Vol. 10 No. 1 January/February 2012
Pathfinder ›› January/February 2012

On My Mind: GEOINT Supports Community 

and National Resilience

In the past two years, NGA has responded to a series of natural disasters at home 

and abroad. Whether providing support to emergency response teams working the 

aftermath of the earthquake in Haiti, the tsunami in Japan or tornadoes and floods 

in the United States, NGA employees worldwide have demonstrated the critical role 

of geospatial intelligence (GEOINT) in answering the call for help.

Our humanitarian assistance/disaster response work, among all the roles and 

responsibilities that come with managing the nation’s GEOINT capabilities, brings us 

closest to the people and communities in need during times of crisis. Our GEOINT tools and analyses save lives 

by helping our mission partners determine where help is needed most, by enabling the right people to be at the 

right place at the right time, and by anticipating what might happen next. 

In partnership with our key stakeholders at the Department of Homeland Security and the Department 

of State, our goal is to help domestic and international communities become stronger, more resilient and 

better prepared for the future. NGA’s Disaster Support Initiative, supported by NGA’s GEOINT Visualization 

Services, gets us to this goal. Recognizing that our partners are becoming more proficient users of GEOINT, 

the architecture driving our applications allows individuals closest to the scene to integrate information from 

multiple sources in real time.

The stories shared in this issue highlight some of the Disaster Support Initiative’s key accomplishments. They 

show how our new content and applications, in concert with mobile commercial-off-the-shelf technology, 

empower first responders by making GEOINT discoverable and usable in an unclassified operating environment. 

These accomplishments provide a foundation for the Disaster Support Initiative to address a more robust set of 

challenges. With a better understanding of our mission partners’ operating environments and their relationships 

with state and local communities, foreign governments and multilateral organizations, we can now form a 

holistic view of domestic and international networks and systems for emergency preparedness and response. In 

the near future, NGA will stand up an Integrated Work Group (IWG) for disaster support, to focus the expertise 

of a number of disciplines to develop new tools, analytic methods and work processes to address preparedness 

and response challenges, taking both man-made and natural disasters into account. Through the IWG, NGA 

will broaden and deepen analysis for early warning and fine-tune its engagement with partners responding to 

long-term and complex humanitarian crises. 

The strength of our GEOINT vision is clearly visible in our work with first responders and disaster relief 

professionals at home and abroad. I am proud of how much we’ve already accomplished in this critical arena. By 

putting the power of GEOINT into the hands of local, national and international civil authorities and emergency 

response teams, we are helping them save lives as well as rebuild stronger and more resilient communities. This 

is a strong affirmation of the importance of our work and the necessity of our vision. 

 

ON MY MIND

Pathfinder ›› January/February 2012

2

Letitia A. Long

Director
CONTENTS

Pathfinder ›› January/February 2012

3

DIRECTOR

Letitia A. Long

DEPUTY DIRECTOR

Lloyd Rowland

OFFICE OF CORPORATE COMMUNICATIONS, DIRECTOR

Vonna Heaton

INTERNAL COMMUNICATIONS BRANCH, CHIEF

Tim Taylor

EDITOR

Susan H. Meisner

GRAPHIC ARTIST

Amy Battison

Published by the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency 

Office of Corporate Communications 

Telephone: (571) 557-5400 

DSN 547-5400 

E-mail: pathfinder@nga.mil

The Pathfinder is the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency publication 

that promotes awareness and understanding of geospatial intelligence. 

The Pathfinder is an authorized Department of Defense publication for 

members of the Department of Defense. Contents of this publication are 

not necessarily the official view of, or endorsed by, the U.S. government, 

Department of Defense or NGA. Articles in the Pathfinder may be reproduced in whole or in part without permission, unless stated otherwise. If 

reproduced, credit the author and the “National Geospatial-Intelligence 

Agency, the Pathfinder magazine.” Any reproduction of graphics, photographs and imagery is subject to the original copyright.

On the Cover

U.S. Navy Lt. Cmdr. Timothy Mickel examines a patient at the Killick Haitian Coast Guard Base surgical screening site during Continuing Promise 

2011 in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Aug. 18, 2011. Continuing Promise is a 

five-month humanitarian assistance mission to the Caribbean, Central 

and South America. U.S. Navy photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Eric C. 

Tretter. Cover design by Amy Battison.

On the Back Cover

NGA celebrates the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on Jan. 16, 

2012. The Washington, D.C., Martin Luther King Jr. National Memorial, dedicated on Oct. 16, 2011, commemorates King’s life and work 

and honors his national and international contributions to world peace 

through non-violent social change. 

NGA photo by Rob Cox.

2 On My Mind: GEOINT Supports Community 

 and National Resilience

4 NGA Director Highlights Vision at 

 GEOINT Symposium

5 NGA in the News 

›› FEATURES

6 NGA and First Responders Field Test Mobile Apps

8 NGA Domestic Deployment Team Responds to 

 Heartland Flooding

10 Leveraging GEOINT for Long-Term 

Humanitarian Assistance

12 NGA-FEMA Cooperation Embraces New 

Practices, Emerging Technologies

14 NGA, Coast Guard Launch Self-Service 

 GEOINT Initiative

16 NGA Focuses on Earthquake Relief in Japan

18 NGA Point of Distribution Enables 

Commercial Access

20 Working Group Enables Sharing of Common 

 Operational Data

21 The 66th U.N. General Assembly: NGA Showcases 

 Integration of Mobile Devices

›› DEPARTMENTS

22 Remembering Vietnam 5:

 Staying Ahead of the Curve

4 8 16
Pathfinder ›› January/February 2012

4

NGA DIRECTOR HIGHLIGHTS VISION

NGA Director Letitia A. Long addressed the 

agency’s progress toward its vision Oct. 17 with 

more than 4,000 attendees at the U.S. Geospatial 

Intelligence Foundation Geospatial Intelligence 

(GEOINT) Symposium at the Henry B. Gonzales 

Convention Center in San Antonio. 

“We’ve spent the past year laying the foundation 

to make this vision a reality, and we’ve made 

significant progress on a number of fronts,” said 

Long in her keynote address.

Long outlined her framework for progress, 

highlighting four interconnected elements: 

content, open information technology, customer 

service and analytic depth. 

The highlight of her presentation was the live 

demonstration of several applications recently 

used by federal agencies.

With an electronic tablet in hand, Long 

demonstrated apps the agency has developed 

including the Disaster Atlas, which provides a 

suite of applications designed to support first 

responders, allowing them to swap hard copy 

atlases for online versions. This improvement 

allows NGA to produce more than 6,000 pages 

per hour compared to the previous 200 per 

hour. The additional benefits include providing 

instantaneous, refreshed data throughout 

recovery efforts and eliminating costs required 

for mass printing and distribution.

The director also demonstrated the Aeronautical 

Kneepad app, a collection of airport and flight 

chart data that allows pilots to replace pounds 

of hard-copy references with digital format, 

enabling instant updates rather than the static, 

28-day use of the current product. This app began 

beta testing with the U.S. Air Force Air Mobility 

Command Oct. 17, Long said.

“I’m sure we cannot imagine today the apps 

we will need tomorrow,” said Long. “We 

are going to continue on this path. There is 

irreversible momentum in our effort to provide 

the Intelligence Community with constantly 

improving integrated intelligence.”

The GEOINT Symposium, annually one of the 

largest gatherings of intelligence professionals in 

the world, also provided the platform for other 

Intelligence Community (IC) leaders to discuss 

their priorities.

Director of National Intelligence James R. 

Clapper Jr. announced that the Quad—a Defense 

Intelligence Agency, National Security Agency 

(NSA), National Reconnaissance Office and NGA 

NGA Director Highlights Vision at GEOINT Symposium

By Karen Finn and Rosemary Heiss, Office of Corporate Communications 

collaborative effort to unify defense intelligence 

infrastructure and information sharing 

initiatives—has become the Quint. CIA, the only 

non-defense major intelligence agency, was not 

originally part of the effort but has now joined.

The collaborative information technology 

environment will help the IC find significant 

savings as agency budgets shrink due to federal 

budget pressures, said Clapper.

During the symposium, chief information officers 

from the IC agencies discussed the central role of 

cloud computing in the IC’s future. 

Cloud architecture will improve security, lower 

costs and boost performance, said NSA Director 

Gen. Keith R. Alexander, who also serves as 

commander of U.S. Cyber Command and chief of 

the Central Security Service. 

Operationally, the cloud will provide analysts’ 

easier access to information, said Alexander. 

During a press conference, Long told reporters 

that NGA is already working with NSA on 

cloud computing. NGA has unclassified data 

in NSA clouds now, she said. “We are going in 

that direction.”

National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency Director Letitia A. 

Long demonstrates live an application NGA developed for first 

responders during her keynote speech at the GEOINT Symposium. 

