News>Intel experts converge for 2012 GEOINT Symposium
Photos
Lt. Gen. Larry James (left) addresses attendees at the 2012 GEOINT Symposium, Oct. 11 here. James, the Air Force deputy chief of Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance, was joined by Maj. Gen. Steve Fogarty (center), commanding general of U.S. Army Intelligence and Security Command; Rear Adm. Sandy Daniels (right), Senior Advisor for Space to the Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Information Dominance and Phillip C. Chuboda (not pictured), assistant director of intelligence for the U.S. Marine Corps. (U.S. Air Force photo by Susan A. Romano)
ORLANDO, Fla. -- Defense Intelligence Agency director, Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, delivers his keynote address during the 2012 GEOINT Symposium Oct. 10 here. "The intelligence community is an indispensible element of the military dimension," said Flynn. (U.S. Air Force photo by Susan A. Romano)
ORLANDO, Fla. -- Letitia Long, director of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, was a keynote speaker at the 2012 GEOINT Symposium Oct. 10 here. Long addressed cultural challenges her agency faces and the importance of synchronizing content to improve responses to her customers. "An enduring part of our architecture is that we must be able to coordinate commercial imagery between all agencies and the ability to share that information with our international partners, she said." (U.S. Air Force photo by Susan A. Romano)
ORLANDO, Fla. -- Lt. Gen. Larry James (left) addresses attendees at the 2012 GEOINT Symposium, Oct. 11 here. James, the Air Force deputy chief of Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance, was joined by Maj. Gen. Steve Fogarty (center), commanding general of U.S. Army Intelligence and Security Command; Rear Adm. Sandy Daniels (right), Senior Advisor for Space to the Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Information Dominance and Phillip C. Chuboda (not pictured), assistant director of intelligence for the U.S. Marine Corps. (U.S. Air Force photo by Susan A. Romano)
by Susan A. Romano
Air Force ISR Agency Public Affairs
10/13/2012 - ORLANDO, Fla. (AFNS) -- In addition to the exhibitions, GEOINT, which is in its ninth year, hosted several keynote speakers, panel discussions and breakout sessions by government, military and private sector leaders.
Lt. Gen. Larry D. James, the Air Force's deputy chief of ISR, was a featured speaker on the Services Intelligence Chiefs panel. He was joined by Maj. Gen. Steve Fogarty, commanding general of the U.S. Army Intelligence and Security Command; Rear Adm. Sandy Daniels, senior advisor for Space to the Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Information Dominance; and Phillip C. Chuboda, assistant director of intelligence for the U.S. Marine Corps.
During the panel, James addressed several issues but focused heavily on the Air Force Distributed Common Ground System and its importance. DCGS is a weapon system that produces intelligence information collected from such platforms as the Global Hawk, the Predator and the Reaper.
"DCGS is the heart and soul of how we connect ISR to the warfighter," the general said. "Quite frankly, it operates from the rear, but we take data and interact with those on the front lines to achieve the mission."
The system processes nearly 2 petabytes - that's one quadrillion bytes - per month, which adds up to an enormous amount of data to analyze.
"I've always subscribed to the thought that more data is better; we just have to figure out how we can wrap our arms around that huge amount of data," James said. "Over the last decade we've innovated on-the-fly regarding our network operability. Now, under the direction of the Secretary of the Air Force, we must establish how we can make our networks wholly compatible."
When asked which platform the ISR community preferred for data collection, James said, "We are platform agnostic. If a particular platform answers the question, great. We'll use it. If not, we'll look elsewhere to get the information needed."
In addition to the senior intelligence chiefs' panel, the director of the Defense Intelligence Agency was also a keynote speaker. Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn discussed the period of transition that the intelligence community - and the Department of Defense as a whole - is in right now.
"We are in a turning movement in our history, and as any NASCAR fan can tell you, the turn is the toughest part of the race," said Flynn. "The intelligence community is an indispensible element of the military dimension, and our networks are our new weapon systems, with data being the ammo. Intelligence must remain a strategic advantage for our nation."
Several other noted professionals gave keynote presentations, including James Clapper, director of National Intelligence; Letita Long, director of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency; and Gen. Keith Alexander, director of the National Security Agency and commander of United States Cyber Command.
The producer of the symposium, USGIF, is dedicated to the promotion of geospatial intelligence that addresses national security objectives. More than 4,000 people attended the 4-day event with 200 organizations showcasing their capabilities in the exhibit hall.
The 2013 symposium is set for Oct. 13-16 at the Tampa Convention Center.
Comments
10/15/2012 1:07:26 PM ET Interesting to read comments that the AF is platform agnostic when we've tried over the years to kill the very platform that produces multi-int long range data and has the longest track record of any of the actual platforms he mentioned. I understand it is considered a legacy platform, but the capabilties the U-2 brings to the fight are evolutionary and still out pace the Global Hawk in actual performance. Second more data in our case is not always better. We need the right focus tied to the right objectives. Just because you can map out the entire U.S. in a few sorties doesn't mean you can find all the potential criminal activities. The Air Force needs to find it's focus migrate away from simply attempting to blacken the skies with ISR and regain the upperhand by playing well with others instead of running up the DoD's credit card chasing the latest and greatest.
