programs and Performance, 

Office of Geospatial Intelligence Management.
Focus Area 9

Build New and Enhance Enduring International Partnerships – Global Partnerships 

That Make Big Contributions

Actions Taken to Build International Relationships

By Anita Davis

It is no coincidence that Focus Area 9 is rooted in 

imperatives set forth in national intelligence, security and 

defense strategies, as well as Defense Security Cooperation 

Guidance. All of these documents recognize the centrality 

and urgency of effectively addressing the threat posed by 

terrorism, hostile states and alliances and the spread of 

weapons of mass destruction, and all emphasize the need 

to expand and deepen our international relationships.

Relationship Criteria Established

NGA’s International Affairs Steering Group has developed new criteria for establishing international agreements as one of the actions identified by senior leaders for 

Focus Area 9. After reviewing procedures and sizing up the 

decision process, the steering group approved a new set 

of evaluation factors last December.

The new criteria enable NGA to determine the resources 

that would be required to support a new foreign relationship and the benefits that would be derived from the 

relationship for NGA and the Intelligence Community. They 

ensure that a unified and deliberate approach is used to 

build and maintain international relationships and that 

all international relationships comply with the directives 

of the Director of National Intelligence and Department 

of Defense, as well as underpin mission-specific needs of 

NGA. The criteria have already been successfully applied 

to potential new relationships.

U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Shane A. Cuomo

28Pathfinder ›› September/October 2007 

U.S. Air Force personnel discuss issues with their Australian counterparts at the 

base operations building on Royal Australia Air Force Base, Darwin, Australia.
29Pathfinder ›› September/October 2007

Conversely, a foreign partner can be better prepared to 

assist the United States in a crisis or in a coalition environment through experience gained in a partnership. 

Forging relationships with foreign partners has become 

more important as the globalization of GEOINT continues 

to expand, and as coalition activities grow in response to 

world situations, ranging from the global war on terror to 

disaster relief. P

Knowledge Base Developed

In another action, NGA’s Office of International Affairs 

and Policy has developed a knowledge management tool 

called Customer Insight Manager (CIM). Each of NGA’s 

relationships with foreign partners is varied and often 

complex in the amount of information that must be shared 

across the Agency for these partnerships to be successful. 

CIM allows NGA to track all the information necessary to 

make informed business decisions.

CIM pilots have brought together those pockets of 

NGA organizations that deal with international partners. 

Common threads such as robust contact information, trip 

reporting, issue tracking and access to agreement specifics are all important facets of NGA’s country interactions 

that now can be captured in a single database. 

Training for CIM was completed in June 2007. Representatives of all members of the pilot organizations have 

developed an initial set of business rules to ensure fidelity 

and accuracy of the data. Data will continue to be refined, 

and the database will continue to evolve as additional 

enhancements are delivered through NGA’s GeoScout 

modernization program.

Country Team Plan Finalized

In a third action, the International Affairs Steering Group 

is finalizing a new process for preparing country-specific 

implementation plans. Under this action, country teams 

with expertise from across NGA will prepare detailed, partner-specific plans and programs to achieve the intended 

outcomes for supporting a relationship. Each plan will be 

vetted through the steering group before implementation. 

A centralized management/decentralized execution approach to resources and actions supporting international 

partnerships is the cornerstone for success. 

NGA must rely on the broad knowledge and skill base 

from many different offices and disciplines in order to 

make the country team concept work successfully. These 

multi-disciplinary teams create a seamless integration of 

geospatial intelligence, policy, production and systems 

support for each international partnership. 

The Payoff 

International partnerships render a wide array of benefits. For example, our warfighters can receive enhanced 

geospatial intelligence (GEOINT), such as more accurate 

place names, resulting from a co-production agreement. 

A U.S. Army Soldier hands out flags and newspapers to local nationals in the 

Muthana area of East Baghdad, Iraq, April 21, 2007, during a cordon and 

search operation with Iraqi army soldiers from 1st Company, 2nd Battalion, 

4th Brigade, 1st Iraqi Army Division.

U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Bronco Suzuki

Anita Davis

is an NGA Staff Officer 

in the Strategy Cell, 

Office of International 

Affairs and Policy.
Focus Area 10

Transform Mission Performance Through the New Campus East and Further 

Development of Our Facilities in the West

New Campus Moves from Plans to Implementation

By Dr. Eileen M. Preisser

Over the past 12 months NGA has made significant 

progress in the planning and coordination necessary for 

a successful move to the New Campus East (NCE) at Fort 

Belvoir, Va. Construction is set to begin this fall, with 

completion of the building in 2011.

Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) legislation 

mandated that NGA consolidate its East Coast operations 

at Springfield, Va., by Sept. 15, 2011. NGA embraced the 

consolidation as an opportunity to maximize collaboration 

among diverse groups and gain efficiencies in operations. 

Planning for NCE has focused on physical construction, 

mission enhancements and process improvements. All 

are aimed at providing partners time-dominant geospatial 

intelligence (GEOINT) while managing resources from 

across NGA economically. NGA also expects to capitalize 

on increased synergies among its many operational units 

with the move to a single campus in the East. 

Data Center West Established

The cine qua non (literally “without which, not”) of the 

move is NGA West. The Agency has established an NGA 

Data Center-West (NDC-W) to ensure the continuity of mission operations during the transition to NCE and beyond. 

In the first phase, NGA has installed a St. Louis Information Library (STIL) to allow migration of imagery data from 

current libraries in Bethesda, Md., and implemented new 

Web-based access services for imagery and other GEOINT 

holdings. 

Consolidated operations at NCE will accelerate the 

development of new technologies and products by fusing 

GEOINT research and technology, especially technology 

dealing with information and computing. NCE will have a 

high-tech, flexible, reliable, secure information-technology architecture. The infrastructure will include video, 

networks, workstations and enterprise management. 

This flexible IT environment will allow for the smooth 

integration of enabling technologies (as they emerge) for 

decades to come.

NGA is also using the move to re-examine and transform 

its corporate and operational processes and procedures. 

The new Workforce Support Center will be a physical center providing corporate services in one location. NGA will 

also initiate a virtual Workforce Support Center through 

an enterprise-level Workforce Support Web Portal. Such 

initiatives will create synergies and generate cost savings. 

Among the synergies that will increase operational 

efficiency are:

» streamlined administrative support services for headquarters and organizations

» optimized logistics systems with centralized 

purchasing

» an optimized production organization with integrated 

production and facilities

» focused research and development on the most critical missions.

NCE will transform the way NGA supports its customers 

and allow the Agency to continue to provide high-quality 

GEOINT products and services. P

Dr. Eileen M. Preisser

an NGA Geospatial Intelligence Officer 

specializing in collection and imagery exploitation, was matrixed to the New Campus East 

Program Management Office to direct the NCE 

Advocacy effort. 

30Pathfinder ›› September/October 2007
Focus Area 11

Maintain the Highest Standards of Conduct

Do the Right Thing First

By Cynthia R. Ryan and David C. Hill

This focus area involves NGA employees in all their 

activities. As similarly articulated by Undersecretary of 

Defense for Intelligence James R. Clapper Jr. in the last of 

his Ten Precepts of Leadership, “Last, but first, is integrity. 

Without it, the others don’t matter.” By maintaining the 

highest standards of conduct within the Agency, NGA 

fosters an environment where there is an expectation for 

everyone to do the right thing first. The primary goal is to 

promote an Agency culture of integrity, professionalism 

and honor. 

Maintaining the highest standards of conduct is vitally 

important to the success of NGA’s mission. By performing their jobs with integrity and professionalism, NGA 

employees build and sustain good reputations individually 

and for the Agency. This serves as the foundation for trust. 

Moreover, trust and mutual respect form the basis for collaboration. Collaboration is essential, as we cannot do our 

jobs alone or in a vacuum. By having a culture of integrity, 

professionalism and honor, people will want to work with 

us and for us. To sustain this culture there needs to be an 

Agency-wide mindset of “Do the Right Thing First.” 

While the current culture in place today at NGA is good, 

there is always a risk that if proper care is not taken, this 

culture could deteriorate. To that end, four areas are being 

addressed to ensure that the currently vibrant culture of 

conduct enjoyed by employees today remains for years 

to come. The four areas vital to sustaining the culture are 

good practices and procedures, educating the workforce 

to know and do the right thing, promoting the culture and 

holding accountable those who do not do the right thing. 

