GEOINT 2005
MDI TAKES A LOOK BACK AT THE BIG GEOSPATIAL EVENT OF LAST YEAR.
JORDAN FUHR
The United States Geospatial Intelligence Foundation kicked off another successful conference in October, solidifying its annual exhibition and symposium as the geospatial event of the year.
The GEOINT 2005 Symposium attracted more than 2,000 attendees—about 500 more than last year—crowding the 70,000-squarefoot exhibit floor and filling the auditorium past its seating capacity.
Attendees had the opportunity to learn about the technologies from more than 100 exhibiting companies and ask questions of some of the highest leaders in the intelligence community.
Speakers included U.S. Army Lieutenant General Keith B. Alexander, director of the National Security Agency and chief of the Central Security Service; retired Air Force Lieutenant General James R. Clapper Jr., director of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency; General Wayne Downing, chairman of the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point; Air Force General Michael V. Hayden, principal deputy director of national intelligence; and former CIA Director R. James Woolsey.
Of particular interest was Hayden’s presentation on the facts surrounding the creation of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the National Intelligence Strategy of the United States of America.
The document, which outlines the objectives for the intelligence community, was described in a statement by Director of National Intelligence John D. Negroponte as a “statement of our fundamental values, highest priorities and orientation toward the future, but it is an action document as well.”
Hayden noted that the office will control all collection, but will not micromanage the community. “Our objective here is coherence for the whole, autonomy for the parts,” he said. The National Intelligence Strategy provides explanation on how the DNI will do this in five mission objectives and 10 enterprise objectives.
Hayden summed up the philosophy of the document this way: “If we allow directors [in the intelligence community] to optimize their own tradecraft, then we’d end up in a really good place. But, our strategy says we need DNI to orchestrate the community to optimize the whole, even if that, at times, it sub-optimizes a part.”
Following presentations by Clapper and Alexander, the two held a joint question-andanswer session with the audience.
One of the first questions they were asked was about their reaction to the growing call for more money to be spent on human collection, rather than technical collection capabilities.
“We have been attempting to invest in a healthy, robust TPED [tasking, processing, exploitation and dissemination] with volume, variety and velocity to ingest data from wherever,” Clapper told the audience. “The best strategy, in my view, is to have heterogeneous capabilities.”
Clapper continued: “We need to look at what all the stovepipes are doing, and HUMINT [human intelligence] is certainly a part of this—especially in a war on terrorism.”
When asked about what two agencies need from the director of national intelligence’s chief intelligence officer, Alexander stated a desire to better leverage information already collected. “We need a capability to pull out the necessary knowledge and data in a useful timeframe.”
Clapper, on the other hand, stressed the importance of his personnel. “It’s not about the blocks,” he said. “It’s the blokes.”
But both agreed that the right technology is crucial to their missions. And there was a lot of technology to see and inquire about on the exhibit hall floor.
One of the major technology highlights at the event was the real-time interoperability demonstration. Expanded from last year’s demo, 16 different systems were networked as a unified, Internet-based platform.
Titled “Interoperable GEOINT for Operation Security and Response,” the event illustrated how users can obtain data from multiple vendors using different sources in a variety of formats in order to facilitate communications, research and dissemination requirements and support intelligence needs.
“The interoperability demonstration showcases the collective capabilities of the geospatial- intelligence community as it endeavors to deliver products and services that can operate with and among each other,” said K. Stuart Shea, USGIF chairman of the board of directors. “In today’s world, the future of national and homeland security depends on interoperable systems and the effectiveness of the results it generates.”
On the last day of conference, the foundation held its Hall of Fame Awards Dinner. There the foundation recognized recipients of the 2005 USGIF Awards Program. USGIF also formally recognized the recipients of its 2005 University Scholarship Program during the dinner, held on the last night of the symposium
More than doubling the number of scholarships awarded from last year, the foundation announced the nine awards to doctoral candidates, graduates and undergraduates.
“Our commitment to education will continue to grow in reflection of our members’ deep commitment to the future of our tradecraft,” said Shea. “We look forward to benefiting from their continuing contributions to geospatial intelligence.”
In 2006, the foundation plans to expand its scholarship program to include graduating high school seniors enrolled in or bound for college or university academic programs related to geospatial intelligence. ♦
