National Geospatial-Intellegence Agency
(NGA)
Research Paper

Table of Contents...

Title Page...............................................................................Page 1
Table of Contents..................................................................Page 2
Thesis.....................................................................................Page 3
History....................................................................................Page 3
Past Operations.....................................................................Page 4
Present Operations...............................................................Page 5
9/11......................................................................................Page 5-6
Bibliograpy.........................................................................Page 7-8

The National Geospatial-Intellegence Agency is a critical agency in the protection of the United States and its people and for the use of imagary intellegence. This paper will delve into the history of the National Geospatial-Intellegence Agency, some past and present operations and focusing on their successes and failures, and its importance post 9/11. After WW1, aerial photography became a large asset to battlefield intelligence, by using stereo viewers, photointerpreters assesed thousands of images, with many of those images being of the same target just a a different angle or time, giving rise to what became modern imagery analysis and mapmaking. The NGA went through many many names during its official creation. Engineer Reproduction Plant (ERP), was the Army Corps of Engineers first attempt to centralize mapping production, printing, and distribution. Army Map Service (AMS) / U.S. Army Topographic Command (USATC), which combined many of the Army's remaining geographic intelligence organizations and the Engineer Technical Intelligence Division, Aeronautical Chart Plant (ACP), as airplane capacity and range improved, the need for charts grew. The Army Air Corps established its Map Unit, which was renamed ACP in 1943. Defense Mapping Agency (DMA) and its sub agencys were created in 1972. National Imagery and Mapping Agency (NIMA), The creation of NIMA centralized responsibility for imagery and mapping. With the enactment of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2004 on November 24, 2003, NIMA was renamed NGA to better reflect its primary mission in the area of Geographical Intellegence.(Fiscal Year)(Archives). NGA has or had many operations throughout the years. This agency has had a hand in the Olympics, Space Shuttle Colubia disaster, Hurricane Katrina, Microsoft, Keyhole Investment and have partnered with Google. In 2002, NIMA partnered with Federal organizations to provide geospatial assistance to the 2002 Winter Olympics in Utah (NGA History). Rumors speculate that NGA offered NASA help with pictures of the falling debris after the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster but nothing substantial was ever reported. However, it could be conciecved as smart with the capabilities of aerial mapping the NGA have used in the past. The NGA supported Hurricane Katrina relief efforts by "providing geospatial information about the affected areas based on imagery from commercial and U.S. government satellites, and from airborne platforms, to FEMA and other government agencies. (Recovery) Microsoft Corp. and the NGA have signed a letter of understanding to advance the design and delivery of geospatial information applications to customers. NGA will continue to use the Microsoft Virtual Earth platform (as it did for Katrina relief) to provide geospatial support for humanitarian, peacekeeping, and national-security efforts (Microsoft). Keyhole investment, NGA contributed the majority of In-Q-Tel's funding of Keyhole Inc, whose Earth-viewing software became Goodle Earth. (Pando) In 2008 the NGA partnered with Google and GeoEye. Google would be allowed to use GeoEye spy satellite imagery with reduced resolution for Google Earth. (Pando) Staying behind the scenes while being a big contributer is the secret behind to NGA's past success such as the works above that help many other agencies in the federal, local and private sectors with capabilities that only a succesful agency can produce. After the September 11, 2001 attacks, NIMA partnered with the U.S Geological Survey to survey the World Trade Center site and determine the extent of the destruction.On September 11, radical Islamic terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners and flew one of them into the Pentagon and two others into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in lower Manhattan. The fourth crashed in Pennsylvania when the passengers resisted and fought against their highjackers. In all some three thousand innocent individuals lost their lives. President George W. Bush declared a global war on terrorism. Two days later, NIMA welcomed retired Air Force Lt. Gen. James R. Clapper Jr. as its second, and first civilian, director, succeeding Army Lt. Gen. and GEOINT pioneer James C. King. Soon after his arrival, the new director began to promote products that emerged from initiatives like NIMA’s work on Chechnya. This ambitious synthesis of source and image emerged during General King’s tenure and became known simply as geospatial intelligence, or GEOINT. Among Clapper’s newly created list of offices was the Office of Geospatial-Intelligence Management, whose mission was to provide the director, in his role as the GEOINT functional manager, with the plans and policies to manage GEOINT resources and a new system to be known as the National System for Geospatial Intelligence (NSG). The first task of the new office was to develop and publish a series of formal communications that would comprise the doctrine of GEOINT. The first of these, Geospatial Intelligence Basic Doctrine, appeared in July 2004. The global war on terrorism and the events of September 11 dramatically changed the nature of NIMA’s priorities and products. Recognizing that new threats could occur at any time or place, Clapper determined both to make regional analytic overviews more robust and to embed NIMA analysts throughout the combat support and intelligence community networks. His concept of a unifying discipline and doctrine evolved into a new agency name: National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA). The new name represented the maturation of a new discipline and the increased unification of NIMA’s parts. The report by the House-Senate Intelligence Committee investigating the September 11, 2001 attacks recommended creating a new Director of National Intelligence as the principal intelligence adviser to the president and the statutory intelligence advisor to the National Security Council. This cabinet-level official would coordinate all fifteen components of the intelligence community, a task that previously fell to the director of the CIA. On February 17, 2005, President George W. Bush named John Negroponte, former U.N. Ambassador and U.S. Ambassador to Iraq, to the post. By April, Congress confirmed the Director of National Intelligence, and within months a new National Intelligence Strategy drove NGA operations. (History) While the above is from the history of the NGA, it is clear to see just how big a part was played on the day that changed everyone and the days following the attack. With out imagary a lot of civilians and agencys would be in the dark.

Bibliography
Works Cited
"The Advent of NGA." About NGA. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Apr. 2014. .
Geospatial Intellegence Aids Hurricane Recovery Efforts. Nga.mil, n.d. Web. 23 Apr. 2014. .
""Memorandum, Subject: Organization and Management of the U.S. Foreign Intelligence Community"." N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Apr. 2014. .
"Microsoft and NGA Announce Strategic Alliance." Microsoft and NGA Announce Strategic Alliance. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Apr. 2014. .
"NGA History " NGA History. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Apr. 2014. .
"NGA: September-October 2003 State of the Agency." NGA: September-October 2003 State of the Agency. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Apr. 2014. .
NOV. 24, 2003 NATIONAL DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION ACT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2004. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Apr. 2014. .
"Oakland Emails Give Another Glimpse into the Google-Military-Surveillance Complex." PandoDaily Oakland Emails Give Another Glimpse into the GoogleMilitarySurveillance Complex Comments. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Apr. 2014. .
"Records of the Defense Mapping Agency [DMA]." National Archives and Records Administration. National Archives and Records Administration, n.d. Web. 23 Apr. 2014. .
"SEPT. 23, 1996 NATIONAL DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION ACT FOR FISCAL YEAR 1997." N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Apr. 2014. .