The demonstration was part of her update on progress the agency 

has made toward achieving the vision of putting GEOINT in the 

hands of the users.

NGA photo by Rob Cox

in NSA clouds now, she said. “We are going in 
Pathfinder ›› January/February 2012

NGA IN THE NEWS

5

NGA IN THE NEWS

NGA Alumni Visit NGA 

Campus East

By Laura L. Lundin, Office of Corporate 

Communications 

Members of the National GeospatialIntelligence Alumni Association 

(NGAA) viewed a scale model of NCE 

during a tour of the facility Dec. 1.

More than 15 members, all former 

employees of the agency, attended the 

event, which toured key areas such 

as the NGA Operations Center, the 

NCE Conference Center, the National 

Geospatial-Intelligence College and 

the NGA Hall of Fame. The tour also 

showcased NCE’s “green” design 

elements and collaborative work 

environment.

“It is a beautiful building,” said 

Kathleen Smith, who was inducted 

into NGA’s Hall of Fame Sept. 

27 for her contributions to the 

geospatial intelligence mission and 

workforce. “I can definitely see how 

it would facilitate communication 

within the agency.”

In June 2011, NGA’s alumni groups—

the Aerospace Charting Seniors, 

in the West, and the NGAA, in the 

East—adopted a constitution that 

officially merged the two into NGAA 

and created East and West chapters.

“I appreciate your continuing 

commitment to the many disciplines 

that make up geospatial intelligence,” 

NGA Director Letitia A. Long 

wrote in a letter Nov. 30 formally 

recognizing the merger. “And I 

am confident that the positive 

relationship among our NGA 

communities—East and West, past 

and present—will continue to grow 

in the years ahead.”

Cumming Named DOD Outstanding Employee 

With a Disability

By Susan H. Meisner, Office of Corporate Communications

Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Wounded 

Warrior Care and Transition Policy John R. Campbell 

honored National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency’s 

Sean Cumming with a Secretary of Defense award for 

his outstanding contributions to national security at the 

31st annual Department of Defense Disability Awards 

Ceremony and 24th annual DOD Disability Forum Dec. 6 

at the Hyatt Regency Hotel, Bethesda, Md. 

The award recognized Cumming as a highly motivated 

and exceptional branch chief dedicated to the success of his 

employees. Currently the chief, Northern Africa Branch, 

Office of Eurasia and Africa, Directorate of Analysis and 

Production, Cumming also served with the Office of Time 

Dominant Operations—NGA’s “watch” center. 

While honored to be recognized, Cumming appreciates 

the opportunity it provides. “The award provides a platform to 

champion the efforts of individuals who’ve overcome challenges—

both those they were born with or incurred in Afghanistan or Iraq,” 

said Cumming.

Cumming was originally recruited to government service as a student 

intern through a program to increase the number of minorities and 

disabled persons in the workplace. Born with a rare birth defect 

(proximal femoral focal deficiency), he is an above-the-knee amputee. 

He credits Shriners Hospital for Children with the successful surgeries 

that allow a prosthetic right limb to give him mobility. 

Cumming has a master of science in strategic intelligence from the 

Joint Military Intelligence College and a bachelor of arts in history and 

political science from the University of California, San Diego. He is 

married and has two young sons and was one of 20 award recipients 

from across DOD agencies. 

ArcGIS Software Provides Faster Speed, Smaller 

Footprint

By Susan Marchant, NGA CJMTK Program Manager

The NGA Commercial Joint Mapping Toolkit (CJMTK) program office 

hosted a two-day workshop in McLean, Va., in September to preview 

a new, prototype ArcGIS Runtime software. More than 50 developers 

representing 20 CJMTK programs attended. Runtime software requires 

a fraction of the disk and memory space of applications built with 

older ArcGIS technologies while demonstrating increased speed.

The CJMTK program, an NGA partnership with Northrop Grumman 

and Environmental Systems Research Institute (Esri), has been helping 

Department of Defense mission application developers build, test and 

field geospatially enabled software for warfighters for almost a decade. 

ArcGIS Runtime represents the evolution of the commercial off-theshelf model that underlies the CJMTK. Developers can use Runtime to 

adapt ArcGIS software to their user platform, from Windows to Linux 

to mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets. 

ArcGIS is Esri software that enables discovery, access, visualization 

and dissemination of geospatial information. CJMTK is a collection 

of software components that command, control and intelligence 

developers embed into their mission applications to support the use 

of standardized geospatial visualization and analysis tools tailored to 

their specific missions. For more information go to www.CJMTK.com.

NGA photo by Tony Boone

NGA photo by Larry Franklin

NGAA members view a scale model of NCE during a tour 

of the facility Dec. 1.

Sean Cumming
Pathfinder ›› January/February 2012

FIELD TEST MOBILE APPS

6

Hurricane season is typically busy for the 

National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency’s 

(NGA’s) Office of the Americas North America 

and Homeland Security Division (PMH), and this 

past year was no exception. Analysts deployed 

to support Hurricane Irene planning and relief 

efforts in Massachusetts, Virginia, Pennsylvania 

and New York, while others were on standby to 

support Tropical Storms Lee, Maria and Nate.

“Key to successful disaster support operations 

is careful advanced planning and building of 

strong relationships with agencies like the Federal 

Emergency Management Agency (FEMA),” said 

Stephen Jackson, NGA’s Homeland Security 

Division Chief. “NGA can’t fulfill its domestic 

support mission without an official request from 

a lead federal agency like FEMA, so it’s important 

for them to know our capabilities and for us to 

understand their needs.” 

“Depending on storm track and strength and 

tidal considerations, FEMA regions will send 

NGA a mission assignment request for geospatial 

intelligence support,” said Jackson. “Ideally, we 

receive requests for support three to five days 

before a hurricane hits so that we can be on scene 

providing baseline data.”

On the heels of an eventful summer, during 

which PMH simultaneously supported flooding 

in the Midwest, fires on the East Coast and 

tornadoes in Joplin, Mo., and Tuscaloosa, Ala., 

analysts once again assembled their fly-away kits, 

complete with laptops, printers and plotters. This 

time they had a new tool at their disposal: the 

mobile application.

During the Hurricane Irene response efforts, 

NGA analysts working as part of the Disaster 

Support Initiative (DSI) working group (one 

of eight working to fulfill the vision of putting 

the power of GEOINT in the hands of users) 

developed and tested two mobile applications. 

The disaster atlas app enabled urban search 

and rescue (US&R) users to manage and share 

information in a dynamic and visual geospatial 

context. The Homeland Security Infrastructure 

Program (HSIP) compass app (which provides 

situational awareness by incorporating userdefined infrastructure data) provided a GPScompatible compass and proximity indicator with 

an electrical grid overlay. 

Use of the apps is changing the face of disaster 

support, said Jackson, who was also NGA’s 

Hurricane Irene Focus Cell Lead. “The results of 

our field testing were outstanding,” he added. 

“The apps were well received by the customer.”

“This is fantastic,” said the head of Fairfax 

County Search and Rescue about the apps. “It’s 

where we need to be.” 

Instead of creating hard-copy map volumes, 

comprised of over 2,000 individual map sheets 

covering broad geographic areas, first responders 

used the apps to quickly discover data on the exact 

locations of concern online, including information 

on vulnerable population centers.

This capability is a great example of the NGA 

vision in action, said Jackson. “We are realizing 

efficiencies while bringing new capabilities to 

the mission right now by tweaking existing 

capabilities and leveraging the expertise of NGA’s 

Enterprise Operations (information technology), 

InnoVision (research and development) and 

Acquisition Directorates. We are able to turn out 

new value-added capabilities in days or weeks 

instead of months or years.”

Using these apps, NGA’s analysts were able 

to show the search and rescue teams how to 

customize geospatial products specifically for 

the area in which they were operating. This 

worked even when the area was as widespread 

as Hurricane Irene’s, which affected areas from 

North Carolina to Maine.

Deployed to the field with the US&R teams, 

analysts Rich Benjamin and Nat Wolpert 

demonstrated how their handheld devices could 

create the equivalent of 6,000 electronic map 

sheets per hour, saving untold staff hours and 

reams of paper typically exhausted in preparing 

hard-copy map books for FEMA, thus allowing 

analysts to do deeper and broader analytic work.

During Hurricane Irene, analysts were able to 

provide additional layers of the HSIP data to 

include farm locations, which helped predict and 

thereby mitigate agricultural run-off to local water 

supplies. “Using the apps freed us up to begin 

reviewing GPS logs from first responders, and 

therefore we were able (to) turn around search 

progression products by morning,” said Benjamin.

NGA and First Responders Field Test Mobile Apps

By Kathi Ghannam, Contractor, Office of Corporate Communications
the use of the apps outside of the US&R mission 

to include post-event assessments by FEMA 

ground personnel and special security events 

involving the Secret Service.

