M a r c h / A p r i l 2 0 0 9

Vol. 7 No. 2

INTERNATIONAL EDITION:

YOUR PASSPORT TO GEOINT


ivPathfinder ›› January/February 2009 

On My Mind

Uniting the Global GEOINT Community

Strong and innovative international partnerships are essential to meeting global security challenges. 

The Intelligence Community and Department of Defense embrace the culture of collaboration and value the 

contributions of all of our foreign partners. Geospatial intelligence (GEOINT) is enriched by an international 

perspective. Our analysis is improved by the valuable context and expertise all our partners provide, and 

because of this we are committed to building new and enhancing enduring foreign partnerships.

Our leaders have outlined the strategic imperative to collaborate. The new Director of National Intelligence, 

Dennis Blair, recently stated, “The intelligence services need to have open minds, change traditional 

ways of thinking and be bold and creative in identifying possible threats to the nation.” As Secretary of 

Defense Robert Gates explained, “We must find ways to capitalize on our individual strengths, while also 

respecting and honoring the sovereignty of each nation ....” President Obama emphasized, “We can meet 

those new threats that demand even greater effort—even greater cooperation and understanding between 

nations.” Our leaders understand that collaboration is not just an option, it is a necessity.

Partnerships in Action

Our combat forces share battle space with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and our coalition 

partners. We are getting better and better every day at sharing GEOINT and supporting these warfighters 

in accomplishing their mission. GEOINT analysts from NGA are constantly learning from our international 

partners and improving support on a wide range of mission sets. For example, NGA has partnered with 

international and U.S. mission partners to collect geospatial data across Afghanistan in support of combat 

operations, foundation data missions and host nation capacity.

International partnerships are often most evident when disaster strikes. Natural disasters like the 

earthquake in China in May 2008 and the typhoon in the Philippines in June demonstrate the need to 

understand our world and cooperate with partners around the globe. In the aftermath of the China earth-

quake, the unprecedented request from China for GEOINT showed our capacity to support a wide range 

of countries with a diverse range of missions. NGA support was vital in saving lives by providing a clear 

operating picture and informing emergency personnel of potential risks associated with the earthquake. 

International events like the Beijing Olympics and the NATO Summit provide opportunities to collaborate 

with GEOINT professionals in support of joint requirements. Imagery and geospatial information serve a 

tremendously important role in enabling emergency response personnel to understand their environment 

and act quickly to reduce further risk, regardless of national borders.

Allied System for Geospatial Intelligence — Enhancing Partnerships

Good GEOINT is possible only by incorporating multiple perspectives, high-quality tradecraft, dedicated 

professionals and multiple-intelligence collaboration. GEOINT is bigger than NGA. The entire National 

System for Geospatial Intelligence (NSG) produces and participates in providing GEOINT to our nation’s 

decision makers and warfighters. We work closely with our allies on a day-to-day basis, and to reflect this 

reality we have expanded this operating model to more fully incorporate the valuable input of our closest 

allies. Therefore, we are now operating an Allied System for Geospatial Intelligence (ASG). The NSG joins 

Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United Kingdom to form an international GEOINT community, with 

each member building on the contributions of others and underlining the strengths of each nation. The 

ASG is a platform for cooperation on issues ranging from standards to technology, from training to fulfilling 

joint requirements in the topographic, aeronautical and nautical areas, as well as joint requirements in 

theater. By working in close coordination with all our international partners, we reduce redundancies, 

we share the burden of data collection, we leverage regional expertise and ultimately we improve our 

efficiency and effectiveness in achieving our mission.

The strategic importance of our partnerships grows every day, and we continue to strengthen and deepen 

our ties as we move forward together to create an intelligence and decision advantage for our decision 

makers, warfighters and international partners.

Robert B. Murrett

Vice Admiral, USN

Director
Pathfinder ›› March/April 2009 ›› Vol. 7 No. 2

 Pathfinder ›› March/April 2009 

8 

5

Contents

2	 Letter to Our Readers

3	 Guest Column: Meet Canada’s Directorate of

Geospatial Intelligence

4	 Up Front: British General Honored With NGA

Medallion of Excellence

›› F E A T U R E S

5	 GEOINT Serves NATO

7	 China Earthquake Effects an Unprecedented Call

for GEOINT

8	 Multinational Working Group Unifies Afghan

Mapping Efforts

9	 Sidebar: Germany Spearheads Mapping for

Northern Afghanistan

11	 Agency Teams Enable Iraqi GEOI

Self-Sufficiency

13	 NGA Facilitates Commonwealth Collaboratio

15	 Accreditation Team Ensures Secur

Global Network

›› D E P A R T M E N T S

17	 Partnerships: Australia’s GEOINT Relationship

Prove Vital

19	 Our Heritage: GEOINT Facilitates a Globa

Solution to Piracy

›› S P E C I A L S U P P L E M E N T

21 A Great Day @ NG

On the Cover

A passport represents excitement and expectation, the opportunity to 

extend the boundaries of experience. Whether exploring over miles 

or over the printed word, a journey to foreign lands inevitably proves 

rewarding. The traveler’s perceptions change and knowledge expands. 

Travel through these pages and transit international realms and activities—all related to the application of geospatial intelligence (GEOINT). 

Your itinerary is to your right. Follow it in order or rove at your leisure; no 

matter the course, your passage begins within these pages. Cover design 

by Anika McMillon.

More to the Story?

The online Classified Pathfinder, which is accessible 

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

of some Pathfinder articles. The Classified Pathfinder 

provides a forum for reading and discussing topics at 

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

higher. For information please contact the Classified 

Pathfinder editor, Heather Cox, at 301-227-2290.
Published by the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency

Office of Corporate Communications

4600 Sangamore Road, Mail Stop D-54

Bethesda, MD 20816-5003

Telephone: (301) 227-7388, 

DSN 287-7388

E-mail: pathfinder@nga.mil

Director

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

Deputy Director

Lloyd Rowland

Office of Corporate Communications, Director

Paul R. Weise

Internal Communications Branch, Chief

Louis J. Brune

Editor

Jason K. Michas

Managing Editor

Kelly M. Kemp

Graphic Designer 

Anika D. McMillon

Contributing Authors

Dave Carey

Stephanie Chang

Dawn Eilenberger

Alan Higgins 

Carlos Montenegro

Peter Paquette

Craig Rickert

Rosemary Simmons

Col. D.H.N. Thompson, OMM, CD, Director of Geospatial Intelligence

Dr. Gary E. Weir

Lachlan Wilson

Katherine Zimmerman

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. For details on submitting articles, send an 

e-mail to pathfinder@nga.mil.

The Pathfinder is the medium with which the National 

Geospatial-Intelligence 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

International Edition: 

Your Passport to GEOINT

There are no boundaries to geospatial 

intelligence (GEOINT)—it is everywhere all the 

time. The role of NGA extends far and wide as 

the agency’s dedicated workforce ensures safety 

across the globe. Reflecting the depth of the 

agency’s mission, NGA personnel reside in over 

100 locations worldwide to guarantee success. 

Many monumental GEOINT achievements are 

attributable to NGA’s essential international 

partnerships and global presence.

Undeniably, the GEOINT tradecraft is essential 

to the nation’s welfare. GEOINT is a team effort 

and NGA actively collaborates with the National 

System for Geospatial Intelligence, the Allied System for Geospatial Intelligence 

and beyond to provide this location-based, visual form of intelligence. But NGA’s 

success and influence do not stop at the U.S. border. NGA’s capabilities allow 

GEOINT to reach internationally, even to remote areas of the world, to aid mission 

partners in times of need. The agency collaborates with its international mission 

partners to produce the best and most accurate GEOINT products.