The Way Forward

With input from each of NGA’s key components, the Office of General Counsel is leading a team charged with examining current practices and procedures, including checks 

and balances, internal controls and training. Based on its 

findings, the team will set benchmarks for the future. It will 

then develop a plan to ensure NGA’s success in meeting 

those benchmarks. Key elements of the plan will be training, 

positive reinforcement and holding people accountable.

Finally, the team will develop and implement a campaign to create awareness of the importance of maintaining the highest standards of conduct. NGA cannot afford 

to be complacent. “If we lose our excellent reputation, we 

derail our mission,” a team member said. “To keep it, we 

must be vigilant. Therefore, we must make maintaining 

the highest standards of conduct first in all we do.” P

Cynthia R. Ryan and David C. Hill (Not Pictured)

Cynthia R. Ryan is the NGA General Counsel. 

David C. Hill was a legal intern with the Office of 

General Counsel. 

31Pathfinder ›› September/October 2007

Photo by Rob Cox
Focus Area 12

Strengthen Governance and Performance Management

Strategy Achieved through Governance Framework

By Richard Fravel

This focus area recognizes the key roles that governance and performance management play in helping the 

Agency to achieve its strategic goals. Governance in this 

context is a term that carries several meanings, but these 

meanings generally fall into three main areas: policies, 

processes and metrics. 

» Governance policies are the sets of precepts, customs and rules that direct, administer or control the 

planning and day-to-day work of the Agency. 

» Governance processes are the mechanisms such as 

management bodies, documentation and reports that 

the Agency uses to control and conduct reviews of 

its activities—both existing and proposed—and to 

gauge adherence to desired outcomes. 

» Governance metrics are the specific measures that 

provide insight into the Agency’s achievements or 

rates of progress in key areas related to output and 

mission effectiveness. NGA’s metrics effort is also the 

point at which governance activities intersect with 

the broad concerns and requirements of performance 

management. Measuring and managing performance 

is ultimately the only way to ensure both current and 

future mission success. 

The thread that runs through all these governance 

elements is accountability and communication. Each 

member of the workforce has a measure of responsibility 

for the success of the Agency’s mission and the quality of 

the Agency’s output in support of those who rely on NGA 

to inform critical decisions. NGA’s governance and performance management framework provides a means for 

members of the workforce to collectively hold themselves 

accountable in the discharge of this responsibility. 

The purpose of this Focus Area is to improve the various 

elements that together constitute NGA’s governance effort. 

The principal aims are to bring greater clarity to key areas 

of strategic importance and to ensure that those areas are 

examined in a consistent, coherent and efficient fashion.

NGA’s current governance processes include seniorlevel interaction and management forums that help 

formulate and evaluate the implementation of policy and 

32Pathfinder ›› September/October 2007 
programmatic direction—not only for NGA but also for the 

National System for Geospatial Intelligence (NSG). 

» Director of National Intelligence (DNI) and Under 

Secretary of Defense for Intelligence (USD/I): At 

the most senior level, the Director of NGA (D/NGA) 

and Deputy Director of NGA (DD/NGA) frequently 

interact with the DNI and USD/I. The DNI Executive 

Committee (EXCOM), which includes the Directors 

of the Intelligence Community (IC) agencies and the 

USD/I in his role as the Director of Defense Intelligence, meets bimonthly to discuss IC collaboration 

and initiatives such as the Joint Duty Program and 

pay reform. The Director also meets regularly with the 

USD/I to review NGA topics and issues as part of the 

Agency’s strategic governance mechanism. In these 

and other such interactions, NGA regularly briefs the 

DNI and USD/I on high-visibility issues such as the 

New Campus East and GeoScout.

» NSG Senior Management Council (NSMC): The 

Director of NGA serves as the Functional Manager 

for the NSG. In this capacity, the Director chairs the 

NSG Senior Management Council (NSMC), a body 

composed of the directors and senior leaders of organizations with a substantial stake in the quality and 

availability of geospatial intelligence (GEOINT). The 

NSMC is the GEOINT community’s most important 

senior coordination and review panel, and its major 

goal is to maximize the effectiveness of the NSG. 

Through the NSMC, NGA’s managers gain the broadest possible perspective on the Agency’s operational 

and development activities. 

Within NGA itself, several interactive governance elements provide direction, evaluation or feedback. Principal 

elements include the following:

» Executive Committee (EXCOM): The EXCOM includes 

the D/NGA, DD/NGA, Chief Operating Officer (COO), 

Military Executive (MX), Technical Executive (TX), West 

Executive (WX), Equality Executive (EX) and Chief 

Information Officer (CIO). These executives provide 

a source of senior review and recommendations on 

policy and programmatic decisions. They also oversee 

or advise on the implementation of selected activities 

within their individual spheres of responsibility.

