got geoint?

Welcome once again to the Friday’s Food for Thought post. Before we dive into this post, we want to know if you have booked your travel for GEOINT 2009? As many of you saw, we just announced that the new DNI, Dennis Blair, will be speaking, along with Bruce Carlson, the new director of the NRO. Don’t you want to hear their strategic plans for the intelligence community? Speaking of community, we thought that would make an excellent theme for today’s post. We always hear the term “intelligence community” and we hope to dive deeper into the concept of community, and just how important we all are to each other. Consider this post an extension of last week’s FFT post on family. Scroll down and enjoy.

Vice Admiral Murrett on Federal News Radio
Be sure to tune into Federal News Radio 1500 AM next week because Vice Admiral Murrett, Director,
National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency will be on the air. That’s right, on Monday at 11 a.m. and Wednesday at 12 p.m., Vice Admiral Murrett will be interviewed on the “Business of Government” hour. Be sure to mark your calendars and check it out!

Definition of Community
You knew we would consult Wikipedia to find out the actual definition of community, right? Well, here it is. In biological terms, a community is a group of interacting organisms sharing an environment. In human communities, intent, belief, resources, preferences, needs, risks, and a number of other conditions may be present and common, affecting the identity of the participants and their degree of cohesiveness. Wow, when you think about the intelligence community this definition rings very true — although we don’t often share the same environment. But, the part about intent, belief, preferences, needs and risks is spot on. Don’t you think?

While We Are a Community, We Are Not a Commune
Would be an interesting world if the intelligence community actually lived in a commune, right? Well, maybe not, but we are an intentional community. What does that mean? A commune is an intentional community of people living together, sharing common interests, property, possessions, resources, work and income. I guess if we all lived together in a commune, every day would be like the GEOINT Symposium, which actually would be pretty cool.

Unifying the Community
When you Google “Intelligence Community,” the very first thing that comes up is intelligence.gov. Good SEO, right? So, one section of the site is called “Unifying the Community.” And, that section highlights the role of the ODNI and how the DNI serves as the head of the Intelligence Community. The DNI also acts as the principal advisor to the President, the National Security Council, and the Homeland Security Council for intelligence matters related to the national security; and oversees and directs the implementation of the National Intelligence Program. Pretty important job, huh? Well, we look forward to hearing his presentation at GEOINT 2009 for sure!

Executive Order 12333
Have you ever really check out Executive Order 12333? On 4 December 1981 President Ronald Reagan signed Executive Order 12333, an Executive Order intended to extend powers and responsibilities of US intelligence agencies and direct the leaders of U.S. federal agencies to co-operate fully with CIA requests for information. Here’s a key quote from EO 12333: “The United States intelligence effort shall provide the President and the National Security Council with the necessary information on which to base decisions concerning the conduct and development of foreign, defense and economic policy, and the protection of United States national interests from foreign security threats. All departments and agencies shall cooperate fully to fulfill this goal.”

Woodstock’s 40th: That Was a Community
I guess you have to be living under a rock to not know that this summer marks the 40th anniversary of Woodstock. So what better way to reinforce the concept of community than to pay homage to a subculture (hippies) and its celebratory pinnacle? Check out this video. May cause flashbacks for those who attended the event:

Happy Friday!!

Tags: Add new tag, Burce Carlson, Dennis Blair, DNI, Friday's Food for Thought, GEOINT 2009, geospatial intelligence, Intelligence Community, NGA, NRO, ODNI, United States Geospatial Intelligence Foundation, USGIF, Vice Admiral Murrett, Woodstock, Woodstock's 40th