Start your trip around the globe with a special look at NGA’s partnership with 

Canada. Col. D.H.N. Thompson, Canada’s Director of Geospatial Intelligence, 

provides insight about the role of GEOINT in action—whether supporting training 

activities or carrying out operations.

View NGA’s recovery and relief efforts as Katherine Zimmerman outlines the 

agency’s contribution to supporting the People’s Republic of China after the 

devastating earthquake in May 2008. Visit Afghanistan with Craig Rickert and 

Rosemary Simmons, who explain the contributions of a multinational working group 

providing accurate map products to navigate that country’s diverse terrain.

Carlos Montenegro describes NGA’s support to the stand-up of a national GEOINT 

capability in Iraq, reflecting on the emerging partnership between NGA and Iraq’s 

Ministry of Defense. The agency’s ability to share information and provide training 

to promote Iraqi GEOINT self-reliance proves the continuing need for and benefit of 

NGA’s presence worldwide.

Stephanie Chang shares the path taken to ensure that NGA-deployed personnel 

enjoy secure networks to carry out their missions—an effort protecting over 

100 systems worldwide. Dawn Eilenberger, who directs the agency’s Office of 

International Affairs and Policy, explores NGA’s relationship with the North Atlantic 

Treaty Organization as a critical enabler in the fight against terrorism and as an 

advocate for peace. Complete your journey with the NGA historian’s perspective on 

the fight against international maritime piracy, still a significant concern in many 

parts of the world.

Altogether, the articles in this issue establish the importance of international 

partnerships to the expanding footprint of GEOINT. No less important, NGA’s 

domestic relationships play an essential role in international and national security, 

as the May/June Pathfinder will examine.

Paul R. Weise

Director, Office of Corporate Communications

Pathfinder ›› March/April 2009 
Guest Column

Meet Canada’s Directorate of Geospatial Intelligence 

By Col. D.H.N. Thompson, OMM, CD, Director of Geospatial Intelligence

Editor’s Note: The United States, Canada, Australia, 

the United Kingdom and New Zealand enjoy a distinct 

geospatial intelligence relationship. The Pathfinder 

invited Col. D.H.N. Thompson to introduce our readers 

to Canada’s Directorate of Geospatial Intelligence, which 

he leads.

Canada’s Directorate of Geospatial Intelligence

(D Geo Int) is headed by the Director of Geospatial 

Intelligence, who serves as the functional manager for 

ensuring the effective planning, coordination, control 

and provisioning of geospatial intelligence (GEOINT), 

measurement and signatures intelligence (MASINT) 

and meteorological and oceanographic services to the 

Department of National Defence (DND) and the Canadian 

Forces (CF). The director reports to the CF Chief of 

Defence Intelligence (CDI).

Indeed, no CF operations or training activity occur 

without D Geo Int products and services. Every map and 

chart, most MASINT products, meteorological forecasts 

and imagery intelligence come from D Geo Int teams, 

without whom ships do not sail, planes do not fly and no 

one crosses the line of departure. D Geo Int maintains 

numerous international and national partnerships that 

are key to achieving the necessary effects, among them 

its strong partnership with NGA.

The director commands a small staff and oversees 

the operation of the Directorate of Meteorology and 

Oceanography and three line units, namely the Mapping 

and Charting Establishment (MCE), the CF Joint Imagery 

Centre (CFJIC) and the Joint Meteorological Centre.

D Geo Int coordinates requirements for and provides 

GEOINT products and services to the military’s 

Environmental Chiefs of Staff, strategic and operational 

military staff, and tactical units at home, during training 

and while conducting domestic or expeditionary 

operations, including:

» force generation, which includes manning and 

training of deploying elements

» reviewing and providing guidance and input as 

needed in the production of the GEOINT documents 

supporting operational plans

» direct reachback support to forces in theatre

» management of national and international arrangements to produce GEOINT support standards and 

plans in the context of Canada’s many multinational 

and bilateral agreements, including collaborative 

production plans

» advising on the GEOINT support aspects of CF capabilities plans

» recommending policy on the standardization, production and exploitation of GEOINT and on requirements among Canada’s national agencies

» serving as the CF’s military and civilian GEOINT 

advisor and recommending professional standards, 

career patterns, trade structure, training requirements and policy

» advising on related GEOINT research and 

development programs

 Current D Geo Int projects include the CF Weather and 

Oceanographic Service (CFWOS) Transformation Project, 

which will ensure the long-term provision of high-quality 

meteorological and oceanographic services to the CF’s 

operational community. Part of this process was the 

Col. D.H.N. Thompson, OMM, CD, Director of Geospatial Intelligence

Photo by Department of National Defense 

Pathfinder ›› March/April 2009 
Pathfinder ›› March/April 2009

stand-up of an interim Joint Meteorological Centre in 

Gagetown, New Brunswick, on Nov. 13, 2008. By final 

operating capability in 2010–11, the centre will include 

provision of CF-wide weather briefing and forecasting.

The directorate has concluded the first phase of a 

major study to position CDI to effectively deliver the full 

range of 21st century GEOINT capabilities to the DND and 

CF. The study’s recommendations include the need to establish a more robust governance regime for the GEOINT 

function within the DND and CF, and CDI has agreed in 

principle with this. Staffing of the necessary documents 

is ongoing.

As part of Canada’s ongoing support to operations 

in Afghanistan, a D Geo Int team participated with our 

U.S. and British colleagues, including NGA, in the highly 

successful Operation Rampant Lion 2 mission during the 

spring and early summer of 2008. This activity provided 

a large volume of GEOINT data and products that were 

able to be exploited in near-real time in support of CF 

troops, as well as for our allies in theatre. This was 

the first truly integrated D Geo Int operational activity 

with a composite team of imagery intelligence experts 

from the CFJIC and geomatics technicians from the 

MCE. It has paved the way for much more integration 

of the capability in the future, both domestically with 

other fellow Canadian government departments and 

internationally within coalition theatres of operation.

D Geo Int values its relationships with NGA and all its 

foreign and domestic partners. The increasing importance of GEOINT to the collective safety of Canada, its 

forces abroad and its partner nations drives D Geo Int to 

maintain these indispensible relationships and perform 

its essential missions through the continued provision of 

timely, accurate and current GEOINT products. 

NGA Director Vice Adm. Robert B. Murrett honored 

British Royal Marines Maj. Gen. John Rose on 

March 5, 2009, in a ceremony at NGA headquarters in Bethesda, MD. Murrett awarded Rose the 

NGA Medallion of Excellence in recognition of his 

outstanding contributions to the mission of NGA 

and the Commonwealth partnership. Rose, who 

serves as the United Kingdom’s Assistant Chief of 

Defence Staff for Intelligence Capabilities, retires 

at the end of March. The ceremony marked his 

final visit to NGA. 

Up Front

British General Honored With NGA Medallion of Excellence 

British Royal Marines Maj. Gen. John Rose receives the NGA 

Medallion of Excellence from NGA Director Vice Adm. Robert B. 

Murrett on March 5, 2009. Photo by Larry Franklin
Pathfinder ›› March/April 2009 

GEOINT Serves NATO 

By Dawn Eilenberger

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in

today’s world has never been more important. NATO 

continues to deal with threats such as terrorism, as well 

as support peacekeeping missions and humanitarian 

and disaster relief efforts, in every corner of the globe. 

The changing world environment faced by NATO 

increasingly highlights the role of geospatial intelligence 

(GEOINT) as a critical enabler.

Interoperability and Standardization

Whether at NATO Headquarters or the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe in Belgium, at the NATO 

Intelligence Fusion Center in the United Kingdom, or in 

theater in the Balkans and Afghanistan, NGA has demonstrated that the provision of GEOINT directly supports 

senior decision making and operational commanders. 

