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Welcome to the Monday Morning News Kick Off post on got geoint? We hope everyone had a restful and fun Halloween weekend. Now that Halloween is officially over and the pre-Christmas marketing blitz is starting, perhaps it is a good time to focus on news that impacts us on a day-to-day perspective. This week’s MMNKO post, offers a wide range of stories, including the DNI announcing fiscal year 2009 budget figure for the National Intelligence Program (NIP), NGA being named one of 50 Great Places to Work by Washingtonian magazine, and much more.

Washingtonian Magazine Names NGA One of 50 Great Places to Work
The November 2009 issue of the Washingtonian magazine, which focused on “Great Places to Work”, highlights NGA as one of five government agencies identified by employees as places where the “pay, mission, culture, flexibility, and the benefits were the best parts of working at their agency”. The November issue states, “We’ve identified these five agencies as good choices if you want a government job.” Congratulations to NGA employees for making this such a great place to work!

DISA Ordered To Contribute to Geospatial Intelligence Suite
According to memo recently signed by DOD Deputy Chief Information Officer Dave Wennergren, The Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) and other Defense Department organizations must contribute to a suite of geospatial intelligence visualization tools called the the Geospatial Intelligence Visualization Services suite is provided by the NGA. To read the full GCN article, click here.

Bill To Expand Geospatial Imagery Passes House
Last week, the House has passed a bill that would provide $10 million a year for a national grant program designed to make geospatial imagery more available and usable. The bill would give that money to the Interior Department through fiscal 2019 to spend on grants to support geospatial imagery mapping projects. The bill passed by a vote of 379-33 on Oct. 27. The bill seeks to expand the use of remote sensing data by state, local and tribal governments, educational institutions and industry. The measure is also designed to help states and Indian tribes build infrastructure to increase access to geospatial imagery for research and educational purposes. Read more here.

DNI Releases Budget Figure for 2009 National Intelligence Program
Last week, Director of National Intelligence Dennis C. Blair released the fiscal year 2009 budget figure for the
National Intelligence Program (NIP). The Director disclosed that the aggregate amount appropriated to the NIP
for fiscal year 2009 was $49.8 Billion. As required by Public Law 110-53, the Director of National Intelligence disclosed the aggregate amount of funds appropriated by Congress to the NIP for fiscal year 2009 within 30 days after the end of the fiscal year. “The release of the budget figure for the National Intelligence Program is an important element toward greater transparency,” said Director Blair. “Intelligence programs are absolutely critical to supporting our policymakers, troops and diplomats in the field. I’m hopeful that this information will give the American people a better understanding of how their tax dollars are being used to help protect the country and keep Americans safe. Read more here.

NAVTEQ Awarded Contract With the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA)
NAVTEQ, the leading global provider of digital map, traffic and location data for in-vehicle, portable, wireless and enterprise solutions, today announced that the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) has awarded NAVTEQ a contract as the map data and content provider for the comprehensive global commodity dataset (SATNAV) that offers transportation, public venues and miscellaneous points of interest data layers. Read the full press release here.

Directions Podcast: Attracting Students to be the Next GEOINT Workforce
Our friends at Directions Magazine, ran this most compelling podcast from GEOINT 2009, which highlights the key theme about educating the next generation of young GEOINTers and advancing the tradecraft in general. Editor in Chief Joe Francica and Adena Schutzberg discuss the GEOINT sessions, as well as ways that young people involved in science, technology and geospatial technologies for GEOINT. Listen to the full podcast here.

Happy Monday!

Tags: Directions Magazine, DNI Budget, GEOINT 2009, geospatial intelligence, Joe Francica, National Geospatial Intelligence Agency, NAVTEQ, NGA, USGIF