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Welcome to the Monday Morning News Kick Off post on got geoint? As always, we hope you had a restful weekend and are fully ready to get back into “the game.” With only a few weeks of summer left, surely many of us are winding down our vacations, thinking about buying school supplies for the kids and preparing for a productive fall business season. We have lots of news to cover this morning. From NY Times cover stories about national security and climate change to the DoD assessing the use of Web 2.0 technologies. Grab the second cup of coffee, double-check that to-do list and scroll down.

Climate Change Seen as Security Threat
Many of you may have seen the NY Times article this weekend that highlights how climate change will become a major security threat to the U.S. for many decades to come. We would like to point out that this was a major topic of discussion at GEOINT 2008 and we have been covering this issue for sometime now. Regardless, it certainly helps to have the most significant newspaper put this story on the front page. It will elevate the discussion further and, surely, it will continue to be a big topic at GEOINT 2009.

Use of Web 2.0 Capabilities by Military Families
As many of us saw from the news last week, the DoD may not be embracing Web 2.0 technologies as fast as Ashton Kutcher. In fact, it is doing an assessment of Web 2.0 and military families — recognizing that it is a valuable tool for soldiers to communicate with loved ones when deployed — but having concerns about security. If you are in the military and want to provide your input to the DoD on this major decision, feel free to click here (the DoD Web 2.0 Guidance Forum) and take the short survey.

Holder Poised to Appoint Prosecutor for CIA Probe
Attorney General Eric Holder is expected to appoint a criminal prosecutor to probe possible CIA abuses surrounding the interrogation of terrorism suspects under the Bush administration, the Los Angeles Times reported Sunday. The looming decision comes after months of deliberation. It was reported last month that Holder was leaning toward appointing a prosecutor. Wow…this could get sticky.

CIA Destroyed Video Tapes of Terrorism Suspected; Dems are Heated Up
The word is that angry congressional Democrats demanded on Friday that the Justice Department investigate why the CIA destroyed videotapes of the interrogation of two terrorism suspects. Sen. Edward Kennedy actually accused the CIA of a cover-up, with this scathing comment: “We haven’t seen anything like this since the 18½-minute gap in the tapes of President Richard Nixon.”

U.S. Navy Awards Geospatial Services and Solutions Contract to Northrop Grumman’s 3001 International
Northrop Grumman Corporation’s 3001 International, Inc. has been awarded a contract by the
Department of the Navy, Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC), Atlantic to provide geospatial services and solutions enhancing the service’s capabilities for planning, asset management, training, infrastructure, and homeland defense both at home and abroad. The NAVFAC contract consists of a one-year base period, with four one-year options for a total potential value of $15 million. Read the full press release here.

Geospatial Technologies and Satellite Imaging to Spur Growth of Forestry Inventory Management in Carbon Markets
Geospatial technologies, including satellite imaging, are becoming increasingly important tools for monitoring and measuring the impact of climate change on the Earth’s surface, and for understanding the future of forest carbon markets, geospatial imagery expert Joel Campbell recently told a group of forestry and technology professionals at a seminar. “High-resolution commercial satellites have been in use for 10 years, so researchers can use historical archives to model what has occurred in the last decade and predict what will happen in the future,” said Campbell, senior director of product management at GeoEye, Inc. [NASDAQ: GEOY]. “This is extremely important as we look at carbon monitoring.” Read more here.

We hope you have a highly productive work week!

Tags: 3001 International, CIA, CIA Probe, CIA prosecutions, Climate change and security, DoD and Web 2.0, DoD Web 2.0 Guidance Forum, Eric Holder, GEOINT, Northrop Grumman