“NGA’s DSI is actively seeking principal initiative 

partners and is employing a spiral development 

methodology to deliver new capability to its 

mission partners on a quarterly basis,” said 

Jackson. By serving as a strategic catalyst to 

evolve NGA’s business processes and create 

a dynamic cultural change centered around 

empowering the end user, the DSI plans delivery 

of three spirals worth of apps and services based 

on user needs before the June 2012 timeframe. 

These apps are expected to be self-, assisted- and 

full-service compatible and capable of supporting 

worldwide disaster recovery and special security 

event training, planning and operations.

The DSI is continuing to offer its solution 

to a wider audience, to include combatant 

commands, Department of State, National 

Guard Bureau and other first responder 

organizations to aid in providing 

increased mission and humanitarian 

assistance capability.

Pathfinder ›› January/February 2012

FIELD TEST MOBILE APPS

7

US&R teams and other first responders continue 

to field test the two apps as well as three 

other developmental apps—the social media, 

golden hour (3-D population weighted damage 

assessment) and US&R field event entry apps. As 

a result of these field tests, DSI staff is improving 

the golden hour app by adding U.S. Geological 

Survey real-time earthquake updates (pager and 

shake map services) fed directly to the user’s 

handheld display.

NGA Director Letitia A. Long demonstrated these 

apps during her keynote address at the GEOINT 

Symposium in San Antonio Oct. 16-19. More than 

4,000 government, international and industry 

professionals had an opportunity to have a firsthand look at the new capabilities and talk with 

the experts at NGA’s booth. 

Members of the DSI team also briefed FEMA 

Administrator W. Craig Fugate on the five 

applications prior to their formal unveiling at 

GEOINT. “We need to get the data to the end 

users fast enough to affect outcomes,” 

said Fugate, acknowledging the 

apps’ ability to deliver. He also 

discussed expanding 

NGA’s Analysis and Production Directorate Office of the Americas created 

the Disaster Atlas application. The app helps first responders quickly gain 

situational awareness after a disaster. Urban Search and Rescue Teams 

(USRs) used the app extensively during Hurricane Irene; it can produce 

300,000 electronic map pages per hour, compared to the 200 pages per 

hour produced manually. The app can pull in a host of data from the 

Homeland Security Infrastructure Program used by USRs and is compatible 

with iPads, iPhones and droid phones on 3 and 4G networks.

NGA photo by Tony Boone
Pathfinder ›› January/February 2012

DEPLOYMENT TEAM RESPONDS

8

Answering the call for emergency response to the 

2011 Missouri River flood, National GeospatialIntelligence Agency (NGA) domestic deployment 

team members lent their geospatial intelligence 

(GEOINT) expertise to the Federal Emergency 

Management Administration (FEMA) and the 

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE). Team 

members deployed to regional coordination 

and operations/command centers in Missouri, 

Nebraska and Iowa for periods of two to four 

weeks in June and July to help relief workers 

prioritize assistance to the most vulnerable 

among the displaced and to inform floodwater 

control and mitigation decisions. 

Saving Lives and Property

Last year’s unusually heavy Rocky Mountain 

snowpack and unrelenting spring rains 

forced the Missouri River to crest its banks at 

historic levels. The flood, which the St. Louis 

Beacon’s Robert Koenig called a “slow-moving 

tsunami,” demanded a high degree of situational 

awareness for federal, state and local officials to 

simultaneously render aid, issue warnings and 

prepare down-stream communities. 

Extracting data from commercial satellite 

imagery and radar, NGA analysts produced 

flooding extent shape files that interagency and 

state and local partners adopted as the definitive 

common operating picture for coordinating 

resources. When NGA could not meet requests 

for information with commercial imagery, 

FEMA tasked the Civil Air Patrol (CAP) with 

collecting time-sensitive, high-resolution aerial 

photography. Bruce Heinlein, Chief of NGA’s 

Strategic Command NGA Support Team, served 

as one of those CAP pilots in FEMA’s Region 

VII, offering firsthand knowledge of the region. 

David Pintar, an analyst with the Analysis 

and Production Directorate’s Office of the 

Americas, joined two of the flights, navigating 

toward priority locales such as suspected levee 

breeches, impassable highways and endangered 

critical infrastructure. 

Working around the clock to extract and format 

data, NGA’s analysts generated atlases and 

other high-fidelity visual analysis products 

that integrated multiple types and sources of 

information for tactical response. Customized 

products included an analysis of U.S. census 

data to guide distribution of mass care supplies; 

an easy-to-read road closure map consolidating 

information for Montana, Nebraska, Missouri 

and Iowa planning agencies; and maps that 

tracked flood waters’ progress toward critical 

infrastructure. In addition to delivering 

customized products, NGA’s analysts took the 

opportunity to share their knowledge and skills, 

training FEMA staff unfamiliar with visualization 

tools to use ArcGIS and Google Earth©.

Improving Accuracy of Dynamic Flood 

Models 

During the 2011 Missouri River response NGA 

analysts for the first time served side-by-side 

with the Corps of Engineers. “It was a very smart 

move because we had immediate intel on the 

status of levees, releases from dams, hydrology 

information, sand boils and other indicators and 

warnings,” said Sue Morse, a geospatial analyst 

with NGA’s North America and Homeland 

Security Division, Domestic Response BranchWest. Noting that “analysts are never deployed 

alone,” Morse involved NGA imagery scientists in 

the effort to detect sand boils in the flooding and 

along the levee toes. 

The Engineers relied on their own dynamic 

models to predict water flows throughout the 

Missouri River Basin. These models rested on 

the Corps’ institutional knowledge of permanent 

dams and levees, as well as emergency 

enhancements, to understand the systemic 

impacts of rainfall, planned releases, overflows 

and breeches. NGA’s embedded analysts provided 

real-time imagery analysis to continually 

recalibrate the models with facts on the ground, 

increasing the accuracy of flood predictions. 

According to NGA’s Stephen Jackson, Chief of the 

North America and Homeland Security Division, 

a before-and-after assessment of the flood’s 

impact on Louisiana established the flood extent 

model’s accuracy as greater than 90 percent. Flood 

waters surrounding Nebraska’s Fort Calhoun 

and Cooper Nuclear Power Stations added to 

public concerns and the complexity of the Army 

Corps’ task. With the lessons of Fukushima still 

fresh in the public’s mind, emergency responders 

also needed to be effective risk communicators. 

NGA Domestic Deployment Team Responds to 

Heartland Flooding 

By Karen Walker, Contractor, Office of Corporate Communications
Pathfinder ›› January/February 2012

with NGA analysts in offices that I don’t normally 

work with, such as the FBI, FEMA, DHS NGA 

Support Teams and the Office of the Americas,” 

said Oliver.

And there is a lasting impact on the analyst’s skill 

set, a point that Richard Manning, an analyst also 

with the Office of Central and Southwest Asia, hit 

home. “Real-world scenarios are the best teacher 

on what products and analyses are needed in a 

crisis,” said Manning.

Solidifying Interagency Collaboration for 

the Future

The domestic deployment team members put 

in action NGA’s mandate to improve customer 

service through direct collaboration. As NGA 

Director Letitia A. Long said during her GEOINT 

Symposium keynote in October 2011: “We are 

embedded in our mission partner’s footprint; 

we understand the priorities; we understand 

their concept of operations; and we can often 

anticipate what they might need before they 

know they even need it. That’s a good thing.” 

Speaking from his experience in sequential 

deployments supporting USACE and FEMA, 

Pintar summed up the benefits for team members 

and customers alike: “If NGA had not been tied 

directly into the operations-intelligence fusion 

process, emergency planners from a variety of 

federal, state, tribal and local agencies would 

have been at a significant disadvantage. NGA 

truly served as the ‘eyes’ of the operation.”

DEPLOYMENT TEAM RESPONDS

9

NGA’s analysts incorporated Office of 

Counterproliferation plant design information 

into annotated graphics that identified the 

function of each building within the two energy 

facilities to assess potential consequences in case 

of power failure. 

Benefitting From the Domestic 

Deployment Experience

NGA launched the domestic deployment 

program in response to lead federal agency 

demand for on-site GEOINT support during 

long-term disasters like the Haiti earthquake, 

Deepwater Horizon oil spill and seasonal 

flooding. The NGA deployers receive specific 

training on how to support federal, state, local 

and tribal entities. 

Ty Marr, an analyst in the Office of Americas’ 

Domestic Response Branch-East, credited 

the forward deployment experience with 

improving his problem-solving skills and 

ability to identify and deliver on customer 

requirements in a rapidly changing operational 

environment. “As you’re getting ready to 

deploy, you know you’ll be providing real-time 

analysis, but you can’t appreciate the demands 

of the operations tempo until you’re there for 

an extended period,” Marr said. 

