got geoint?

As our ever faithful readers know, every so often we like to do a news round up post on Wednesdays — especially when there is plenty ‘o news happening. For this Wednesday, we have pulled together stories regarding General Clapper and the re-organization of the ODNI, GeoEye moving its HQ, as well as news of the first official Tweet Up at GEOINT 2010. As we always say on Monday (but works well for today too), fire up that second cup of coffee and read on!

Intelligence Official Restructures Office
Two months on the job, James R. Clapper Jr., the fourth director of national intelligence in five years, is already making structural and personnel changes in his organization, which must clarify its role as manager of the 16 agencies that make up the U.S. intelligence community. Clapper spoke of “the alleged frailties and ambiguities of the office I am now in” during his first major policy speech as director last week at a conference sponsored by the Bipartisan Policy Center. He said he already has learned one lesson: “A challenge for any DNI the way it’s constituted now: Running the enterprise and providing the intelligence support to the president.” The latter role involves being in the Oval Office with the president most mornings for the national security briefing. Please read the full Washington Post article here.

GeoEye Inc. Moving its Headquarters to Herndon
GeoEye Inc., a satellite and aerial geospatial information and services provider, is moving its headquarters from Loudoun County to Herndon. The company announced Tuesday it will move to a larger facility in the Dulles Corner Office Center in Herndon early next year, investing $10 million and creating 100 new jobs as part of its expansion. GeoEye has 530 employees according to its website, and had revenues of $271 million in 2009, according to its latest annual report. “GeoEye has seen 84 percent revenue growth from fiscal year 2008 to 2009,” said CEO Matt O’Connell in a release. “Our new corporate headquarters will allow us to improve service for our key customers in the Washington, D.C. area, particularly the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency.” Read the full Fairfax Times article here.

Northrop Demonstrates DCGS Capabilities
U.S. company Northrop Grumman has showcased its operational enterprise capabilities with emerging and fielded Distributed Common Ground Systems. In addition to participating with aircraft and sensors in Empire Challenge 2010 at Fort Huachuca, Ariz., Northrop Grumman also provided a combination of three DCGS tactical, operational and strategic processing, exploitation and dissemination capabilities. These capabilities included the U.S. Army’s DCGS-A Mobile Basic System, a tactical ISR capability in final development; National Reconnaissance Office’s DCGS-Intelligence Community system, a data access/discovery and sharing capability; and NRO’s JIOC-IT Demo System, a U.S. Southern Command-based system for improving the command’s situational awareness. Read the full UPI article here.

Intel Sharing Must Be Cross Service and Coalition
Soldiers sharing intelligence with fellow soldiers will not cut it anymore, said Jim Ryan, the lead for the U.S. Army’s Unmanned Aerial System encryption efforts. Any intelligence collected on the battlefield must to every service and coalition partner. Speaking at the C4ISR Journal 10th annual conference in Washington, D.C., Oct 13, Ryan said security can no longer be any excuse. Securing the intelligence remains a priority, but the Army must find a way to avoid stove piping intelligence, especially as service members continue to be flooded with intelligence from the additional sensors being deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan. “It might sound counterintuitive. How do you provide access to everyone while also protecting it?” Ryan said. The problem forces the Army to take into account a host of factors. Can separate airframes talk to each other? How do different units communicate when using different datalinks? And, do they have the right security clearances? Read the full Defense News article here.

Robot Aircraft Keeping Watch Over Texas Border
Corpus Christi is known for the scenic view across the bay. But now it will also be known for the new view from the sky over the Texas-Mexico border. U.S. Customs and Border Protection rolled out the first Texas-based Predator drone that will fly from the Naval Air Station here. The pilotless craft is designed to fly for 20 hours on one tank of fuel. The Predator joins three others based in Arizona to provide full coverage over the Southwest U.S. border. The Corpus-based drone will watch an 800-mile stretch of the Texas-Mexico border, from the Rio Grande Valley to Big Bend. Read the full WFAA story here.

Spy Kites To Supplant Satellite Source Of Google Maps?
Frank Taylor of the Tahina Expedition is on a five year sailing voyage around the world. Frank is also the author of the unofficial Google Earth Blog and he has been documenting his travels in a number of ways via Google Earth. One of the more interesting experiments Frank has pursued on his journey has been the use of aerial kite photography. Google have begun to incorporate this imagery, which affords a much greater level of resolution than existing satellite imagery, into their Google maps product as can be witnessed in aerial views of BBQ Island, near Panama. Read the full PSFK post here.

GISP Tweetup @ GEOINT 2010
We have our first official GEOINT 2010 Tweet Up! Here’s more information: Attention all GISPs attending GEOINT 2010! Let’s get together during the first Networking Break on November 2 from 10:30am – 11:00am at Booth #223. We can discuss the latest news from GISCI committees and any other topics of interest (like where to eat in NOLA). To RSVP fr this Tweet up, click here.

Tags: DNI Clapper, Drones Over Texas Border, GeoEye, GeoEye Moved Headquarters, GEOINT 2010, Google Earth and Spy Kite, Intel Sharing, James Clapper, Northrop Demonstrates DCGS Capabilities, ODNI