Today’s dynamic world demands that GEOINT support a 

wide variety of mission objectives. From infrastructure 

studies aiding strategic discussions on reconstruction 

efforts to counternarcotics and counterterrorism reports 

for current operations, GEOINT is at the forefront as an 

enabler of decision making and strategic planning. 

As NATO nations bring their national military assets 

to bear on global operations, the standardization and 

interoperability of equipment and procedures present 

an ongoing challenge. A particularly critical area that 

NGA is working is joint intelligence, surveillance and 

reconnaissance, or Joint ISR. Airborne collection assets 

are growing in number, and their use on the battlefield 

is becoming evermore decisive. Ensuring interoperability 

and data standardization will be key to enabling 

coalition operations. NGA, as custodian of a number 

of Joint ISR-related NATO standardization agreements, is 

committed to working with the NATO nations to 

implement common standards.

Additionally, the storage, cataloging, retrieval and 

dissemination of GEOINT data and imagery become a 

greater challenge as the volume of data grows. NGA has 

recently assisted NATO with engineering expertise to 

develop a NATO standard geospatial technical capability 

for management and dissemination of geospatial data 

in Afghanistan. NATO’s implementation of this standard 

capability at the Allied Joint Force Command (JFC) 

Brunssum in the Netherlands, the headquarters of the 

International Security Assistance Force Afghanistan, and 

at the Afghanistan regional commands will ensure all 

coalition nations are fighting with the same map.

Data Sharing

Gathering and sharing data, as well as producing 

actionable intelligence, are key enablers to mission 

success. Sharing data in a multinational environment 

can be difficult and challenging.

Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers 

Europe near Mons, Belgium.

NATO photo
Pathfinder ›› March/April 2009

One example serves to highlight the agency’s data 

sharing successes. Over the past year, NGA has been 

working with seven other NATO nations in a program 

sponsored by JFC Brunssum to produce new geospatial 

products over Afghanistan and to ensure an efficient and 

effective means of supplying these maps to troops on 

the ground. In a hallmark of cooperation, over the next 

year this project will yield new topographic maps over 

regions that have not been mapped in decades, and the 

map depot in Afghanistan will be able to order these 

products from a single, comprehensive catalog.

Convergence of Imagery and Geospatial 

Responsibilities 

NGA’s experiences in Afghanistan have proven the 

value of fusing geospatial and intelligence data to create 

products the warfighters use in performing their daily 

mission. As NATO and NATO nations work to converge 

imagery and geospatial policies and responsibilities, the 

valuable knowledge gained on the battlefield will surely 

play a role in policy and program development. The Intelligence Fusion Center, where analysts from NATO nations 

work together on critical GEOINT products, provides an 

excellent environment in which to teach each other and 

develop tradecraft. NGA is committed to supporting the 

center with analysts and data to enable the mission.

Expanding NGA’s NATO Presence

Increasing NGA support to NATO and the European 

Community to support the agency’s foreign partners has 

led to the recent establishment of a senior international 

officer at NATO Headquarters in Brussels. Additional support to NATO in the areas of geospatial sharing policy, 

disclosure and release guidance, foreign military sales, 

and operations in the Balkans, Afghanistan and Iraq are 

some of the critical areas that NGA’s forward presence 

will coordinate.

Meeting the Operational Challenges

At the 2008 GEOINT Symposium held last October 

in Nashville, Tenn., Col. John Fitzgerald of NATO 

Headquarters International Military Staff outlined some 

of the biggest GEOINT operational challenges. The 

complexity of interoperability, data management, and 

data sharing is one of the top issues that NATO faces in 

day-to-day operations around the world. We must also 

place emphasis on GEOINT training and education as 

more nations participate in coalition efforts against a 

broad array of missions.

A Bright Future

NATO’s mission continues to grow, and the increased 

collaboration with NGA highlights the critical role of 

GEOINT. NATO is transforming to meet new strategic 

challenges, and NGA is poised to contribute to both 

NATO operations and NATO’s strategic transformation. 

Dawn Eilenberger

is the director of NGA’s

Office of International

Affairs and Policy.

North Atlantic Treaty Organization 

Headquarters, Brussels, Belgium.

NATO photo
China Earthquake Effects an Unprecedented 

Call for GEOINT

By Katherine Zimmerman

On May 12, 2008, a devastating 7.9 magnitude

earthquake struck China’s Sichuan Province, reportedly 

killing more than 70,000 Chinese citizens. The 

destruction and loss left in the earthquake’s aftermath 

were so catastrophic that the traditionally self-reliant 

country of China accepted offers of foreign assistance—

including those from the United States—to support 

humanitarian and disaster relief efforts in the region. 

Immediately following the earthquake, President Bush 

pledged America’s support to the People’s Republic of 

China (PRC) as it began mounting its recovery effort, 

saying, “The United States stands ready to help in any 

way possible.”

Organizations including the U.S. Agency for 

International Development soon began providing 

humanitarian and disaster relief assistance to the 

Chinese as part of a consolidated U.S. government 

response. In support of this unprecedented activity, 

NGA’s Office of International Affairs and Policy (OIP) 

Disclosure and Release (D&R) Team began working 

closely with the Department of State (DOS) to navigate 

policy channels to allow the sharing of geospatial 

intelligence (GEOINT) products to assist in recovery and 

relief-related activities. As analysts from NGA’s Analysis 

and Production Directorate set to work on tailored 

products, the agency coordinated to reduce production 

time and quickly approve the products for release. 

On May 16, NGA delivered the first of numerous 

products to DOS, which worked directly with the 

Chinese government.

Working with DOS as well as relevant U.S. federal 

organizations, NGA coordinated and processed incoming GEOINT requirements to support the PRC’s efforts to 

assess the earthquake’s effect on infrastructure, roads, 

bridges, reservoirs and urban centers. OIP ensured that 

GEOINT policy was in place that enabled NGA to utilize 

all sources of remotely sensed data to fashion and 

create effective GEOINT products. These products 

assisted the PRC in locating desperate victims, 

identifying serious damage and maintaining 

situational awareness regarding the increasing risk to 

villages and cities that were being slowly inundated 

with water as earthquake-formed landslides caused 

damming on local rivers across numerous affected 

areas. NGA analysts also produced earthquake-related 

products and analysis in support of the agency’s many 

mission partners.

As demonstrated time and again by the agency’s 

support to disaster relief and humanitarian efforts, 

both here and abroad, NGA’s data, information and 

products have proven essential to those leading 

recovery and response efforts following earthquakes, 

hurricanes, floods and other devastating events. 

GEOINT products, such as maps, can be quickly created 

as simple, easy-to-understand representations of critical recovery and relief information, such as the status 

of the key infrastructure within an area devastated by 

the forces of nature. The simplicity of these products is 

critical to their utility because the end users, including 

first responders, relief workers and provincial and local 

officials, often have limited experience as consumers of 

GEOINT yet need to quickly understand what areas have 

been hardest hit by a natural disaster.

The extensive efforts of NGA, in close coordination 

with DOS, reinforced the United States’ commitment 

to assist worldwide governments in the wake of a catastrophic event. NGA’s groundbreaking outreach and 

responsiveness to China’s unusual and unexpected 

request once again demonstrated the power of GEOINT 

to support damage assessments, humanitarian relief 

efforts and disaster recovery activities. 

Pathfinder ›› March/April 2009 

Katherine Zimmerman

is a contractor supporting the

Disclosure and Release Team in the

Office of International Affairs and Policy.