» Executive Leadership Group (ELG): The ELG includes 

the directors of all line and staff Key Components 

(KCs). The group meets approximately twice a month 

to consider high-level policy and programmatic 

proposals and recommend decisions to the Director. 

The Director works closely with the ELG as the main 

senior forum for discussion and review of Agencywide policies and governance decisions. 

 › Quarterly Reviews: The ELG is also the mechanism 

 for a formal program of quarterly reviews that 

 focus on the Agency’s operations, output and 

 major development activities. The emphasis of 

 these reviews is on progress and results rather 

 than process. The quarterly sessions encourage 

 information sharing among the KCs to broaden 

 and deepen understanding of NGA’s current and 

 planned work. The reviews also strengthen the use 

 of performance management metrics by these 

 organizations. During these sessions, the KCs 

 review their accomplishments toward major goals 

 for the previous 90 days, project their way forward 

 for the next 180 days and identify critical areas 

 of concern. Through discussion and interaction, 

 the reviews promote cross-KC input, understand- 

 ing and unity of purpose toward NGA’s mission. 

» NGA Support Team (NST) Conference: This twiceyearly gathering of NST chiefs and key team members 

with the Agency’s senior leadership provides essential 

feedback from deployed NGA employees who work 

daily within the combatant commands, Defense Department, Homeland Security offices, IC agencies and 

other organizations. The feedback and interaction at 

these conferences illuminate concerns from this critical forward perspective and provide an initial basis to 

determine potential solutions to those concerns. 

» Human Capital Management Board (HCMB): The 

HCMB provides strategic direction and management 

oversight of NGA’s personnel resources. Co-chaired 

by the COO and EX, this board includes the MX, TX, 

WX, CIO and directors of all line and staff KCs. The 

HCMB formulates, reviews and recommends corporate and strategic policies and decisions on issues 

such as training, education, position authorizations, 

recruitment, performance management and pay. 

» Information Technology (IT) and Systems Acquisition: 

The Agency is implementing a “managed services” 

approach to information technology based on 

33Pathfinder ›› September/October 2007
34Pathfinder ›› September/October 2007

separate lines for application services and infrastructure services. This approach places the CIO at the 

apex of a governance structure that is focused on 

the delivery and operation of a coherent architecture 

that supports NGA’s strategic direction. The principal 

governance mechanism used by the CIO is the CIO 

Steering Committee, which evaluates, prioritizes and 

regularly reviews potential Agency IT programs and 

projects. A critical element in IT alignment is the Chief 

Acquisition Executive, who is charged with governance responsibilities for NGA’s acquisition strategy 

and procurement efforts, working with NGA’s Senior 

Procurement Executive and the NSG Program Manager. This collaborative structure is aimed at ensuring 

and implementing strategically aligned decisions. 

It also provides a framework to ensure compliance 

with procurement rules and regulations, promote 

competition, ensure configuration control, manage IT 

security and oversee the implementation of policies 

and procedures. 

» Employee Climate Survey (ECS): The ECS, which is 

conducted annually across the IC, provides NGA 

managers detailed survey data on employees’ perceptions of their work environment. For two years, 

NGA has used this data to initiate changes and 

process improvements in many areas, including IC 

collaboration, physical working conditions and the 

performance management system. Most recently, the 

EX has assumed oversight of NGA’s ECS Action Plan; 

in that capacity, the EX is coordinating structured ELG 

reviews of the actions being taken to further address 

issues identified by employees. 

Partner and external advisory boards also contribute to 

NGA’s governance effort.

» Quadripartite Enterprise Board (QEB): The QEB is the 

senior forum for reviewing and coordinating matters 

of concern in NGA’s partnership with the Commonwealth GEOINT community. The QEB meets annually 

and includes senior leaders from Australia, Canada, 

the United Kingdom and the United States. The Director of NGA serves as the senior U.S. representative 

to the QEB. QEB sessions provide governance insight 

into the activities of the partnership. A separate 

Quadripartite Operations Steering Group (QOSG) also 

meets face to face annually to review and steer partnership activities on behalf of the QEB. This includes 

directing the implementation of QEB strategies and 

priorities as well as synchronizing research and development efforts. 

