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As we head into GEOINT 2011, we are reminded that our community deals with a significant amount of classified data that is vital to the protection of our nation. With the rise in cyber attacks and WikiLeaks gaining notoriety for publically distributing highly sensitive information, President Obama is actively tackling this issue by signing an Executive Order (EO) that addresses structural reforms to the oversight of classified information. The EO highlights methods for bolstering detection capabilities, restricting removable media, and strengthening government-wide governance, coordination, and oversight of classified information.

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Although the concept of using unmanned drones to attack terrorism suspects in Pakistan came about during the Bush era, the Obama administration has continued these efforts and made it a centerpiece for national security policy. While the use of unmanned drones has been controversial, where many criticize these efforts as being illegal assassinations, or “unlawful extrajudicial killing,” one State Department legal adviser — who was a unflinching Bush critic — came out with a speech that robustly defend these efforts. In a speech to the before the American Society of International law, Harold Koh cited domestic and international law as foundations for the program. According to Mr. Kohl, the US is engaged in an “armed conflict” with al-Qaeda and its affiliates. He also asserted that “individuals who are part of such an armed group are belligerents and, therefore, lawful targets under international law.” Check out this Washington Post editorial for more on Mr. Kohl’s perspective on the use of unmanned drones.

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The nuclear arms control treaty signed by President’s Obama and Medvedev today brought back memories of my time as a satellite imagery analyst for the U.S. government in the mid-to-late 1980′s. My work at that time was focused on arms control issues, particularly developing satellite imagery collection strategies that could be used to help monitor Soviet compliance with the INF and START treaties. Read the rest of this post from our friend Kevin Pomfret at his well-read Spatial Law & Policy blog here.

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With all the new surrounding the Intelligence Community these days, we have decided to extend the “Monday Morning News Kick Off” post to Tuesday this week. Frankly, there is just too much happening to do one-off news posts. So, today, we have compiled several breaking news stories that surely will be of interest. From revelations that the CIA attacker was a double-agent to a front-page NY Times story about the CIA working with climate scientists, we have all the latest news in one spot for you. So, as we always say, fire up that second cup of coffee and read on.

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As we highlighted in our post about President Obama’s decision to add 30,000 more troops in Afghanistan, GEOINT is going to play a major role in how we deal with such a decentralized enemy. In fact, the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency plans on increasing geospatial intelligence for troops in Afghanistan by roughly 25 percent. According to the “Doing Business with the Intelligence Community” blog, the agency anticipates the volume of geospatial intelligence information, which is the collection and analysis of satellite imagery, will grow “significantly for the next couple of years.” As you can see, these are critical times for GEOINT. Now, more than ever, industry and government need to work together to find the right solutions to support our troops and make the surge a success.

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We were able to find the video of General Stanley McChrystal, Commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, briefing his troops right after President Obama’s big speech about the troop surge in Afghanistan. And, Gen. McChrystal has welcomed President Obama’s revised strategy and his decision to add 30,000 troops to the effort, even though the general was reported to have wanted at least 10,000 more.

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In an effort to reverse Taliban gains over the past six months, President Obama has decided to expedite the deployment of 30,000 additional troops in Afghanistan. The effort also aims to spur the Afghanistan government in Kabul to match the effort. By the end of May 2010, the plan is to have a total of 100,000 American troops on the ground, and the administration is moving faster than expected when it comes to this enhanced deployment. Mr. Obama concluded — at the end of a nearly three-month review of American war strategy — that the situation required “more, sooner.”

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Welcome to the Monday Morning News Kick Off post. This will be the last official MMNKO (like that acronym?) post before GEOINT 2009. A week from today, we will be reporting live from San Antonio and the anticipation is killing us! For this week’s post we have some big news from the two leading satellite imagery providers, GeoEye and DigitalGlobe, as well as news regarding a heaping of praise for the Intelligence Community from President Obama. Grab that second cup of coffee and scroll down!

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Yesterday, President Obama handed out medals to some of the nation’s most distinguished scientists. In particular, he bestowed the National Medal of Science to Rudolf Kalman, who has achieved a number of scientific milestones including the development of a problem-solving procedure that was used during the Apollo missions to navigate and control the vehicles — which ultimately became the foundation for GPS technology as we know it today.

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In his second ever veto threat, President Obama has threatened to veto a Democratic-backed bill that expand the number of lawmakers who can be briefed by the White House on covert national security operations. The White House Office of Management and Budget issued a statement yesterday (below) that said it does support many provisions in the Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2010 The bill is currently making its way through the House. But it had “serious concerns with a number of provisions that would impede the smooth and efficient functioning” of the intelligence community.

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