Dean Ferrell, chief of the China Internal

Security Branch in the Office of Asia–

Pacific, contributed to this article.
Multinational Working Group Unifies Afghan 

Mapping Efforts

By Craig Rickert and Rosemary Simmons

Forty nations are working side by side in

Afghanistan as part of the International Security 

Assistance Force (ISAF), led by the North Atlantic Treaty 

Organization (NATO). As these nations work to assist the 

Afghanistan government in securing and developing the 

country, their ability to navigate the terrain to accomplish their mission remains key. In a true model of multinational cooperation, the United Kingdom, the Czech 

Republic, Canada, Norway, Italy, Germany, Poland, the 

Netherlands and other European nations have banded 

together to provide up-to-date geospatial information 

and maps covering much of the country.

Experience gained from early deployments to 

Afghanistan generated this effort. As these nations 

sent their troops to Afghanistan, they discovered that 

geospatial data in that war-torn country had not 

been updated in many years. Several nations 

began individual efforts to revise the data 

and produce maps of the regions where 

their forces were deployed. 

They soon realized that, 

in some cases, nations 

were duplicating efforts. This realization led to the 

establishment of the Afghanistan Production 

Coordination Working Group (APCWG), led by the 

Allied Joint Force Command (JFC) Brunssum, the NATO 

command tasked with overseeing ISAF operations. The 

group, consisting of JFC Brunssum and 11 nations, is 

charged with coordinating national geospatial production 

to meet ISAF geospatial requirements.

The APCWG, which met most recently in September 

2008, has made significant progress in its mission. To 

date, seven nations are producing vector data, image city 

maps, Multinational Geospatial Co-Production Derived 

Graphics (MGCP-DGs), and full specification 

topographic line maps over most of 

Afghanistan, using 

Pathfinder ›› March/April 2009 

NGA map
commercial imagery. An ISAF catalog, developed by the 

group, designates the standard products to be used by the 

coalition forces on the ground. The catalog is updated 

as new products are produced and agreed to by the 

participating nations. So far, the group has produced 

approximately 150 new map sheets, with more due for 

delivery by the end of 2009.

Pathfinder ›› March/April 2009 

As a member of the Multinational Geospatial 

Coproduction Program (MGCP) and the Afghanistan 

Production Coordination Working Group, Germany 

is a major producer of 1:50,000-scale topographic 

line maps (TLM50s) for the International Security 

Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan. 

Germany has up to 3,500 troops in Provincial 

Reconstruction Teams in Afghanistan, the third 

largest contingent in ISAF. As the ISAF nation with 

primary responsibility for Regional Command North, 

Germany volunteered to produce most of the new 

TLM50s for northern Afghanistan. The Bundeswehr 

Geoinformation Office (BGIO), located in Euskirchen, 

Germany, is the geospatial organization for the 

German armed forces (Bundeswehr) and the central 

institution of the Bundeswehr Geoinformation 

Service. BGIO, in cooperation with Norway and 

Sweden, has the job of producing the TLMs.

BGIO has the capability to produce printed maps 

from start to finish. Beginning with existing MGCP 

vector data, BGIO first extracts additional features 

like culverts and powerline pylons that were not 

included in the MGCP specification but are required 

for TLM50s. As needed, BGIO also uses recent imagery to extract new features like roads or buildings to 

update the vectors. BGIO then creates contour lines 

from elevation data and extracts spot elevations. The 

vectors are symbolized to produce an NGA-specification TLM50 print-ready final product. BGIO also 

integrates best-available geographic place names 

from NGA’s GeoNames database and other sources. 

These vector updates are also very valuable to the 

maintenance phase of the MGCP database. 

BGIO’s process includes photogrammetric 

preprocessing. Accustomed to using Controlled 

Image Base® 1 and other 

conventional image source for 

feature extraction, BGIO’s analysts 

are enthusiastic about their new 

primary image source—NGA’s Afghan 

Regional Ortho imagery. This commercial 

pan-sharpened color imagery is current, highresolution and multispectral.

After finishing, the four-color print-ready files are 

printed in-house with a digital-to-plate process. 

Maps intended for distribution by the U.S. 

Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) are shipped to 

the DLA map warehouse in Germany. The map 

warehouse further distributes the products to U.S. 

and international partners, including the ISAF 

theater map depot in Afghanistan.

In 2008 BGIO started preparing vector data for over 

90 map sheets at 1:50,000 scale, starting from 

the original MGCP vectors. Planning their Afghan 

1:50,000-scale mapping in close coordination with 

NATO and NGA, BGIO expects to produce the remaining 185 sheets by the end of 2010. Together with 

new production from NGA and other NATO allies, this 

new large-scale map coverage will be a vital resource 

for ISAF forces operating in the area.

Germany Spearheads Mapping for Northern Afghanistan

David Carey

is the NGA geospatial

liaison at the U.S. Military

Liaison Group in Germany.

Production of new products is just the beginning. 

The APCWG group also took on and solved the challenge 

of developing an efficient supply chain for delivery of 

these multinational products to the forces in Afghanistan. 

As with the early production efforts, JFC Brunssum realized that the ISAF participating nations were supplying 

By David Carey
10Pathfinder ›› March/April 2009

Craig Rickert (Not Pictured) and Rosemary Simmons

Craig Rickert is a staff officer in the Source

Operations and Management Directorate,

responsible for international coordination in the

Central and Southwest Asia region.

Rosemary Simmons is a staff officer in the Office

of International Affairs and Policy and leads the

International Support Team responsible for liaison

between the Defense Logistics Agency and NGA’s

international partners’ map exchange.

geospatial products to their troops unilaterally or through 

national shipments to the theater map depot (TMD) in 

Afghanistan, which stores and distributes coalition maps 

in Afghanistan. The result was that the TMD sometimes 

had multiple versions of maps over the same area, with no 

clear idea of which was the most current and correct, nor 

any way to manage what was being shipped into theater. 

In June 2008, the United States, the United Kingdom and 

Canada worked together to develop a recommendation for 

a supply methodology that would standardize distribution 

of products. The recommendation was endorsed by the 

APCWG, and JFC Brunssum published a standard operating procedure in September 2008 directing the APCWG 

nations to follow the new methodology when supplying 

products to theater.

NGA has taken a lead role in coordinating the supply 

of products with the APCWG nations and JFC Brunssum, 

working with the Defense Logistics Agency to manage the 

receipt, cataloging, stocking and distribution of products 

to the TMD. As a result of the standardized process, the 

TMD will have the ability, for the first time, to place a single 

order for products and receive those products through a 

single supply system, enhancing its ability to manage and 

replenish stocks. The TMD can now supply the forward map 

distribution points within Afghanistan, ensuring 

up-to-date geospatial products for use by coalition troops.

Coalition operations have become the norm in the 

21st century. Thanks to multinational cooperation, the 

ISAF coalition forces are getting the geospatial products 

they need to perform their vital mission. As British Lt. 

Col. John Fennell, chief geospatial officer, JFC Brunssum, 

stated, “The APCWG is a shining example of how national 

production agencies can work together, make best use of 

available production effort and make a real difference for 

the [men and women] in the field—that seems like win, 

win, win to me.”

U.S. soldiers survey the land from a ridge in 

the Zabul province, Afghanistan. Through 

the efforts of a multinational working group, 

coalition forces are receiving the geospatial 

products they require.

U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Adam Mancini 
11Pathfinder ›› March/April 200

Agency Teams Enable Iraqi GEOINT Self-Sufficiency

By Carlos Montenegro

NGA has been at the forefront of providing

consistent forward geospatial intelligence (GEOINT) 

support to the warfighter through its network of deployed 

GEOINT Support Teams (GSTs). NGA is following on this 

success by establishing a bilateral exchange agreement 

with the Ministry of Defense, Republic of Iraq, and 

assisting the Multinational Security and Transition 

Command Iraq (MNSTC-I), which is charged with 

developing the capabilities of the Iraqi Security Forces.

