Unified GEOINT Operations and the Quadripartite Partners
The United States shares a
special relationship with its three primary Commonwealth partners -
Australia, Canada and the Great Britain. The four nations work together
to quickly respond to their customers' GEOINT needs with the best
technology and information available. The quadripartite partners,
through a shared vision, will enhance their worldwide capability to
effectively address GEOINT requirements, focus research and development
efforts, pursue economies in acquisition, and develop policies to
improve information sharing. The participation of these Commonwealth
partners with the NSG is critical to the success of unified operations.
The United Kingdom (U.K.)
The
Joint Forces Command (JFC), a four-star command based in Northwood,
North London, has the UK Ministry of Defence lead for Defence GEOINT and
acts in a primus inter pares role on behalf of the Royal Navy, Army and
Air Force commands in terms of GEOINT development and delivery.
GEOINT
policy and capability development for the UK is led by the one-star
C4ISR Joint User staff directorate in JFC HQ. JFC's GEOINT operational
analysis and production output is vested in the one-star Joint Forces
Intelligence Group (JFIG). JFIG is a GEOINT, HUMINT, SIGINT, MASINT and
Multi-INT exploitation grouping with its headquarters in the Pathfinder
Building at Wyton Station, Huntingdon.
It comprises the Defence
Geospatial-Intelligence Fusion Centre (DGIFC) and 42 Engineer Regiment
(Geo) at Wyton, the Defence Geographic Centre (DGC) at Feltham, West
London, No 1 Aeronautical Information and Documents Unit (No1 AIDU) at
Northolt, West London (recently made an integral element of DGC), the
Defence HUMINT Unit (DHU) at Chicksands and the Joint Services Signals
Organisation (JSSO) at RAF DIGBY, Lincoln.
DGC is responsible for the
provision of maritime and metrological foundation GEOINT to Defence
users through its customer-supplier arrangements with the United Kingdom
Hydrographic Organisation (UKHO) at Taunton, Somerset and the
Metrological Office (MetO) at Exeter, Devon. R&D/S&T support
for UK Defence GEOINT development is provided by the Defence Scientific
and Technical Laboratories (Dstl) based at Porton Down on Salisbury
Plain. UK has made the Pathfinder Building at Wyton Station a default
Five-EYES working environment and hosts the ASG's Allied Operations
Coordination Centre (AOCC) at this location.
Australia
Australia's lead GEOINT agency is the Defence Imagery and Geospatial Organisation (DIGO). DIGO
collaborates with the Australian Hydrographic Service and the Royal
Australian Air Force Aeronautical Information Service for the provision
of maritime and aeronautical geospatial information. DIGO provides
GEOINT support to Australia's defense interests and other national
objectives. DIGO efforts focus primarily on providing GEOINT in support
of:
- National intelligence requirements;
- National emergencies;
- Australian Defence Force (ADF) operations and activities; and
- International collaboration
DIGO is responsible for the
collection, processing, analysis, and dissemination of imagery and
geospatial products, and for determining the standards for imagery and
geospatial information within the Australian Defence Organization (ADO).
DIGO is accountable through the Defence Deputy Secretary Intelligence
and Security (DEPSEC I&S) to the Secretary of the Department of
Defence and the Chief of the Defence Force (CDF).
Canada
The responsibility for geospatial, imagery, meteorology and oceanography support to the Canadian
Forces and the Department of National Defence (DND) rests with
Directorate of Geospatial Intelligence (D Geo Int). D Geo Int provides
geospatial, imagery, meteorology, and oceanography (MetOc) support to
the Department of National Defence (DND), with a focus on the
operational and training requirements of the Canadian Forces (CF)—navy,
army and air force—worldwide. Canada recently merged the geospatial,
imagery, meteorology and oceanography support functions into a GEOINT
capability.