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Every so often we like to extend the concept of the Monday Morning News Kick Off post to the middle of the week — especially when there is tons of GEOINT-related news happening. As such, this week, we are running a Wednesday News Round Up post that includes stories about some insightful commentary from our friends at V1 Magazine on mapping and Haiti relief; news about Gary Payton “slamming” space firm’s quality; and much, much more. And, since many of you are nestled into your home offices today (wow, white our blizzard happening now in DC!), hopefully this news round up is exactly what you need to kick start your Wednesday.

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Nobody would ever think that a men’s magazine would break a story about religion invading the defense and intelligence arena, and that is exactly what happened with GQ Magazine posted a story and slide show about how, in 2003, Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld and other senior defense officials during the early days of the war in Iraq in 2003 received intelligence reports from the Pentagon adorned with biblical quotations. Well, the story has caught on like wildfire and with NY Times, USA Today and many other major news organizations covering the story — giving GQ full credit for breaking the story.

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The recent explosion of commercial synthetic aperture radar (SAR) and its applications has provided tremendous opportunities for all users, including those in the Defense, Intelligence and Homeland Security communities. In addition, the recent DoD announcement that the Space Radar program will lose its funding further underscores the potential opportunities for commercial SAR providers to augment this defense capability.

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On April 6, Defense Secretary Robert Gates unveiled what many consider to be a radical plan to divert money away from legacy weapons systems like the F-22 fighter plane. The new thinking is that defense spending should go towards “Irregular Warfare” programs. So, what exactly is Irregular Warfare (IW) you ask? We found this very detailed 2007 Department of Defense JOC on IW for your enlightenment. In addition, here’s the definition from the document:

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The Pentagon recently came out with the new that it intends to spend $400 million to develop a giant blimp that will float 65,000 feet above the Earth It will fly for 10 years and will provide intricate radar surveillance of the vehicles, planes and even people below.

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Last week at GEOINT 2008, we heard lots of discussions about prospective budget cuts in the wake of the election. Many folks said that it is inevitable — no matter who won the election. And since the intel community is essentially a-political (as highlighted by the Director of National Intelligence last week at GEOINT 2008), does it really matter who comes into office? Would it be different if McCain won last night? Will the cuts be as deep as the ones in the 1990s with this new administration?

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