» NGA Advisory Group (NAG): The members of this 

advisory group (the acronym is deliberate and 

enjoyed by its members) include retired flag-rank 

military officers, former senior IC leaders and senior 

corporate executives. The NAG meets quarterly with 

the Director and senior Agency managers to advise 

on selected programs as an aid in decision-making. 

The Director has invited all NAG members to attend 

NSMC, ELG and NST conference meetings to ensure 

broad insight into NGA’s operations. The NAG also 

forms small research teams at the request of the 

Director to explore specific issues; recent teams, for 

example, have respectively examined issues related 

to the GeoScout program and commercial imagery.

As this interlocking web of processes, boards, metrics 

and policies indicates, NGA’s governance framework is a 

complex arrangement. Its purpose, though, is straightforward: to help NGA achieve its strategic goals by providing 

a means to maximize the Agency’s output and mission 

effectiveness. Governance activities achieve this purpose 

through a fundamental emphasis on directing and evaluating specific initiatives and objectives, reviewing Agency 

activities in a corporate framework to ensure coordination 

and coherence, and discerning areas where additional 

emphasis or course corrections are needed. Perhaps most 

important, the governance effort at NGA embraces and 

promotes interactive communication across the Agency’s 

many elements, helping to bring them together as part of 

our common dedication to the GEOINT mission. P

Richard Fravel 

is NGA’s Chief Operating Officer.
35Pathfinder ›› September/October 2007

Partnerships

NGA and U.S. Coast Guard Come Together in Middle East

By Craig Donovan

NGA and the U.S. Coast Guard are collaborating 

in the least likely of places: the Middle East. To be more 

specific, the Middle East NGA Support Team (NST) in 

Bahrain is working with Coast Guard units deployed to 

Naval Forces Central Command (NAVCENT) in support of 

the global war on terrorism. The NST proactively supports 

all the patrol boats of Patrol Forces Southwest Asia and 

Coast Guard teams deployed throughout the U.S. Central 

Command (CENTCOM) area of responsibility.

Coast Guard cutters routinely patrol the fishing grounds 

off the coastal United States and transit corridors of 

drug and human smugglers, allowing crews to know 

their “beat.” Queries, approaches and boardings at sea 

by Coast Guard cutters occur in much the same manner, 

whether crews are searching for illicit narcotics or international terrorists. 

The recent deployment of the Coast Guard Cutter 

Midgett was much like any other, only the beat was different: the Red Sea, Gulf of Aden and Somali Basin. Lack of 

knowledge of the operating area provided an opportunity 

for a timely injection of geospatial intelligence (GEOINT) to 

make “locals” of the Midgett crew.

While the ship was at anchor, a geospatial analyst with 

NGA’s Remote Replication System, a NAVCENT geospatial 

analyst and a Coast Guard officer serving as liaison to NAVCENT paid the Midgett a visit. The visit included a briefing 

to the cutter’s commanding officer on the various products 

available from NGA and the benefits of partnership.

When a Chart Is More than Just For Navigation

The officers and crew of the Midgett were most familiar 

with NGA’s nautical charts but were somewhat skeptical 

that a chart could show more than shoal waters and 

hazards to navigation. Through the use of a geographic 

information system (GIS), the NGA geospatial analyst 

demonstrated how a nautical chart could be layered with 

information, providing details far beyond the location of 

rocks and buoys. 

NAVCENT’s geospatial analyst demonstrated the 

resources available to the Midgett, including libraries of 

existing data and capabilities to produce custom products. 

He provided the crew with examples of custom products 

previously developed for CENTCOM customers, explained 

the capabilities of the Remote Replication System and 

gave an overview of NGA’s deployed Geospatial Intelligence Library.

The Midgett operations officer provided a tour of the 

ship’s navigation suite and combat information center. As 

the two analysts directed crew members to various NGA 

Web sites, the lack of bandwidth available to the 35-yearold cutter brought the process of geospatial discovery to 

a crawl. It was clear that the Midgett required an alternate 

means of delivery. 

Delivering Products the Customer Can Use

 At a port call, I was able to deliver imagery of scheduled and potential port visits. I also evaluated the utility of 

the products provided to date, which led to a free-ranging 

discussion of the various threats that exist throughout the 

Gulf of Aden and Red Sea. International terrorism, mass 

migrations of undocumented persons, overfishing and 

weapons smuggling were discussed as potential topics of 

geospatial analysis.