Relationship building is another benefit, 

according to NGA’s Kenneth Oliver, an analyst in 

the Office of Central and Southwest Asia. “These 

deployments are a great opportunity to work 

have been at a significant disadvantage. NGA 

Floodwaters encroach upon the Fort Calhoun 

(Nebraska) Nuclear Power Station in late June. 

NGA analysts helped officials assess potential 

consequences in case of power failure.

Civil Air Patrol photo
Pathfinder ›› January/February 2012

LEVERAGING GEOINT

10

The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency 

(NGA) played a pivotal role in providing disaster 

relief in response to the 7.0 magnitude earthquake 

that rocked Haiti Jan. 12, 2010. 

The damage in the Port-au-Prince area was nearly 

unfathomable. The earthquake destroyed 75 percent 

of schools; many businesses and government 

offices, as well as hospitals and the country’s 

medical infrastructure, ceased to exist. The postal 

service collapsed. Nearly 1.5 million people were 

displaced from their homes and as many as 300,000 

died. 

Within hours of notification of the disaster NGA 

stood up a crisis action team (CAT) to consolidate 

geospatial intelligence (GEOINT) efforts. The 

U.S. government leveraged resources across the 

Intelligence Community, the Department of Defense 

and other elements of the federal government, 

industry and academia to meet humanitarian 

assistance and disaster relief requirements. NGA 

personnel deployed to provide GEOINT support.

“The whole NGA team—to include key 

components from the East and West and members 

of NGA Support Teams (NSTs)—came together and 

used all of the tools and GEOINT capabilities that 

could be brought to bear,” said Terri Carter, Haiti 

CAT focus cell lead. “From doing environmental 

and critical infrastructure and damage assessments, 

to providing imagery of ports to determine 

trafficability and navigability of Haiti’s waterways, 

NGA provided situational awareness to U.S. 

Southern Command (USSOUTHCOM) and other 

decision makers so that they could emplace 

equipment and personnel to deliver food and 

medical aid.” 

Carter said NGA employed a holistic approach, 

leveraging the capabilities of the U.S. 

Transportation Command, the Defense Intelligence 

Agency and domestic and foreign partners in 

support of what became known as Operation 

Unified Response.

As a result, NGA was able to quickly assess 

the location and extent of the destruction and 

map medical facilities to support health-related 

activities, track the build-up and status of internally 

displaced persons (IDP) camps and follow possible 

mass migrations from major ports and across the 

Dominican Republic border.

Today, Haiti continues to pose some unique 

intelligence challenges. 

“Due to the severity of the devastation, what 

began as a normal NGA rapid response in 

support of initial humanitarian assistance has 

turned into a long-term, multi-agency, multifaceted project,” said Carter. Almost two years 

later, NGA continues to help USSOUTHCOM 

leverage intelligence, surveillance and 

reconnaissance and commercial imagery 

capabilities to help in rebuilding efforts, as well 

as non-traditional sources of information, to 

inform and enrich analysis. 

Though the United States and other countries 

have made massive contributions toward relief 

efforts, access to basic medical care, food and 

potable water have become long-term problems 

in what was already the poorest country in the 

Western Hemisphere. These were among the 

factors that contributed to a cholera epidemic, 

which started in Sept. 2010 and persists today, 

though at a more controllable rate. The disease 

U.S. Southern Command used GEOINT analysis to determine 

the status of road networks within the city of Port-auPrince. The graphic assisted first responders and planners in 

providing immediate relief operations after the earthquake.

470th Military Intelligence Brigade image 

Leveraging GEOINT for Long-Term Humanitarian 

Assistance

By Kathi Ghannam, Contractor, Office of Corporate Communications
Pathfinder ›› January/February 2012

community is whether or not Haiti—which 

elected a new president in March 2011—will 

become a failed state.

“If these issues are not managed strategically, the 

result could be an influx of refugees to the shores 

of the U.S., neighboring Caribbean countries 

and other Western nations which could wreak 

widespread economic havoc,” said Carter.

The breadth and scope of supporting this disaster 

has enabled NGA to amass valuable lessons 

learned that analysts can apply to GEOINT 

tradecraft, policies and practices, said Carter. 

“The Haiti experience has been a pivotal episode 

that helped define where we (as an agency) 

needed to go.”

As a result of ongoing after-action reporting and 

inter-agency data sharing, best practices have 

emerged that have helped define capability gaps, 

according to Carter. These lessons learned and 

other observations informed NGA’s vision and 

subsequently its strategic initiatives.

“The identification of those capability gaps helped 

to define GEOINT users’ needs,” said Carter. 

“The Haiti CAT became very adept at laying 

down the fundamentals for mission planning and 

execution in a crisis situation,” said Carter. “We 

had good concepts, and now we are looking to 

leverage those concepts into new and better ways 

of doing business.”

For instance, dealing with the Haitian crisis 

highlighted the need to make information 

accessible when communicating with nonIntelligence Community mission partners. 

The CAT made a concerted effort to keep the 

maximum amount of GEOINT content at the 

unclassified level and therefore quickly releasable 

and accessible via the NGA website, giving 

GEOINT users access to what they needed, 

where they needed it and when they needed it.

Getting the information onto unclassified 

networks and to users quickly is crucial to 

disaster support. In Haiti NGA created electronic 

map books using handheld devices, said 

Carter. “NGA immediately began producing 

and posting commercial imagery and pushing 

it out via apps,” said Carter. “There were 

unprecedented amounts of intelligence reports 

created and pushed out on the low-side 

(unclassified network) about Haiti, a precursor to 

the capabilities being delivered in support of the 

online, on-demand goal of the NGA vision.”

LEVERAGING GEOINT

11

had affected a total of 452,189 people by October 

2011, with 24,932 hospitalized and 6,334 deaths, 

according to Brian Bertazon, GEOINT Chief, 

Joint Intelligence Operations Center-South, 

USSOUTHCOM NST.

Bertazon said analysts used GEOINT to correlate 

suspected IDP camps and hospitals with large 

numbers of patients afflicted with cholera to help 

direct medical supplies.

The GEOINT NGA collects helps inform groups 

like the U.S. Agency for International Development 

and the European Union—the major financing 

sources for reconstruction—about the progress of 

recovery efforts. “More than 600,000 people are still 

not in their homes, and at least 500 IDP camps are 

still in operation.” said Bertazon. But progress is 

apparent; analysts have seen an increase in power 

restoration, construction of hardened facilities and 

reduced numbers of camps and occupancy.

The main focus area for NGA and the IC—after 

health and shelter issues—is security. Haiti lacks 

security forces, so GEOINT capabilities are tracking 

activities such as crime patterns, in addition to 

accessibility to life-sustaining services and supplies, 

to predict and track possible mass migration. 

In addition, with a fragile government, decimated 

infrastructure and infamously corrupt Haitian 

National Police, a key concern for decision makers 

in the United States and across the international 
NGA-FEMA COOPERATION

Pathfinder ›› January/February 2012

12

After 64 tornados indiscriminately ripped 

through Alabama April 27 in one of the most 

violent tornado outbreaks ever recorded, the 

Federal Emergency Management Agency 

(FEMA) had to respond quickly. The tornados’ 

620-mile path devoured 23,000 homes and 

claimed 249 lives—moms, dads, sons, daughters, 

sisters and brothers. 

“You’d turn a corner or crest a hill and it 

looked like [a nuclear bomb had exploded],” 

said Michael Byrne, FEMA National Incident 

Management Assistance team leader, during the 

Environmental Systems Research Institute, Inc. 

Homeland Security Summit in San Diego in July. 

“The level of devastation was just unthinkable. It 

was chaos ... the house across the street was fine, 

but the next house, completely destroyed.”

Remarkably, within 70 days, 85 percent of the 

estimated 10 million cubic yards of debris was 

picked up as part of Operation Clean Sweep, 

said Byrne about the FEMA program, which 

determined areas eligible for cost-sharing debris 

removal based on extent of damage.

“That’s impressive,” he said. “How did we do it? 

This is where Nat [Wolpert] and Katie [Baucom] 

from the National Geospatial-Intelligence 

Agency come in. I can’t thank you enough. You 

guys were able to target where the impact was 

using imagery. In the past, this would have taken 

many, many months to complete.” 

NGA’s geospatial imagery helped “make rapid 

assessments” and identified “areas with the most 

catastrophic damage,” said FEMA Administrator 

Craig Fugate during a July 14 congressional 

hearing. NGA analysts correlated areas where 

catastrophic and extensive damage had occurred 

and captured that information in a database.

“Operation Clean Sweep revolutionized the 

speed of debris assistance to disaster survivors,” 

said William L. Carwile III, FEMA Search and 

Rescue associate administrator. “FEMA utilized 

a 90-10 cost share through the use of GIS 

(geographic information system) technology that 

greatly improved our ability to expedite debris 

removal. The result was people got back in their 

homes faster, and communities recovered swifter 

from these destructive disasters.” 