NGA’s Office of International Affairs and Policy (OIP) is 

supporting the stand-up of Iraq’s Imagery and Mapping 

Directorate (IMD), within the Directorate General of Intelligence and Security (DGIS), through establishment of a 

Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement (BECA). The 

BECA will facilitate the exchange of geospatial data and 

provide the necessary foundation for IMD to support 

Iraqi military forces with GEOINT and decrease Iraq’s 

reliance on U.S. forces.

In 2006, NGA Director Vice Adm. Robert B. Murrett 

took the initial steps to assist MNSTC-I during his first 

visit to Iraq. He has since deployed a permanent GST to 

Baghdad to support MNSTC-I’s Intelligence Transition 

Team and its effort to stand up Iraq’s military intelligence, including IMD. In addition to deploying the GST, 

Murrett signed a Statement of Intent on Jan. 7, 2008, 

with the Director General of DGIS to form a close working relationship between NGA and DGIS.

In order to coordinate this emerging international 

relationship, OIP established a full-time international 

officer to coordinate the efforts of an NGA Iraq Country 

Team that includes representation from all NGA 

organizations with core roles in the Iraqi partnership. 

Between March 21 and 31, 2008, members of the Iraq 

Country Team traveled to Baghdad to evaluate IMD 

facilities, personnel and capabilities and to identify 

areas where NGA could work with the IMD. The team 

determined several areas for mutual efforts that 

will produce quality GEOINT for Iraqi military forces 

and support joint counterterrorism operations in a 

coalition environment. The partnership will include 

geographic information system training and IMD access 

to NGA standard products and commercially available 

imagery. When signed, the BECA will be the first of its 

kind with the Iraqi Ministry of Defense, establishing a 

permanent exchange relationship of controlled unclassified information and providing for the necessary training 

and geospatial data for Iraqi self-reliance.

Establishing a GEOINT exchange relationship 

with any foreign partner has inherent risks that 

challenge the status quo and must be balanced with 

the real benefits of supporting an allied partner in a 

A poster illustrates cooperation between U.S. and 

Iraqi forces in the former Marine Corps base of Camp 

Fallujah, Iraq. A bilateral exchange agreement will 

decrease the Iraqi Security Forces’ dependence on 

U.S. GEOINT support.

Photo by Richard Antin
12Pathfinder ›› March/April 2009

Carlos Montenegro

is a staff officer in the

Office of International

Affairs and Policy working as

the focal point for NGA international engagement policy

with the government of Iraq.

joint combat environment. To guide these deliberations, 

the NGA Iraq Country Team evaluates risks against the 

numerous national intelligence objectives outlined by 

the Director of National Intelligence, the Department of 

Defense and the U.S. Central Command (USCENTCOM 

or CENTCOM). The team has developed a risk mitigation 

plan to limit the risk of any unauthorized disclosure and 

protect NGA resources.

NGA coordinated its BECA effort throughout the 

Intelligence Community. The Office of the Under 

Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and the Department 

of State have concurred on this effort. NGA is awaiting 

formal approval from the Office of the Under Secretary 

of Defense for Policy before initiating bilateral discussions with the Iraqi Ministry of Defense. The proposed 

BECA will enable NGA to provide the necessary data 

and training and facilitate IMD capacity building in 

accordance with CENTCOM strategic plans and MNSTC-I 

mission objectives.

The benefits of fostering a relationship with IMD can 

be seen today. After the resurgence of violence, which 

began in Al Basrah in April 2008, IMD came into its own 

and helped Iraqi Security Forces with time-dominant 

GEOINT support. Working under demanding time 

constraints, IMD produced numerous Arabic-annotated 

photomaps that proved critical in the planning and 

successful execution of several high-profile operations 

involving elements of the Iraqi Counterterrorism Center, 

the Iraqi Army, local and national police and coalition 

forces. In late August, IMD was asked by the Ministry 

of the Interior’s (MOI’s) National Information and 

Investigation Agency to provide a number of products to 

support border security efforts—the first instance of DGIS 

support to the MOI.

The BECA will decrease the Iraqi Security Forces’ 

dependence on U.S. GEOINT support and enable Iraqi 

self-reliance. As U.S. forces draw down and Iraqi forces 

assume increasing control over security in the country, 

NGA will continue to support the MNSTC-I mission, fostering greater self-sufficiency for DGIS and IMD through 

the continued exchange of unclassified geospatial data 

and greater GEOINT training for IMD personnel. 

Aerial view of Baghdad.

DOD photo
13Pathfinder ›› March/April 2009

NGA Facilitates Commonwealth Collaboration

By Alan Higgins and Peter Paquette

Geospatial intelligence (GEOINT) sharing and

analytical collaboration remain vital to achieving NGA’s 

strategic vision. As the following examples demonstrate, 

the agency embraces the unique opportunity of providing tools to facilitate GEOINT collaboration between the 

United States and its Commonwealth partners.

Quadripartite to Quintipartite

The analytical efforts of the United States, Canada, 

Australia and the United Kingdom collectively form the 

Quadripartite Committee, or Quad. NGA’s multidisciplinary government and contractor personnel perform 

crucial roles, ensuring that analysts working within the 

Quad environment have the tools and resources to perform their mission-critical work.

As the National System for Geospatial Intelligence 

(NSG) transforms, NGA is challenged to ensure that the 

Quad transforms in concert with the NSG. This means 

leveraging NGA capabilities to implement similar, even 

identical, capabilities within the Quad. The opportunities to improve the Quad’s technological, analytical and 

collaborative capabilities are tremendous.

Two factors are increasing the scope and complexity 

of the challenge. Quad analysts need analytical tools 

and systems to access data while working as integrated 

team members within NGA work spaces, and the recent 

inclusion of New Zealand in the Commonwealth imagery 

sharing arrangement is transforming the Quad environment into the Quintipartite environment.

Two projects, recently completed by NGA, illustrate 

the breadth of activities fostering collaboration and the 

sharing of GEOINT. They stretch from NGA’s U.S. facilities 

across oceans to the facilities of the agency’s Commonwealth partners.

The Beijing Olympics Cell

In a first for NGA, analysts from Australia, Canada, 

the United Kingdom and New Zealand worked around 

the clock alongside their NGA colleagues supporting 

the agency’s Beijing Olympics Reachback Cell in St. 

Louis, Mo., monitoring the 2008 summer games. These 

Commonwealth partners exploited imagery, reviewed 

requests for and evaluated sources of information, and 

wrote reports that U.S. and Commonwealth personnel 

could access in their respective countries.

Another first for this effort was the use of an expanded 

network to provide dissemination and exploitation 

capabilities for the Commonwealth analysts working 

with their U.S. colleagues. For the Olympics cell, NGA 

quickly implemented the system in St. Louis. The 

Photos by Getty Images. 

Photo illustration by Anika McMillon.
14Pathfinder ›› March/April 2009

newly installed network exceeded all operating requirements. Although analysts downloaded far more imagery 

than originally envisioned, the system’s design and 

the close collaboration between analysts and system 

developers enabled the network to handle the additional 

volume. Lessons learned from the experience will be 

applied to a more fully capable system in 2009, increasing the collaborative capabilities among Commonwealth 

and U.S. analysts.

The Olympics cell set the bar high for future integrated 

efforts with Commonwealth allies. The reliability of the 

systems used, the precision of the products created, and 

the professionalism of both Commonwealth and NGA 

personnel provided a unique glance into the future of 

multinational intelligence collaboration.