After this exchange, the Middle East NST developed a 

series of charts of the Red Sea with historical smuggling 

routes overlaid with NAVCENT operating areas. While 

pieces of information were known to individual members 

of the Midgett operations team, the synthesis of this information drew the enthusiastic approval of the ship’s crew. 

The operations officer was clearly pleased with the results 

of this new relationship. He also noted that NGA produced 

the charts in a matter of days and hand-delivered them. 

The Midgett crew has completed the NAVCENT chapter 

of its circumnavigation of the Earth. Meanwhile, the Coast 

Guard’s relationship with NGA in this region continues 

to grow, as the Middle East NST in Bahrain ensures that 

those who stand watch in waters bordering the Arabian 

Peninsula “know the Earth.” P

Craig Donovan

is Chief of the Middle East NGA 

Support Team in Bahrain.
Working for NGA

NST Chief Values Collaboration in NSA Footprint 

By Juanita Hartbarger

The intelligence professionals at the National Security Agency (NSA) and NGA collaborate every day to 

produce tailored, timely and actionable multi-intelligence 

solutions to support military partners, the Intelligence 

Community (IC) and U.S. policy makers. The focal point for 

that collaboration is the NGA Support Team (NST) embedded within NSA. Since June 2006, Barbara Salvatore has 

served as Director of the NSA NST.

Leadership at NGA isn’t new to Salvatore. She was 

Director of the Leadership Development Program at the 

National Photographic Interpretation Center (NPIC), one 

of NGA’s predecessor organizations. Later she was named 

Chief of the Exploitation Systems Laboratory within NPIC’s 

National Exploitation Laboratory, and just before assuming her current position, she was Chief of the Iran-Central 

Asia Division and NGA’s Iran Issues Manager.

But in the beginning, Salvatore’s focus was on gaining 

broad expertise in the fundamentals. “I started at NPIC 

as an imagery analyst and worked all phases of analysis, 

doing everything from Soviet ground forces to civil unrest 

to disasters and environmental security,” she said.

She sees her experience as providing excellent grounding for her current position. “I think that my background 

in intelligence and analysis, along with the years I spent 

collaborating with my colleagues at NSA on a variety of 

intelligence issues—as well as through community working groups—has helped me tremendously. When I came 

on board as NST Chief, I was able to speak their language 

and settle in quickly. On the other hand, it’s amazing 

how much I continue to learn about a partner that I 

have worked with for over 20 years.”

A Model of IC Collaboration—With Some Unexpected Benefits

The fusion of geospatial intelligence (GEOINT) and 

signals intelligence (SIGINT) is not new. In the 1990s, NPIC 

established a liaison office at NSA. However, as Salvatore says, the nature of the collaboration has changed. 

“SIGINT professionals and GEOINT professionals have 

worked together for decades, but the partnership has 

evolved dramatically since they have been sitting side 

by side. In this environment NSA analysts come to better 

understand what GEOINT has to offer, and NGA analysts 

learn firsthand how SIGINT is an integral part of the total 

intelligence picture.”

36Pathfinder ›› September/October 2007

Photo courtesy of NSA
Some benefits of the NGA-NSA collaboration are not 

readily apparent, but that doesn’t make them any less 

crucial to providing the best intelligence products and services to our colleagues and mission partners. For example, 

Salvatore points out that “NGA and NSA have leveraged 

each other’s geospatial data holdings. They have also 

jointly funded data purchases of value to both agencies.” 

And the value added goes still further. According to 

Salvatore, “From a non-production standpoint, having 

NGA personnel embedded inside the NSA footprint has 

led to unprecedented cooperation and collaboration on, to 

name just two examples, crucial information technology 

issues and research and development.” 

Salvatore has seen the benefits of collaboration reach 

into at least one unexpected area, planning for NGA’s New 

Campus East (NCE). As a member of the Culture Subcommittee of the NCE’s Senior Advisory Group, she gained 

insight into the issues facing the NCE Program Management Office. “Because of the close relationship, we have 

been able to put the NCE program office in touch with 

appropriate people at NSA to learn from NSA’s experience 

in building large-scale facilities.”