There was also Haiti’s massive 7.0-magnitude 

earthquake in 2010. If Alabama set a precedent 

for using geospatial information to expedite 

post-disaster efforts, Haiti demonstrated 

how geospatial information could be used in 

predictive analysis. 

NGA’s work in Haiti possibly saved 37,000 lives, 

said Byrne. Geospatial analyses confirmed that 

following the earthquake, 37,000 of the 2 million 

displaced people had self-relocated to areas with 

a high probability of landslides and flashfloods 

come rainy season. 

“Unless we did something we were going to 

have a second wave of deaths,” said Byrne. “Let’s 

remember that 320,000 people had already died.”

A task force including the Haitian government, 

U.S. Southern Command, international agencies 

and volunteer organizations used a mapping 

NGA-FEMA Cooperation Embraces New Practices, 

Emerging Technologies

By Mario Iván Oña, Contractor, Office of Corporate Communications

Red dots identify the hardest-hit areas following the Alabama 

tornados.
Pathfinder ›› January/February 2012

A key driver toward nimbler geospatial 

information-emergency management 

collaboration is President Obama’s “National 

Preparedness” Presidential Policy Directive 

8 (PPD8), signed March 30. “Our national 

preparedness is the shared responsibility of all 

levels of government, the private and nonprofit 

sectors, and individual citizens. Everyone can 

contribute to safeguarding the nation from 

harm. As such, while this directive is intended 

to galvanize action by the federal government, 

it is also aimed at facilitating an integrated, 

all-of-nation, capabilities-based approach to 

preparedness,” the directive states.

The directive formally prescribes a shift in 

emergency response management toward 

the concept of crowd sourcing and “whole 

community,” where affected citizens, who are 

the very first responders during any disaster, 

are empowered and armed with the tools to act, 

said Byrne. 

“This need for collaboration between geospatial 

information and emergency management is 

recognized within the White House, but also 

across the emergency management community,” 

said FEMA Whole Community advisor Michael 

J. Gresalfi, Ph.D. “In fact, this demand for 

GEOINT tools and knowledge is identified 

in the National Preparedness Goal [directed 

by PPD-8] published in September. From 

public information and warning to operational 

communications, the demand for these tools to 

make more timely and accurate decisions during 

a disaster is a no-brainer.”

Philip Plack, NGA liaison to FEMA, said, “PPD8 

builds on the ‘whole community’ concept. One of 

the key principles of building core capabilities is to 

confront any challenge, which is one of the pillars 

of [NGA’s] support to FEMA. Through a variety 

of initiatives, we’re looking to increase FEMA’s 

internal [GIS] capacity, enabling them to establish 

a more robust GEOINT production capability and 

serve more of their stakeholders’ needs.”

There’s also a desired domino effect: after NGA 

furnishes FEMA with the tools and know-how 

to develop specialized geospatial products help 

themselves, FEMA—embracing the “whole 

community” concept—can then virtually deputize 

citizens to be effective first responders and active 

stakeholders in their own communities. 

Specifically, within the NGA vision is the disaster 

support initiative (DSI), one of eight strategic 

NGA-FEMA COOPERATION

13

strategy to thwart the impending catastrophe. It 

seemed that, at its best, geospatial information 

can be the international language of efficient and 

effective emergency management.

“We were able to communicate without worrying 

about terminology because we used maps and 

imagery,” said Byrne. “In some areas, we had 

to engineer and build pathways for the water to 

go. This effort to bring in heavy equipment, put 

roads in and put drainage ditches in was done by 

the [U.S. Navy] seabees, Brazilian engineers and 

South Korean engineers. Even though we were 

languages apart, we were able to work together 

because we were able to show imagery. We were 

able to show where the work needed to be done. 

The visuals spoke to everybody.” 

In essence, geospatial information provided 

a common operating picture, crucial 

when considering the highly complex and 

excruciatingly difficult task emergency 

responders faced—a task with a degree of 

difficulty commensurate to the devastation’s 

magnitude. Goodwill and well-intended 

humanitarian effort could prove debilitating if not 

properly coordinated. 

In Haiti, for example, there were approximately 

60 search and rescue teams from across the globe. 

How were they supposed to cut through the 

bureaucratic bottlenecks, cultural differences 

and language barriers and get eager volunteers 

with different search and rescue methodologies 

working together? And how do they do that with 

zero time to spare, since every minute spent could 

be another life lost? 

“You gotta organize them,” said Byrne 

emphatically. “You can’t just have them going 

willy-nilly to where they see a pile of debris and 

jump on it.” 

Using NGA imagery and maps with overlays, 

FEMA divided the devastated area into grids and 

assigned them to various teams. This gave the 

teams focus. It set boundaries. It gave them the 

go-ahead, said Byrne. 

Moving Forward

While advances in geospatial information and 

technology rendered some positive outcomes 

in Alabama and Haiti, more needs to be done 

because time can be especially unforgiving 

during disasters. Consequently, NGA and FEMA 

are “working aggressively” to do more—as 

Fugate told a congressional Homeland Security 

subcommittee Oct. 25. 
Pathfinder ›› January/February 2012

COAST GUARD LAUNCHES SELF-SERVICE

14

“We make better decisions faster than before,” 

said the Coast Guard District 11 Intelligence 

Officer James V. about the National GeospatialIntelligence Agency (NGA)-Coast Guard 

self-service geospatial intelligence (GEOINT) 

initiative.

“The Self-Service GEOINT guide allows my staff 

and me to develop GIS [geographic information 

system] products for intelligence analysis, 

operational planning and tactical display,” said 

James. “Our command center law enforcement 

duty officers are using Google Earth to feed in a 

variety of near-real time data. Combined with the 

customized overlays we develop using arcMAP 

[software to view, edit, create and analyze 

geospatial data], their desktop screen becomes 

a tactical tool that delivers the right intelligence 

and operational information to the people who 

need it, when they need it.” 

Coast Guardsmen in the field have always had 

to collect, display and analyze information 

geospatially. In the past, watch standers and 

command staff would plot information on 

maps and charts to provide commanders the 

situational awareness they needed to respond 

to disasters, locate vessels in distress, interdict 

smugglers and navigate safely through the vast 

maritime domain.

Some of today’s most challenging maritime 

threats include piracy, illegal immigration, 

smuggling, terrorism, arms proliferation and 

the emerging semi-submersible vessels. With 95 

percent of U.S. international commerce moving 

through U.S. ports, the nation’s economic health 

depends on the security of its coasts, ports and 

inland waterways. Situational awareness is vital 

to ensuring this security, and the Department 

of Homeland Security National GeospatialIntelligence Agency Support Team (DHS NST) 

is helping Coast Guardsmen in the field develop 

the skills to ensure it.

“The best part of the self-service GEOINT 

initiative is that it is catered towards specific 

Coast Guard missions,” said Coast Guard District 

7 Intelligence Officer Lt. j.g. Emily H. “With the 

NGA, Coast Guard 

Launch Self-Service 

GEOINT Initiative

By Wayne Stephenson, Staff Officer, Department of 

Homeland Security NGA Support Team

initiatives introduced in August. The goal of DSI 

is to help save lives by improving the efficiency 

and effectiveness of mission partners’ use of 

GEOINT in determining where help is most 

needed, getting the right people to the right place 

at the right time, and anticipating what might 

happen next. 

“The relationship between FEMA and NGA is 

improving rapidly as we move forward with the 

disaster support initiative,” said Nat Wolpert, 

NGA Disaster Response team lead, who regularly 

deploys to disaster areas to provide onsite 

support. “Within the DSI we have made great 

strides utilizing many different technologies to 

improve our support to disaster response and 

homeland security.”

One of the highlights of the recent GEOINT 

Symposium held in mid-October in San Antonio 

was NGA Director Letitia A. Long’s introduction 

of several mobile applications designed to deliver 

the NGA vision’s promise: providing “online, 

on-demand access to our GEOINT knowledge.”

Among the apps presented and currently 

under development are five urban search and 

rescue apps, which will provide emergency 

management personnel with easy access to 

geospatial information and also a mobile 

common operating picture vehicle, which 

they can populate with updates and facilitate 

coordination. One of the apps, which will use 

social media principles to allow citizens to stay 

informed and provide updates, will align with 

the whole community concept. 

“With these mobile devices we’re not just receivers 

of information, we are also providers,” said Byrne. 

“What we can do now with small, handheld 

devices was unimaginable 10 years ago.” 

Emergency management is effectively a race 

against time. The NGA-FEMA partnership is 

relentless in its quest to do more, better, faster. 

The two agencies are students of each passing 

disaster. They learn and build from each of 

them. They do not cling to old, albeit reliable, 

practices. They do not have the luxury of 

being inefficient. Lives depend on them. They 

are embracing new technologies to find new, 

innovative ways to respond to crises, which is 

good news for everyone. 
Pathfinder ›› January/February 2012

COAST GUARD LAUNCHES SELF-SERVICE

15

support of the DHS NST I am able to quickly 

create and update products with a few mouse 

clicks. Also, I’ve taught my coworkers what I’ve 

learned using the self help guides as a reference 

and now they are teaching others. Soon the ability 

to plot and analyze data geospatially will be 

common practice in all CG mission areas.” 

