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Welcome to the Monday Morning News Kick Off post from got geoint? As always, we have pulled together the most key stories for you to jump start your work week. And for this Monday, there is no shortage of news to share. From the proposed DoD budget cuts to how the military is engaging in a shadow war on terror to a story about an innovative 3D mapping tchnology being developed at UC Berkeley, we have it all for you in one convenient spot. So, as we always say, fire up that second cup of coffee and read on.

Defense Intelligence Community to Tighten Belt
The defense intelligence community is combing its budgets to figure out where to cut 10 percent of its contractors as part of Defense Secretary Robert Gates’ drive to reduce costs in the Pentagon. Defense officials told staffers on Capitol Hill that they expect a similar review to be carried out “for the broader intelligence community,” according to a congressional staffer who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the private briefing. White House officials from the Obama and the Bush administrations tried to get rampant spending on contractors under control after the post-Sept. 11 surge to hire contractors to meet the demands of fighting terrorism and extremism. Read the full AP story here.

U.S. Terror Fight Slips Into The Shadows
At first, the news from Yemen on May 25 sounded like a modest victory against terrorists: An airstrike had hit a group suspected of being operatives for al-Qaeda in the remote desert of Marib province. But the strike, it turned out, had also killed the province’s respected deputy governor. Yemen’s president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, accepted responsibility and paid blood money to the offended tribes. The strike, though, was not the work of Saleh’s decrepit Soviet-era air force. It was a secret mission by the U.S. military, according to U.S. officials, at least the fourth such assault on al-Qaeda in the arid mountains and deserts of Yemen since December. Read the full Dallas news story here.

Veteran Investigator is Named CIA Watchdog
President Obama has nominated a veteran investigator to be the next CIA inspector general, a crucial position that has remained vacant for more than a year. David B. Buckley, currently a senior manager for Deloitte Consulting, will have to be confirmed by the Senate before he can fill the watchdog post charged with unearthing abuses inside the spy agency. The nomination comes after months of congressional frustration with the White House about not putting forth a candidate for the job. Several candidates had previously been mentioned but none made the cut. Read the full Boston Globe story here.

China Launches Possible Spy Satellite
China launched a secret reconnaissance satellite with a Long March rocket last Monday, the sixth satellite it has launched this year, authorities said. The mission lifted off aboard a Long March 4C rocket from the Taiyuan launching center in northern China’s Shanxi province, SPACE.com reported. Independent tracking data showed the three-stage booster placing the satellite in an orbit about 380 miles high. The state-run Xinhua news agency said the satellite would conduct scientific experiments, make land surveys, estimate crop yields and help respond to natural disasters. Read the full UPI story here.

Smile! Aerial Images Being Used to Enforce Laws
On New York’s Long Island, it’s used to prevent drownings. In Greece, it’s a tool to help solve a financial crisis. Municipalities update property assessment rolls and other government data with it. Some in law enforcement use it to supplement reconnaissance of crime suspects. High-tech eyes in the sky — from satellite imagery to sophisticated aerial photography that maps entire communities — are being employed in creative new ways by government officials, a trend that civil libertarians and others fear are eroding privacy rights. “As technology advances, we have to revisit questions about what is and what is not private information,” said Gregory Nojeim, senior counsel at the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Democracy and Technology. Read the full AP story here.

UC Berkeley Team Creates Indoor 3D Laser Mapping Technology… in a Backpack
At UC Berkeley, the same team behind 3D views of major cities on Google Earth has created a mapping technology “that scans its surroundings and creates an instant 3D model”. The device takes the form of a backpack, where an array of lasers, cameras, and an Inertial Measurement Unit all combine to form a final product of a 3D, textured model. Lasers calculate geometry of the surroundings, while the cameras capture panoramic textures of the area behind the pack. Although Google Earth’s 3D images were created using GPS technology, the same cannot be said for the 3D Backpack. Since GPS and satellite imagery does not work indoors, the IMU combined with the geometry of lasers, localize the pack, allowing for the precise navigation of an indoor environment. Read the full Mobile Magazine post here.

Tags: China Spy Satellite, CIA Watchdog, David B. Buckley, David B. Buckley CIA Watchdog, Defense cuts, geospatial intelligence, got geoint?, Intelligence Community Budget Cuts, Robert Gates, Shadow War on Terror, UC Berkeley 3D Laser Mapping Technology, United States Geospatial Intelligence Foundation, USGIF