“Look outward and be the most collaborative partner 

with the IC and warfighter” is number one among NGA’s 

12 Focus Areas. “Create a culture of collaboration” is the 

number-one priority for the Director of National Intelligence. NGA’s relationship with NSA is a premier model of 

the culture of collaboration and is just one example of how 

NGA is moving forward to become the most collaborative IC 

partner. At NGA, this is more than a theoretical construct. 

As Salvatore says, “There have been many cases where 

SIGINT or GEOINT alone didn’t tell a complete story. In fact, 

one or the other alone might not even have met a reporting 

threshold. Together, our pieces add up to a reportable story 

that has impact on the IC’s knowledge base at a minimum 

and in many cases even helps to support operations in 

theater and influence national policymaker decisions.” P

Juanita Hartbarger 

is a Public Affairs 

Officer in the Office 

of Corporate Relations, 

Strategic Communications 

Branch

37Pathfinder ›› September/October 2007
38Pathfinder ›› September/October 2007
39Pathfinder ›› September/October 2007

Our Heritage

GEOINT Analysis Reveals Life in Feudal Times 

By Dr. Gary E. Weir

In 1929 two French historians of medieval Europe 

reached their breaking point and rebelled. Tired of having the complex society of the Middle Ages reduced to 

histories of royal courts, summit diplomacy, wars and 

biographies, Marc Bloch and Lucien Febvre sought another 

approach. With very few surviving documents available to 

illuminate the centuries after the fall of the Roman Empire, 

they looked for additional ways of understanding their 

subject, only this time from the ground up. Rather than 

learn about kings, lords and wars, they wanted to know 

about villages, families, farming, commerce and the serfs, 

who were committed by the feudal system to work the 

land of the same manor for life.

Bloch and Febvre created the Annales approach to medieval history and a journal that carried the same name. 

Very much like imagery or geospatial analysts, these 

historians carefully combined all available sources, some 

quite foreign to traditional historical practice, to understand their subject. Although Bloch fell to a German firing 

squad as a member of the Resistance during World War II, 

Febvre and others who survived into the postwar era discovered one of their most productive sources for medieval 

history in the aerial photographs taken during the conflict 

by the U.S. Strategic Bombing Survey. Examples can be 

found in Bloch’s Feudal Society, which became a classic. 

The University of Chicago Press published one of the best 

versions of Bloch’s book in 1961.

As analysts know all too well, imagery taken to assess 

bomb damage or plan new sorties can reveal much more 

to the trained eye. The careful observer can see old and 

Aerial photographs like this one of Chinquapin, N.C., can reveal old and new tree lines, land distribution patterns for farming, and old property boundaries no 

longer in effect. Reliable geospatial context of this sort has permitted scholars to draw conclusions about medieval life in Europe.

Photo by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
40Pathfinder ›› September/October 2007

new tree lines, land distribution patterns for farming, and 

old property boundaries no longer in effect. The survey 

photos taken in Europe during the war showed small 

rivers whose courses had changed naturally or by design, 

bridges no longer necessary but still in place, the nearly 

invisible scars left by old roads, relationships between 

medieval fortifications and the surrounding terrain for 

miles, and subtle physical suggestions of the field definition system used by the Romans when much of France 

constituted the imperial province of Gaul. 

An Annales historian recently commented that combining sparse documentary evidence with new imagery analysis allowed him to observe about the region around the 

city of Bézier, France, that “the structure of these village 

fields has...remained remarkably constant for at least a 

millennium, despite frequent flooding and changes in the 

meanders of the river before it altered its course.”

Having access to a reliable geospatial context of this sort 

permitted scholars to draw conclusions about medieval life 

completely impossible before Annales rewrote the methodological rules, inviting and encouraging novel approaches 

and close collaboration between history and other 

disciplines. Analysts who recall the birth of geospatial 

intelligence (GEOINT) doubtlessly find these conclusions 

very familiar. Thanks to the initiative of Bloch and Febvre, 

historians found the same power in all source-analysis that 

GEOINT has provided to the Intelligence Community. 

Analysts and historians are professional cousins, driven 

by a desire to understand and displaying little patience 

for methods that will not permit sufficient insight. Some 

of the very same elements that permit GEOINT to provide 

deeper, multilayered understanding of a complex world 

also enable historians to reach across time to achieve 

some of the same goals. P 

Photo by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

Dr. Gary E. Weir 

is the NGA Historian.

www.nga.mil