The DHS NST supports the third largest Cabinet 

department, one with over 230,000 personnel. 

Reachback, partnerships and unified geospatial 

operations are key to the NST’s successful 

accomplishment of its mission. The size of 

the Coast Guard, diversity of missions and 

geographical span challenge the NGA team daily.

In line with the NGA Director’s vision of 

putting the power of geospatial intelligence 

in users’ hands, the NST teamed with the 

Coast Guard GEOINT components to launch 

a self-service GEOINT initiative last year. The 

goal of this initiative has been to empower the 

tactical intelligence officers in the field with the 

knowledge, tools and data to more efficiently 

integrate GEOINT into their daily tasks. This 

enables them to complete first order analysis on 

raw information they collect in the field. 

The core components of this initiative are the 

self-service GEOINT guides that the NGA/Coast 

Guard GEOINT Team has been developing. 

These guides are mission specific and walk the 

user from start to finish through the processes 

to generate situational awareness products 

supporting operational commanders. 

Through their outreach, the team discovered 

that many of the Coast Guard field units were 

using familiar tools such as PowerPoint and 

Google Earth to geospatially analyze data and 

information. The team developed a GEOINT 

Starter Kit to introduce additional self-service 

tools such as ArcGIS Explorer, Palanterra and Arc 

GIS Desktop. The kit also provided information 

on where to acquire basic foundation data sets 

such as the NGA Geospatial Intelligence Base 

for Contingency Operations (GIBCOs), the Webbased Access and Retrieval Portal (Warp) and 

the Homeland Security Infrastructure Program 

(HSIP) database. 

The team has additionally published five taskspecific guides to address missions such as illegal 

fishing, illegal migration and connecting to an 

Access database. A quarterly newsletter shares 

geospatial analytical lessons learned by tactical 

intelligence officers in the field. For example, 

analysts at air stations have been 

using these tools to produce 

products depicting trends 

and patterns of activity and 

integrating this analysis 

into operations to 

refine patrol routes. They 

are now able to more 

efficiently analyze larger 

amounts of data over 

vast geographic areas 

than previously as well 

as discern previously 

undetected patterns.

The outreach efforts, 

newsletter and selfservice guides are 

arming a multitude of 

self-service GEOINT 

users in the field. The 

eventual program 

goal is to integrate 

the training into 

the Coast Guard 

Intelligence Specialist 

rating course and 

have it 

become a 

fundamental 

skill at every 

level.

A Coast Guard C-130 

Hercules fixedwinged aircraft from 

Coast Guard Air 

Station Elizabeth 

City, N.C., provides 

an overflight of 

areas Hurricane 

Irene affected in 

the Oregon Inlet 

area Aug. 29, 2011. 

The Coast Guard 

provided overflights 

to assisting state 

and local agencies 

as part of the joint 

response to the 

hurricane. 

Photo by U.S. Coast Guard Petty Officer 3rd Class Stephen Lehmann
Pathfinder ›› January/February 2012

NGA FOCUSES ON EARTHQUAKE

16

On March 11, 2011 a devastating 9.0 earthquake 

shook the Japanese mainland. The earthquake 

was so powerful it shifted parts of the island 

to the east by as much as 8 feet, shortened the 

length of a day and shifted the Earth’s axis 

slightly. The earthquake caused immediate and 

severe damage to eastern Japan’s transportation 

system, power supply and buildings. But the 

ensuing tsunami waves caused the majority of 

the damage and loss of life. These waves, some 

as high as 40 feet, tore into the eastern coast and 

its bays for hundreds of miles north and south of 

the epicenter. As the news and dramatic footage 

of the natural disaster started to flow, it was clear 

the earthquake had dealt Japan—a major U.S. 

ally—an incredible blow. 

A day later, the looming nuclear disaster at 

the Fukushima Daiichi plant added a new 

dimension and focus to the natural disaster and 

the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency’s 

(NGA’s) support mission.

NGA has been responding to and supporting 

natural disasters around the world for years. 

The use of geospatial intelligence (GEOINT) has 

proven to be the most effective way to assess 

damage quickly and provide first responders, 

decision makers and relief agencies with the 

information required to plan a disaster response 

mission. Within hours of the tragedy, NGA 

organized a focus cell to deal with the crisis. 

The Offices of the Americas and Asia Pacific and 

the Pacific Command NGA Support Team led 

the cell. In its first 24 hours the cell executed its 

source collection plan, established 24/7 support, 

organized technical and analytical expertise and 

began responding to customer requests. 

“This was the fastest moving and most 

complex disaster mission I have ever worked,” 

recalled Bob Jensen, focus cell lead. Within 

hours of the cell’s standup, it received urgent 

requests for GEOINT and products from all 

levels of government. 

NGA used the full breadth of its analytical and 

technical capabilities, quickly assessing damage 

to the Fukushima nuclear reactors, roads, 

bridges, rail lines, power generation, dams, 

ports/harbors and airports/airfields. 

NGA mapped the extent of the 

damage the tsunami caused. 

Analysts used these assessments 

to provide the framework for 

the U.S. government’s response, 

titled Operation Tomodachi—

“Operation Friendship.” 

During the first few 

weeks after the disaster 

NGA received urgent 

product requests from 

numerous customers, 

including the Director 

of National Intelligence, 

Department of State, 

Department of Energy, 

Nuclear Regulatory 

Commission, Defense 

Threat Reduction 

Agency, U.S. Forces 

Japan, U.S. Embassy 

Tokyo, White 

House, government 

NGA Focuses on Earthquake Relief in Japan

By Jeff Redinger, Staff Officer, Office of the Americas

Image 2 shows the extent of 

the damage to this area after 

the tsunami waves scoured the 

land surface of all but a few of 

the sturdier structures.

554000m.E

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39°1'0"N

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OFUNATO / RIKUZENTAKA

OFUNATO / RIKUZENTAKATA AREA, JAPAN 1K GRID CELL:

10K MAP SERIES:

1:6,000 Scale

MGRS

100,000-m Square Grid

WJ

54S

1000-m cell, 100-m grid, MGRS

World Geodetic System 1984 Datum

Grid Zone Designation:

100,000-m Square Identification:

Map / Vector Data Source: ESRI World Street Map 

(These are national level assets and 

cannot be verified accurate at the local level.)

54SWJ5418

54SWJ51

54S

WJ

Not to be used for navigation.

For information and planning

purposes only.

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0 100 200 300 400 50 Meters

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UNCLASSIFIED

Imagery: DigitalGlobe, Inc ©2011, Nextview License

Search Grid

*Note: No Vector Data Available

Image 1 depicts the 

residential Ofunato/

Rikuzentakata area before 

the tsunami hit.
Pathfinder ›› January/February 2012

NGA FOCUSES ON EARTHQUAKE

17

of Japan, Centers for Disease Control and 

Prevention and Department of Defense. Fairfax, 

Va., and Los Angeles County Urban Search and 

Rescue (US&R) teams used NGA-provided 

digital map books that not only aided search and 

rescue missions but also had many 

unintended uses. 

“We had no idea how useful 

these products would be to others 

responding to the crisis outside 

of the search, rescue and recovery 

mission,” said Matt Gamm, who 

served on the Office of Americas team 

that produced the 23 books. “Once 

these books found their way to the first 

responders and were shared with others 

on the ground we found that NGA was 

the only agency graphically depicting 

what infrastructure looked like pre- and 

post-tsunami.”

Marines “tasked in the air” in support of 

the relief mission noted that in this very 

dynamic environment NGA’s products 

provided necessary situational awareness 

about flight conditions despite overcast skies. 

Said the Misawa Marine representative, “Your 

[NGA] products have been excellent and 

we have provided copies to them [pilots] for 

baseline imagery. We are also providing them to 

Navy teams conducting salvage operations along 

the coast. Bottom line is the products 

are awesome.” 

NGA State Department representatives 

provided feedback from the scientific 

community, which noted NGA products 

would enable fieldwork to document 

the tsunami water levels and sediment 

deposits in Japan, while the Japan 

Aeronautical Exploration Agency (JAXA) 

e-mailed their thanks. Volunteer-produced 

products “helped us during the emergency 

phase ... with details of changes between 

before and after using high resolution satellite 

images,” said the JAXA representative. “[This] 

information is very much useful at local 

government because [the] tsunami washed away 

tons of information.”