A Friendly Capability

NGA managed the development of the TC-2X system 

designed to provide Australia’s Defence Imagery and 

Geospatial Organisation (DIGO) with the capability of 

receiving imagery from the developing Quintipartite 

GEOINT system. The system designer recently 

demonstrated the full operational 

capability of the system ahead of 

schedule, under budget and with exceptional 

performance. This outstanding performance illustrates 

how an effective partnership gets the job done—the 

right way. The main organizations involved in TC-2X are 

DIGO, the Defence Material Organization (DMO), which 

manages contracts on behalf of the Australian Defence 

Forces, and NGA. The new system and capability that 

DIGO now possesses are the culmination of more than 

five years of effort.

Although collaboration and sharing of GEOINT with 

Commonwealth partners are daunting, ever-changing 

tasks, these examples demonstrate the success NGA has 

achieved. NGA is meeting these challenges head on and 

actively searching for new and smarter ways to integrate 

its mission partners into NGA’s global efforts. 

The Temple of Heaven, Beijing, China. 

Commonwealth analysts worked 

alongside their NGA colleagues 

to support the agency’s Beijing 

Olympics Reachback Cell.

Photo by Getty Images

Alan Higgins and Peter Paquette

Alan Higgins is the ASA program

manager for the Commonwealth

dissemination and exploitation network.

Peter Paquette is a staff officer with the NGA

Support Team in Canberra, Australia.
15Pathfinder ›› March/April 2009

Accreditation Team Ensures Secure Global Network 

By Stephanie Chang

Since Sept. 11, NGA has increasingly deployed

collection, analysis and other systems into theater as the 

demand for technology to exploit and share geospatial 

intelligence has grown at a rapid pace. Today, in direct 

support of deployed personnel and mission partners, 

the agency deploys over 100 systems across multiple 

networks in more than 35 locations worldwide. Ensuring the security of those systems before and after their 

implementation is one of the challenges of rapid deployment. NGA’s Accreditations and Risk Analysis Division 

(CSA) in the Information Security Management Office of 

the Office of the Chief Information Officer has met that 

challenge head on. The division works with multiple 

military, intelligence and international partners to make 

sure that no matter where NGA systems are located, the 

information NGA provides to warfighters is protected 

from adversaries.

A Unique Challenge

CSA assesses the overall security risk of all systems 

the agency deploys. Properly securing NGA systems 

prevents disclosing information to unauthorized entities while allowing authorized users quick and reliable 

access to data. To that end, the division has established 

procedures for certifying and accrediting all NGA systems 

and networks that reside within agency spaces. 

Externally deployed NGA systems posed a unique 

challenge as the systems had to be integrated within 

the footprints of the combatant commands. Each 

partner’s information assurance team has its own 

established process, so the integration of NGA systems 

in command footprints required collaboration. All 

stakeholders jointly agreed to a way forward, adopting a 

common certification and accreditation (C&A) approach 

to secure the networks.

Photo by Getty Images. 

Photo illustration by Anika McMillon.
16Pathfinder ›› March/April 200

The U.S. Central Command (USCENTCOM or CENTCOM) 

became a test bed for this evolving collaborative process 

as the command’s need increased for deployed systems 

to support forces in its area of responsibility (AOR). With 

multiple intelligence and military agencies involved, 

concerns grew about information and systems security. 

In June 2007, CENTCOM called for a common 

approach to the protection and sharing of information 

within its AOR. A CSA senior liaison working with NGA’s 

Office of Global Support (OGS) stated that this “was 

the catalyst for us to sit down and look at our own C&A 

process to make sure it meets both NGA and the DOD 

[Department of Defense] requirements.” The ultimate 

goal is to “make sure that the end user doesn’t suffer, 

that [the warfighters] get what they need, but the information is protected.”

A Collaborative Approach

CSA stood up tiger teams, specialized groups to examine the existing C&A processes, to satisfy both DOD and 

NGA requirements for deployed NGA systems to make 

sure that the agency is in line with its DOD partners’ 

needs. By collaborating with CENTCOM, the Defense 

Information Systems Agency, the Defense Intelligence 

Agency, and other partners with a presence in the 

CENTCOM AOR, CSA fulfilled both NGA and mission 

partner requirements for C&A to meet the need to deploy 

secure systems rapidly. 

In the summer of 2007, the CSA division chief deployed with OGS to multiple regions in the CENTCOM 

AOR to get a clearer picture 

of local requirements. The 

biggest benefit of working 

directly with the end users was 

to help CSA understand the operational mentality of the warfighters and 

to ensure the C&A process works within the 

operational tempo in theater.

All this effort culminated in a reciprocity agreement 

between the DOD and Intelligence Community (IC) chief 

information officers in August 2008. The agreement 

states that the DOD and the IC will adopt “common 

guidelines to streamline and build reciprocity into the 

certification and accreditation process.” This allows 

military and intelligence mission partners to accept each 

other’s C&A standards and processes for deployed 

systems and to share information on those systems.

Rapid Deployment of Secure 

Systems Worldwide

The hard work of CSA and other stakeholders has 

resulted in a faster, more streamlined process for deploying secure NGA systems into theater with a clearer 

understanding of each mission partner’s C&A process. 

CSA has achieved dramatic improvement in the deployed 

systems accreditation rate, from just over 10 percent in 

February 2008 to a current rate of nearly 90 percent. All 

of this translates into more secure systems and more 

protected information for warfighters to better execute 

their mission. 

Stephanie Chang

is a contractor supporting the Communications

Team in the Office of the

Chief Information Officer.
17Pathfinder ›› March/April 2009

Partnerships

Australia’s GEOINT Relationships Prove Vital 

By Lachlan Wilson

Editor’s Note: The following article was adapted from 

“DIGO’s Eyes in the Sky,” which originally appeared 

in Defence, the official magazine of Australia’s 

Defence Imagery and Geospatial Organisation.

After hosting the head of NGA and a 

major international conference, Australia’s Defence Imagery and Geospatial 

Organisation (DIGO) continued to build 

its vital international relationships 

and its intelligence capabilities 

throughout 2008. The DIGO–NGA 

partnership highlights the importance of these relationships.

An Effective Alliance

International partnerships are 

vital to the business of DIGO. Traditionally, the United States, Australia, 

Canada and the United Kingdom have 

formed a unique and special partnership concerning the sharing of geospatial intelligence (GEOINT). In 2008, New 

Zealand was readmitted to this partnership 

after an absence of more than 20 years.

Australia’s requirements for GEOINT are global. 

Like its allies, Australia has strategic and economic 

interests around the world and troops deployed abroad 

in international coalitions. In this environment, international burden sharing and cooperation on GEOINT 

are critical. Vice Adm. Robert B. Murrett, the head of 

NGA, DIGO’s U.S. counterpart, visited DIGO in 2008 and 

provided a very useful perspective on collaboration and 

the value the United States obtains from working closely 

with Australia. “International partnerships, with Australia in particular, are absolutely vital. In fact, it’s remarkable how much Australia adds to making us collectively 

more effective in Asia.”

Murrett cited successful support to the 2007 AsiaPacific Economic Cooperation Leaders’ Summit in 

Sydney and the significant impact of U.S.–Australian 

GEOINT cooperation on humanitarian relief operations 

since the December 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami as 

achievements that “individually we never could have 

accomplished.”

He also stressed the importance of GEOINT collaboration in supporting military operations, in particular 

through the provision of forward support. “The way that 

NGA and DIGO are most effective in supporting our operational forces is to be there with them and be embedded 

parts of the teams.”
18Pathfinder ›› March/April 2009

The vital contribution DIGO also makes in the 

field of mapping is reflected in Murrett’s remarks 

about the Pacific. “We have joint requirements in 

terms of topographic, aeronautical and also nautical 

information—which is very important in the Pacific 

because of the vast water areas that are involved. 

