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Today, the Washington Post did a story about how U.S. military teams and intelligence agencies are deeply involved in secret joint operations with Yemeni troops who in the past six weeks have killed scores of people, among them six of 15 top leaders of a regional al-Qaeda affiliate. The article also highlights how GEOINT is playing a major role in this effort: “Highly sensitive intelligence is being shared with the Yemeni forces, including electronic and video surveillance, as well as three-dimensional terrain maps and detailed analysis of the al-Qaeda network.” In addition, we have featured a detailed map of all recent operations in Yemen in this post.

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Welcome once again to our Monday Morning News Kick Off post on got geoint? We hope that the cold weather is not bringing you down. Remember Winter is only a temporary thing and Spring will be here before you know it. Once again the news cycle is dominated by the fallout surrounding both the Christmas day bombing attempt and the attack in Afghanistan that killed seven CIA employees. On area that we shine a light on is CIA Director Leon Panetta firing back at critics saying that no one “ignored the hazards” in a letter in the Washington Post. So, as we always say, fire up that second cup of coffee and read on.

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In what is certainly the most scathing commentary on U.S. Intelligence efforts in Afghanistan, the Center for New American Security Study today published the controversial white paper called “Fixing Intel: A Blueprint for Making Intelligence Relevant in Afghanistan.” The report critically examines the relevance of the U.S. intelligence community to the counterinsurgency strategy in Afghanistan. The authors, including Major General Michael T. Flynn, Deputy Chief of Staff for Intelligence in Afghanistan, argue that the United States’ intelligence apparatus still finds itself unable to answer fundamental questions about the environment in which U.S. and allied forces operate in and the people they are trying to protect and persuade. Click here to download the full white paper. We recommend taking the time to read it!

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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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We stumbled upon a most interesting TechCrunch article about how, thanks to Google Earth, anyone can see where the CIA missile potentially took out the leader of Pakistan’s Taliban, Baitullah Mehsud. The article points out that a decade ago, only those with security clearances would have had access to such satellite imagery. And, thanks to Google Earth, anyone can download it for free and this is speeding up the rate at which the geo-information gap between governments and citizens is closing.

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