“In Tokyo, we felt the quake, but no significant 

damage occurred in our region,” said Aaron 

B., an International NGA Support Team Japan 

representative who voluntarily stayed on the 

island despite radiation safety concerns. Noted 

Aaron about conditions in Japan, “There is just 

a new definition for normal in Japan and a new 

normal for Japan/U.S. relations. All in all, the 

GEOINT relationship with Japan was bolstered 

by our support, [and] the products received were 

very timely and useful.” 

NGA’s ability to produce time-dominant products 

and information to the U.S. government and an 

ally for this crisis provided many lessons learned 

that analysts can apply to future disasters. These 

lessons can be applied to the ever-growing need 

for GEOINT, NGA’s unique capabilities and 

a workforce ready to respond to natural and 

manmade disasters.

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Image 3 is the cover page 

to the Urban Search & 

Rescue atlas.
NGA POINT OF DISTRIBUTION

Pathfinder ›› January/February 2012

18

National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) 

Point of Distribution (POD) allows customers 

to access NGA’s homeland security commercial 

airborne imagery online and on-demand—a 

fitting example of self-service access to NGA data. 

NGA analysts and domestic partners such as 

the Federal Emergency Management Agency, as 

well as first responders, use this imagery service 

during domestic disaster response.

The NGA POD at the U.S. Geologic Survey 

(USGS) Earth Resources Observation and Science 

(EROS) Data Center is the result of a longstanding 

partnership between NGA’s Office of the Americas 

(PM) and USGS. “The POD exists because 

someone wanted to know what would 

happen if NGA leveraged the USGS’s 

National Map, a program that 

already has both imagery storage 

and Web services available,” 

said Bill Nellist, project lead 

for the North America and 

Homeland Security Division 

(PMH) 133 cities imagery 

project. 

 “The NGA POD replaced 

thousands of DVDs and 

hundreds of portable hard 

drives in the agency’s catalog,” 

said Drew Herrick of the Vision 

Integration Team. 

After 9/11 PMH and USGS developed 

the Homeland Security Infrastructure 

Program (HSIP). A clearinghouse of missioncritical geospatial and remote-sensing foundation 

information, HSIP data collection includes the 

procurement of unclassified imagery over the 133 

highest-priority American metropolitan areas. 

NGA shares this unclassified imagery, which 

supports a common operational data framework, 

with its domestic mission partners at the federal, 

state, local and tribal levels. Leveraging existing 

co-production agreements, such as HSIP, PM 

partnered with the USGS to acquire commercial 

airborne imagery, said Steve Alness, chief of 

NGA’s Domestic Preparedness Branch. 

Working with USGS, PM developed a strategy for 

NGA to provide funding for USGS to manage the 

contracting and processing of airborne imagery 

over areas of interest, said Nellist. 

“The USGS works with its state liaisons to 

leverage funding to seed other partnerships,” 

said Douglas Binnie, USGS Information Solutions 

Team chief. The partnerships allow NGA to get 

four square miles of coverage for every square 

mile it purchases.

However, this workflow required PMH analysts 

to manage the organization, cataloging, storage, 

access, duplication and dissemination of imagery 

to mission partners. It became apparent that this 

business model was unsustainable, said Nellist. 

In 2009 the situation reached critical mass; there 

were more than 21,000 DVDs and over 300 

portable hard drives in the catalog, more than 

NGA had space to store and analysts to manage. 

NGA needed a solution.

Herrick, former technical executive for the Office 

of the Americas, worked with the eGEOINT 

Management Office to establish an alternate 

business model, one that relied on self-service 

through interoperable Open Geospatial 

Consortium-compliant Web services. PM and 

USGS purchased Web servers and placed them 

at EROS to serve online, on-demand imagery. 

Then-director of PM Liam O’Brien agreed 

to fund these servers—the NGA POD. Also, 

eGEOINT consulted on the creation of the POD 

Web Mapping Service (WMS), the service that 

provides the data. This architecture allows data 

to be stored in one location and, through NGA 

servers, ensures that public and NGA activities 

do not impact each other, said Herrick.

NGA launched POD in April 2010 to enthusiastic 

use by analysts. Said Nellist, “It was surprising 

just how quickly almost everyone accepted the 

new processes for accessing our imagery.” During 

the Deepwater Horizon support effort “USGS 

was able to quickly add ad hoc crisis imagery to 

the WMS,” said Nellist.

According to Karl R. of the eGEOINT 

Management Office, “In addition to being 

more accessible, data under this architecture 

is also more secure, further providing benefit. 

Web services such as this limit customers to 

‘sipping’ only the data they need instead of 

downloading and locally storing massive 

amounts of information. This protects the data 

and frees up networks. Also, the WMS is able 

NGA Point of Distribution Enables Commercial Access

By Bob Hicks, Technical Executive, Office of the Americas

“The 

NGA POD 

replaced 

thousands of 

DVDs and hundreds 

of portable hard 

drives in the 

agency’s catalog,” 

said Drew Herrick 

of the Vision 

Integration 

Team. 
Pathfinder ›› January/February 2012

19

to track frequency of access, 

track behaviors and interests of 

individuals and restrict access, 

enhancing security.”

The success of this project has 

demonstrated the power of 

Web services and is changing 

how agencies do business. 

Said Binnie, “Since the 

implementation of the 

POD, the FEMA Flood 

Map Modernization 

activity has also 

implemented a similar 

POD. Bureau of Census 

is considering it as 

well. This collaboration 

between NGA and 

USGS certainly does a 

good job in validating 

the need for these 

data and the fact that 

it is used by multiple 

agencies from a single 

source speaks to the work 

being done to make access 

mechanisms efficient and easy 

to use.”

By adhering to service-oriented 

architecture principles, the NGA 

POD, a joint, collaborative venture, 

has aligned with the NGA Vision of 

“putting GEOINT in the hands of 

our users” and has inspired partners 

to investigate similar avenues. The 

NGA POD represents just one step 

in a much larger strategy that will 

allow NGA to more effectively 

provide all of HSIP through a selfservice environment.

The 

NGA Vision of 

“putting GEOINT in the 

hands of our users” 

has inspired partners 

to investigate similar 

avenues.

This 

image 

of Lower 

Manhattan 

is an example of 

the high-resolution, 

commercial airborne, color 

imagery from our HSIP holdings for 

the 133 cities hosted on the Web 

Mapping Service at the USGS EROS 

Data Center.

provide all of HSIP through a selfservice environment. USGS High Resolution Orthoimagery
The Homeland Infrastructure Foundation Level 

Data (HIFLD) working group coordinates the 

acquisition and dissemination of infrastructure 

data—such as the location of road networks, 

schools, hospitals and power plants—to aid 

federal, state and local mission partners and first 

responders. The National Geospatial-Intelligence 

Agency (NGA) manages this geospatially 

enabled infrastructure data within the Homeland 

Security Infrastructure Program (HSIP) Gold and 

HSIP Freedom database.

The working group has grown since its February 

2002 inception, from 13 initial members to 

4,457 contributing partners, representing the 14 

executive departments, 94 agencies, 50 states 

and more than 700 private sector organizations. 

The group enables the Department of Defense 

(DOD), NGA, Department of Homeland Security 

(DHS) and U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) to 

provide enhanced support to more than 148,000 

federal, state and local mission partners and first 

responders. 

The database includes more than 450 

infrastructure and other foundation data 

layers. Partner agencies use this data to create 

geospatial products for planning, training, impact 

WORKING GROUP

Pathfinder ›› January/February 2012

20

assessment and shared situational awareness at 

all levels in support of the homeland security, 

homeland defense, emergency preparedness, 

response and recovery missions. The database also 

includes the HSIP 133 Cities imagery and light 

detection and ranging (LiDAR) data supporting 

steady state operations, national level exercises, 

national special security events and national 

responses, such as Hurricane Irene and Midwest 

region flooding. 

During Hurricane Irene analysts used HSIP data 

to create geospatial situational awareness and 

risk assessment products for decision makers 

and emergency responders. The products 

visualized the potential impact to the East Coast 

and evacuation routes, the actual impact on 

infrastructure and personnel from flooding and 

the status of recovery operations.

NGA expanded the HIFLD partnership in 2009 

to include HIFLD to the Regions (HTTR). HIFLD 

to the Regions fosters partnerships across the 

government and private sectors to increase the 

use of common geographic infrastructure data for 

the protection, response, recovery and restoration 

of infrastructure assets that natural or man-made 

disasters impact. Government organizations 

working in the same mission space share programs, 

tools, data and products—a significant resource 

efficiency. The HIFLD and HTTR staffs located 

around the country support the coordination, 

continuous improvement and dissemination of the 

HSIP data and the sharing of best practices across 

government.

The HIFLD and HTTR leaders from DOD, NGA, 

DHS and USGS continue to work together to 

improve getting GEOINT into the hands of the 

users as efficiently and effectively as possible. For 

additional information on the HIFLD partnerships 

and HSIP data, visit www.hifldwg.org, watch the 

HSIP/HIFLD video at http://www.youtube.com/

watch?v=IEhjN2y-o54 or contact the NGA HSIP 

Team at HSIP_Team@nga.mil.

