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Call it the big information chill, looming across the military and intelligence communities. After the massive Afghan war data spill by WikiLeaks, some veteran intelligence officers and experts are calling for a tightening of access to information and more monitoring in the spy community’s lower levels. They’re blaming post-9/11 changes that promoted information sharing as the culprit that made it too easy to lose control of the nation’s secrets.

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Welcome to the Monday Morning News Kick Off post from got geoint? As always, we hope everyone had a restful weekend and are geared up for a productive work week. What does this week have in store for us? Well, our crystal ball is a bit fuzzy this morning, but we expect it won’t be as crazy as last week — with the Washington Post story, Clapper confirmation hearing and more — but one never knows. We do know that this weeks MMNKO post has some very compelling news — from more Clapper confirmation news to a story of a meteorite crater being found via Google Earth. So, as we always say, fire up that second cup of coffee and read on!

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President Obama’s choice to ride herd on U.S. spy agencies boasted yesterday he is no “hood ornament,” and has the clout to stop turf wars. “I would not have agreed to take this position on if I were going to be a titular figurehead or a hood ornament,” retired Air Force Lt. Gen. James Clapper told the Senate Intelligence Committee at his confirmation hearing. Obama nominated Clapper, a career intelligence officer, to replace retired Navy Adm. Dennis Blair as director of National Intelligence, coordinating the efforts of the sprawling intelligence community. Check out the full NY Daily News article here. Also, been a crazy week for the IC. First we had the Washington Post article, then Clapper’s confirmation hearing…what is next? Stay tuned, and be sure to check out our Friday’s Food for Thought post this week.

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Welcome to the Monday Morning News Kick Off Post from got geoint? Here we are. It’s the week after GEOINT Community Week and like we said on Friday, our heads are still spinning a bit from the news of the DNI resignation. And on top of that General Clapper is being named as a potential candidate to replace Blair. Anyhow, we wanted to make sure this MMNKOP (we still love that acronym) focuses on the latest DNI news, but also highlights all the other news that is of interest to the GEOINT Community. As we always say, fire up that second cup of coffee and read on.

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Welcome to the Monday Morning News Kick Off post from got geoint? We hope everyone had a restful weekend and is ready to kick the work week into high gear. For this week’s MMNKO (we still love that acronym) post, we have a number of GEOINT-related stories, including a Washington Post story on GeoEye, as well as a Post Op-Ed by Thomas Fingar and Mary Margaret Graham. Of course, we also have more news about the Gulf of Mexico oil spill and satellite imagery. So, as we always say, fire up that second cup of coffee and read on!

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Welcome to the Monday Morning News Kick Off post from got geoint? Monday, Monday. Here we are again. You come back way to soon. But, as true professionals, we have to embrace Monday and all the possibilities that come with this special day. As such, we have all the actionable GEOINT news you need in one place. This week, have stories about the U.S. Air Force launching a “secretive space plane,” the latest from NGA’s Pathfinder, and a rather scathing Op-Ed on the Obama Administration’s “emasculation” of the intelligence agencies. As we always say, fire up that second cup of coffee and read on.

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Ever wonder what happened to intelligence reform after the formation of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence five years ago? Wasn’t that one of the core tenets of the ODNI to drive this reform? Well, Patrick C. Neary, Principal Deputy Director and Chief Strategist for ODNI, recently wrote in the Studies in Intelligence that the idea that the ODNI could drive reform was “flawed.” According to Walter Pincus of the Washington Post, no one with Neary’s background and experience has laid out so clearly the failures of ODNI. What are these failures? According to Neary, no clear chain of command for the CIA Director to report to the ODNI, logistical challenges for the location of the ODNI, changes in leadership, lack of cooperation between agencies, and the marginalization of the National Intelligence University. Given all of this, Neary points out that intelligence reform should not be an issue, since we are safer as a nation – due to the doubling of spending on intelligence over the past eight years? Read Pincus’ article here.

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Yesterday, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates announced that Letitia Long, deputy director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, will serve as the next director of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA). Long will assume the NGA leadership later this year, and will be replacing Navy Vice Adm. Robert Murrett who has served as NGA director for 4 years.

“Yet another great leader for NGA and the NSG,” said USGIF President Keith Masback about the announcement. “I’ve had the privilege to work with and around Tish on and off for more than 10 years. She has a unique set of experiences that have prepared her superbly for this opportunity. Moreover, Tish has a well-deserved reputation of going at every challenge with drive, passion and common sense.”

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Welcome to the official Monday Morning News Kick Off post on got geoint? We hope everyone had a restful weekend and are ready to tackle another week of holiday parties, year-end reviews and 2010 planning. As always, there is never a shortage of defense-, intelligence- and GEOINT-related news. Today, we cover a wide swath of news including stories about climate change and defense, Blackwater losing a CIA contract and what we know about Bin Laden’s location. Fire up that second cup of coffee and read on!

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As many of our readers know, Leon Panetta has had a fairly rough go at being the somewhat-new Director of the CIA. Many CIA veterans questioned his lack of formal intel experience, and when he failed to protect the agency from the political backlash over its Bush-era detention and interrogation practices, many felt that he may not be the best man for the job. Recently, however, Panetta has made major strides in overcoming these doubts — especially for successfully defending the agency’s turf from Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair. This week, Time Magazine ran an indepth story about his turnaround, which you can read here. Also, check out this “2 minute bio” from Time as well here.

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