We are cooperating very closely with Australia on all of 

that because of the sheer amount of effort it takes to 

have the best geospatial data we can have for all of the 

Pacific region.”

A Historic Forum

Coordination across the international GEOINT community is achieved through an annual heads of agency 

board meeting, supplemented by quarterly participation by these partner agencies in the broader National 

System for Geospatial Intelligence Senior Management 

Council (NSMC), which brings together all the U.S. 

Combatant Commands, producer organisations and 

Commonwealth collaborators. Quarterly participation 

is via videoteleconference (VTC), usually at 3:00 a.m. 

Australian Eastern time because of the difficulties of 

establishing a worldwide VTC.

The agency board meeting is the primary means 

through which the partners can discuss face to face the 

governance and strategic direction of the partnership. It 

also plays host to subgroups that come together at the 

working level to discuss and plan business operations, 

capability development, and research and development. 

Each of the members brings complementary strengths 

and resources, as well as independent perspectives to 

the partnership. Conference discussion is usually frank 

and robust. In the view of Clive Lines, the Director of 

DIGO, the agency board meeting should be about ideas, 

rather than briefs.

The 2008 agency board meeting was historic for two 

reasons. It was the first hosted by DIGO in Canberra, and 

it was the first opportunity for New Zealand to participate 

as a full member.

Key themes at the 2008 meeting included burden 

sharing, communication systems, and capability 

development. Underpinning all these are ongoing initiatives to enhance data interconnectivity and analytical 

exchange between the partners, such as next generation 

e-mail and common data repositories.

Participants discussed further developing the fusion 

of GEOINT with other sources of information, in particular 

signals intelligence. Fusion has become increasingly 

important to the GEOINT production process. It consolidates and meaningfully depicts diverse data in a single 

product to give the intelligence customer a unique 

insight into an issue. Fusion has vital applications in 

military and counterterrorism operations—for example, 

in providing indicators and warnings about the locations 

and uses of improvised explosive devices or about terrorist activities and operations.

The true measure of the effectiveness of the 2008 

agency board meeting in establishing a platform for 

cooperation over the following year will not be apparent 

until the next gathering in London in 2009, when progress against agreed initiatives can be gauged. But the 

consensus view of conference delegates on departure 

was that the 2008 agency board meeting had generated 

outstanding momentum for future cooperation and 

further integration of all partners’ respective national 

GEOINT systems. 

This article draws in part from an interview conducted 

by the author with Vice Adm. Murrett on March 21, 

2008, prior to his attendance at the 2008 agency 

board meeting.

Lachlan Wilson

is the acting director for

Policy Security and Compliance

for the Defence Imagery and

Geospatial Organisation.
19Pathfinder ›› March/April 200

Photo by Jupiter Images. 

Photo illustration by Anika McMillon.

Our Heritage

GEOINT Facilitates a Global Solution to Piracy

By Dr. Gary E. Weir

History often gives us the feeling of déjà vu, that

sense of having already experienced something just 

encountered. Everyone has that feeling on occasion. For 

example, given recent television news stories, does this 

sound familiar? 

Above all, the cost of dealing with the pirates was 

excessive. The locals were numerous, well-armed, 

and dangerous. To impose order on a population 

reduced to poverty ... and not infrequently starving 

would have required a major military expedition. 

The human cost would be high, and the diplomatic 

problems grave. Such an operation would be,

 in effect, a short-term invasion and conquest. 

The alternative naval response, instituting 

regular patrols, would have 

been uneconomic. 

This certainly describes those conditions in Somalia 

and off the Horn of Africa responsible for a current rash 

of piracy very difficult to control. However, King’s College 

historian, Professor Andrew Lambert, recently composed 

the above passage to describe the efforts of the British 

government to address the effects of Riff tribal piracy 

in the Mediterranean Sea in the mid-19th century! He 

concluded that the British authorities adopted the only 

reasonable course open to them. They supported a 

resurgent local Moroccan government and let its central 

control over the area subdue the tribes involved in 

piracy. An effective customs system with reasonable 

tariffs and a police organization to enforce expectations 

eventually presented the best long-term solution. In this 

case, the British looked to a combination of informed 

authority, regional awareness, national infrastructure 

and effective enforcement to restore local stability and 

freedom of action. This made normal trade possible, as 

well as effective international diplomacy, an essential 

tool for peace and prosperity. 

However, you cannot implement any of 

these things so important 

to arresting piracy if 

you do not have a 

very high level of 

regional awareness. You must 

know where the 

pirates make their 

base, what ships and 

boats they can use, 

their movement by 

land and sea, their 

numbers, and their 

order of battle. Any 

effort to accomplish these ends 

also requires 

intimacy with 
20Pathfinder ›› March/April 2009 

regional geography. The British discovered all of this 

the hard way when the Riff tribes first became a major 

regional nuisance in the 1840s. Scholars have discovered a familiar scenario in studying these North African 

pirates, who regularly seized merchant vessels sailing 

under a variety of colors. As one historian observed, 

When the inevitable naval vessel turned up to 

recover the captured ship, or simply bring down 

some righteous indignation on the locals, they soon 

discovered an uncomfortable truth. The British had 

little knowledge of the area, lacking accurate maps, 

and reliable charts. The Bu Gafar villages were 

almost impossible to locate, often out-of-sight and 

invulnerable to bombardment, as were the boats, 

which the Riff buried in the sand, or hid in caves. 

The coast was dominated by cliffs, a marked advantage in a firefight. The same vantage point enabled 

them to spot approaching warships with their 

excellent telescopes, and they used signal fires to 

communicate orders. 

Regardless of whether the international community 

employed force, political support for local authorities, 

or diplomacy, the protagonists would need geospatial 

information to understand the threat and the terrain 

while weighing options that promised a possible solution. The 19th century did not permit aerial photography, 

but maps and charts of the coastline and the pirate 

staging areas in the interior made effective action possible. Those intent on illegally seizing ships, crews and 

cargoes depended on an adversary’s ignorance of the 

landscape, his inability to discover the best landing 

points along the shore, and the amount of time he would 

waste looking for pirate vessels hidden in caves and 

inlets in a foreign land. Indeed a foray ashore by the 

north German navy with a force of 60 in 1856 ended in 

defeat at the hands of the Riff pirates, excellent marksmen from the high shoreline cliffs. The north German 

venture took heavy casualties, including Adm. Prince 

Adelbert of Prussia, wounded while serving as expedition commander. The British and Germans, as well as the 

French, quickly learned the value of maps, charts, terrain 

data, ocean depth estimates, village locations, points of 

embarkation, preferred weapons, expertise with those 

weapons and any intelligence information regarding 

pirate movement. 

These particulars are as important to modern 

geospatial analysts as they were to our professional 

predecessors over a century ago. Geospatial tools and 

information provided the imperial European powers of 

the 19th century with a broad context of physical and 

cultural knowledge upon which to build policies and 

local plans of action in response to the Riff pirates. 

The geospatial intelligence (GEOINT) generated by 

NGA today, augmented by imagery, digital charts and 

GPS-based location systems, will provide a 21st century 

context for the solutions and policies designed to arrest 

modern piracy. The United States, our Commonwealth 

allies, France and others, as well as those all-important 

regional authorities and cultural forces, will once again 

address this problem and build a solution on a geospatial foundation. Pirates violate the rights of all. GEOINT is 

playing a major role in facilitating a global solution. 