Working Group Enables Sharing of Common 

Operational Data

By Steven Alness, Chief, Domestic Preparedness Branch, North America and Homeland Security Division

This graphic depicts imagery coverage of the 133 cities available 

on the NGA point of distribution system.
and disposition of organic resources, invaluable 

during the event and critical to significantly 

reducing response time.

To understand Hermes it is important to 

understand the associated network architecture. 

The mobile devices rely on wireless connectivity 

to interface with the protected network in which 

Hermes resides. Access requires authentication 

into the Director of National Intelligence enclave 

via Intelink Remote Access, and then into the 

NGA enterprise network. This concept provides 

security in the form of dual authentication, 

thereby mitigating mission partner concerns 

regarding information security. 

Hermes is an evolution in how geospatial 

information and intelligence is collected and 

disseminated. It integrates the “beat on the 

street” into the operational picture and facilitates 

a dramatic improvement in the development of 

an appropriate and precise response. In short, 

through a mobile device, it gets the power of 

GEOINT into the hands of users.

THE 66TH U.N. GENERAL ASSEMBLY

Pathfinder ›› January/February 2012

21

The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency 

(NGA) continuously adapts its resources and 

capabilities to support its federal mission 

partners; NGA support of the Department of 

Homeland Security includes support of the U.S. 

Secret Service. In September 2011 this included 

deployment to the 66th U.N. General Assembly in 

New York. 

The Secret Service provided security and 

conducted protective operations for over 134 

dignitaries, including the president and vice 

president of the United States. 

The Department of Homeland Security NGA 

Support Team embedded two analysts with the 

Secret Service to provide onsite geospatial support. 

They served as geospatial information brokers and 

provided geospatial intelligence (GEOINT) for 

security planning and counterterrorism operations. 

In this role, analysts provided traditional GEOINT 

products, such as event-tailored maps and 

imagery, while integrating non-traditional, dualfaceted GEOINT support through the Hermes 

mobile and Web applications. 

The InnoVision Geospatial-Intelligence Advanced 

Testbed created the Hermes app, a mobile device 

interface that allows users with smartphones to 

share events and pictures through a common 

operating picture. The app incorporates both 

mobile device and Web applications. 

Although simple in concept, the Hermes is 

revolutionary because it integrates various 

levels of users into a single common operating 

picture, ensuring that all parties involved are 

on the same page. Hermes gives tactical level 

users (i.e., those with the mobile devices) the 

ability to take geospatially tagged images. This 

functionality provides the central command post, 

as well as geographically diffuse tactical users, 

with the ability to share data and information in 

real time while adding the context of location. 

Hermes provided the Secret Service leadership 

with enhanced situational awareness; leaders 

could quickly locate incidents, determine the 

severity and leverage appropriate resources to 

respond to them. Furthermore, Hermes provided 

leadership awareness with regard to location 

The 66th UN General Assembly: NGA Showcases 

Integration of Mobile Devices

By Vivek Venkatesh, NGA Liaison to the U.S. Secret Service, Department of Homeland Security NGA Support Team

The image shows part of the display of the HermesWeb application. 

It illustrates the ability of HermesWeb to allow a picture to be 

geographically placed, referenced and displayed in the application 

window. This image was a screen capture at the 66th U.N. General 

Assembly in which analysts were deployed with the U.S. Secret 

Service in the Protective Intelligence Coordination Center.

through a mobile device, it gets the power of 
Pathfinder ›› January/February 2012

OUR HERITAGE

22

On the 50th anniversary of the first direct 

American military involvement in Vietnam, the 

Department of Defense (DOD) has called upon 

U.S. citizens to remember with respect and 

gratitude those who served in Southeast Asia. 

This series of six articles—of which this is the 

fifth—illuminates the significant role people in 

the tradecraft communities that now comprise 

the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency 

played in Southeast Asia.

As a rule, staying ahead of the curve always 

presents a difficult professional challenge. For 

American cartographers, the changing situation 

in Southeast Asia after World War II would prove 

this rule. As the Eisenhower Administration 

began to commit the United States to an antiCommunist advisory role in Vietnam in the 1950s 

the Army Map Service (AMS) discovered a major 

cartographic problem: the comprehensive maps 

of Vietnam the colonial French administration 

produced had become dated and showed 

signs of inaccuracy. How could the U.S. Army 

conduct advisory operations in this country with 

inadequate maps? Unfortunately, AMS maps did 

not appear much better and few sources existed 

to inform any program to revise the existing 

1-50,000 ratio topographic maps and 

1-250,000 ratio aeronautical charts.

AMS addressed the problem in 1956 by 

entering into a cooperative mapping agreement 

with the newly formed Republic of South Vietnam. 

American and Vietnamese cartographers and 

surveyors conducted topographic and geodetic 

surveys and took extensive numbers of aerial 

photographs to build a considerable knowledge 

base for the reconstruction of comprehensive 

maps of the country. They also collected place 

names and collaborated in choosing the natural 

and cultural features that would appear on the 

maps. Unlike similar work the Inter American 

Geodetic Survey in Latin America undertook at 

the same time, the collaborative Vietnam mapping 

project came to an end in 1962 because of the 

increasingly dangerous communist insurgency in 

South Vietnam. 

However, during the six years of cooperative 

agreement the AMS used the new data to 

complete a revision of its large- and mediumscale maps, prompting Army Maj. Gen. Robert 

R. Ploger to comment in his book on the Army 

engineers in Vietnam that this “marked the first 

time that the American military mapping agencies 

had completed large- and medium- scale mapping 

of an area in advance of a major commitment of 

combat forces.” 

Remembering Vietnam 5: 

Staying Ahead of the Curve

Early Cartographic Work in Vietnam, 1965-1966

By Dr. Gary E. Weir, Office of Corporate Communications

On the right is a map of Bien Hoa Air Base 

with planned improvements. 

At the left and on p. 23 are 

pages from the Army Map 

Service report on Phan Rang, 

highlighting the Buddhist 

Temple, the Protestant 

Church, the old airfield and 

the construction of new 

government buildings. 

NGA Historical Research 

Center images 
OUR HERITAGE

Pathfinder ›› January/February 2012

23

Once the American commitment 

began to accelerate significantly, 

especially in 1965 and 1966, so 

did the collection of data. Ground 

surveys in the south and aerial 

photography all across the divided 

country kept the large-scale maps 

current. In months to come more precise 

maps would inform new tactics and weaponry. 

This data collection came to AMS as Intelligence 

Information Reports that could cover everything 

from a proposed airfield to the extension of a 

university campus, to the location of quarries 

and many other even more precise details. The 

March 18, 1966, AMS report on the Phan Rang 

area of Ninh Thuan province included bridges, 

main roads and highway routes and details on 

the city of Phan Rang. Annotated photos marked 

the Catholic Church, the city square complete 

with its monument, provincial headquarters, a 

hospital and the railway station sitting outside 

the city in an open field seemingly in exile. 

In addition to the Buddhist temples and the 

Protestant church, the collected details included 

a soccer field that doubled as a helicopter landing 

area and its French control tower, as well as 

recent flood damage to a school. The report paid 

particular attention to the railway network and a 

shore location that would accommodate shallow 

draft naval vessels. The report packages AMS 

personnel prepared usually included a 1:250,000 

aeronautical chart and a 1:50,000 map, both 

keyed to the accompanying photographs. 

In many cases, these early data collections 

enhanced cartographic renditions of areas that 

would become vital to the American effort in 

Southeast Asia. A report AMS compiled on 

April 6, 1966, focused in part on Bien Hoa Air 

Base, 15 miles north of Saigon, provided greater 

detail on the location through which the U.S. Air 

Force would begin its work in Vietnam, both in 

attack and reconnaissance support. The report 

indicated that a new parallel runway would soon 

complement the main airstrip. The accompanying 

1:50,000 topographic map, keyed to the 

photographs in the report, also demonstrated 

the various locations south of Bien Hoa that 

would play a role in the increasing commitment, 

providing space for an infantry school, a training 

area and sites for military staging activity.

This basic cartographic effort formed a vital 

source of timely in-country knowledge at a 

critical time for American defense policy in Asia. 

The resulting maps and charts, far more accurate 

than the imperial French versions, first supported 

the military assistance groups DOD sent to 

Vietnam and then the much more ambitious 

commitment of the Johnson administration to 

address the communist threat in Vietnam.

The 1:50,000 map in the 

background of this two-page 

spread displays annotations 

derived from the photos. It was 

intended as a tool to revise and 

improve future maps. The aerial 

photo, at right, shows Bien Hoa 

Air Base in 1964. The photo 

was yet another resource for 

improving the maps and charts 

of this region. 
www.nga.mil

Washington, D.C., 

Martin Luther King Jr. 

National Memorial