Dr. Gary E. Weir

is the NGA Historian.
21Pathfinder ›› March/April 2009

November 19, 2008

The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency randomly chose a day to 

highlight the variety of significant agency activities involved in delivering 

geospatial intelligence to the nation.

Photos represent a typical day at NGA.

line maps to the Theater Map 

Depot in Kandahar, Afghanistan. These Afghanistan maps 

are being produced by foreign 

partners to aid the International 

Security Assistance Force (ISAF) 

Afghanistan coalition. 

 Human Development Recruitment 

Services processed applicants 

from NGA’s first major hiring 

event, which was held 13–15 

November. NGA received 

5,616 résumés and conducted 

1,185 interviews resulting in 698 

conditional offers of employment.

 Two members of the Presidential 

Transition Team conducted their 

initial visit to NGA. They were 

interested in a variety of topics, including source mitigation 

challenges, domestic security, analytic collaboration and 

E.O.12333 NSG Functional 

Management authorities. 

 Geospatial Intelligence Advancement Testbed personnel at 

a forward operating location in 

southeast Asia installed a node 

supporting PACOM/SOCPAC.

 The Office of Financial Management delivered NGA’s Agency 

Financial Report to the Director 

of National Intelligence, the 

Office of Management and 

Budget, and Congress. 

 The Office of International Affairs and Policy (OIP) provided a 

stock of new 1:50K topographic 

@

GREAT DAY

NGA

A

 The Enterprise Operations Directorate printed 21,000 maps, replicated 4,700 optical media and 

scanned 115 charts; processed 
18 print and 74 georeferenced 

maps for electronic availability; compiled and shipped five 

500GB firewire drives and 10 

optical media drives; generated 

450 media; and purchased 

60,000 aeronautical products 

for customers. 

 The Office of General Counsel 

gave 78 legal opinions/advice to 

internal and external clients. This 

included travel topics, collection 

of EEO data/records and documents, affiliate benefits, liability 

insurance for employees, industry 

interaction, licensing agreements, 

data rights questions, procurement of server maintenance question, and a Ft. Belvoir opinion on 

overhead barriers.

 The Office of Global Support 

(OGS) reached a milestone in 

welcoming its 400th deployer to 

the NGA Volunteer Deployment 

Team. Since initiated in September 2001, OGS has deployed 

over 1,600 times in support of 

customers around the world. 

 NGA celebrated support to the 

2008 Beijing Olympics with 

an awards ceremony to honor 

the contributors. The event was 

hosted by the Office of Asia 

Pacific’s Olympic support team. 

 Construction continued at New 

Campus East with 42 steel 

beams being put in place.

 NGA Test Organization (NTO) 

conducted test number 2,931. 

The NTO is the independent test 

authority to issue Certificates 

to Field for all NGA products 

to the Department of Defense 

Intelligence Information Systems 

(DoDIIS) community.

 The Director’s Action Center 

broadcast the daily Operations 

and Intelligence meeting to 

42 sites worldwide, giving an 

update to the Director, NGA and 

his leadership team on current 

intelligence events, such as the 

exercise COLD START, as well as 

our mission posture. 

 The Office of International Affairs 

and Policy worked with the 

Analysis and Production 

Directorate to bring a Battlefield 
Information Collection & 

Exploitation System (BICES) 

workstation online. 

 The State Department NGA 

Support Team attended the 

Department of State-chaired 

International Athletic Events 

Security Coordinating Group. 

Items discussed included security planning and exercises for 

the Vancouver 2010 Winter 

Olympics, security planning and 

Intelligence Community involvement with the April 2009 Summit 

of Americas in Trinidad and 

Tobago, the 2010 South Africa 

World Cup, and the 2012 

London Summer Olympics. 

 NGA Support Team analysts 

created terrain maps of four 

countries that will be used in 

determining possible illegal 

crossings away from border 

posts. They also coordinated 

with a deployed analyst at Joint 

Task Force–Guantanamo Bay on 

an Afghanistan map that was 

created in 2001. 

 The Source Operations and 

Management Directorate supported the COLD START exercise 

with people assigned from the 

GEOINT Foundation Office 

working 205 hours.

 There are currently multiple NSA 

personnel partnering with NGA 

analysts to tackle complex intelligence problems. NSA is actively 

working to embed additional 

analysts in NGA spaces to further 

the joint analytic collaboration.

 The Security and Installation Operations Directorate provided flu 

shots to employees in the East and 

at the West facilities. Total shots 

for the year are 2,880 in the East 

and 1,493 in the West for a total 

of 4,373 employees inoculated.
 The Office of Diversity Management and Equal Employment 

Opportunity hosted its Quarterly 

Awards Ceremony, presenting 30 

Special Act and Time Off awards 

as well as a special “Making a 

Difference” Team Award. 

 The Analytic Visualization Division editors worked closely with 

CIA counterparts to arrange a 

reciprocal collaborative effort. 

After a CIA editor participated in 

a September visit to NGA, plans 

to invite NGA senior editors to 

CIA spaces began. After coordinating with the CIA NGA Support Team, a reciprocal visit was 

scheduled for mid-December. The 

interaction has been so positive 

that NGA plans to extend participation with editor counterparts at 

DIA, NSA, and the Pentagon.

 The Office of Corporate Communications gave “Media Training” 

and “NGA In the News” briefings to a class of 12 advanced 

imagery analysts and edited 

13 news articles, 77 business 

cards, the script for NGA Newsbreaks, and one brochure. The 

Congressional branch delivered 

Iraq maps to the Senate and 

responded to multiple Congressional staff queries.

 Office of GEOINT Sciences, 

processed information for the 

GPS satellites and sent the information off to the Air Force in a 

timely manner. 

 The Acquisition and Source 

Operations and Management 

Directorates teamed to generate 

over 100 geospatial and 

commercial imagery products.
Tech Days Ad

SAVE THE DATE!

GEOINT TECH DAYS

J U N E 2 - 4 , 2 0 0 9

The fifth annual 

GEOINT Tech Days is 

just around the corner!

Tech Days provides a valuable 

and unique opportunity for 

USGIF members from government, 

industry and academia to showcase 

the latest geospatial intelligence 

technologies and capabilities in 

a small, inviting environment.

For more information, please visit

www.usgif.org/Events_TechDays.aspx

Produced by the United States Geospatial Intelligence Foundation (USGIF) 

in cooperation with the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA)

NGA TechNoloGy DAy

8:30 a.m. - 2:30 p.m.

Classified Session

This event continues to serve as a premier opportunity 

to unite and explore new ways to harness the power 

of geospatial intelligence to address tomorrow’s 

challenges. NGA’s exhibits will highlight GEOINT 

products, emerging technologies and cutting-edge 

tools utilized in forward support throughout the world.

NGA Headquarters - Bethesda, MD

NGA TechNoloGy DAy

8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.

June 2 is limited to the NGA workforce. For more 

information on this, please see the splash page.

NGA Headquarters - Bethesda, MD

DAY 2 - WEDS., JUNE 3 DAY 1 - TUES., JUNE 2

USGIF TechNoloGy DAy

8:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.

Unclassified Session

USGIF members display the latest geospatial 

intelligence technologies in an unclassified setting to 

truly examine the future of the tradecraft. The USGIF 

Technology Day also lends itself to be a great, lowkey networking venue in an intimate tradeshow floor.

Transportation for NGA personnel will be provided from select NGA sites 

to the Hyatt Regency Reston. Please see the splash page for more details.

Hyatt Regency Reston - Reston, VA

DAY 3 - THURS., JUNE 4


www.nga.mil

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

NATIONAL GEOSPATIALINTELLIGENCE AGENCY