Gif%2011 8%20final

The Magazine of the National Intelligence Community

December 2013 Volume 11, Issue 8

www.GIF-kmi.com

Intel Warfighter

Lt. Gen.Raymond P. Palumbo

DUSD (Intelligence)for Warfighter SupportDirector ISR Task Force

Virtual GEOINT Report O Feature ExtractionDI2E O Human Trafficking

SolutionS RepoRt: A RepoRt on the 2nd AnnuAl SAp nS2 SolutionS Summit

Inside:

KNOW-HOW

www.dyn-intl.com

KNOW-HOWIntelligence

When it comes to intelligence, we know how to deliver global solutions that provide a decision advantage and prevent tactical and strategic surprise. Uniquely trained, experienced and qualifi ed, the intelligence professionals at DynCorp International support the strategic, operational and tactical needs of the Intelligence Community. Our trusted intelligence training, analysis and mission-support solutions help our national, military, civilian and law enforcement customers reduce costs and achieve new levels of performance and productivity.

DynCorp International provides our customers with unique, tailored intelligence solutions for an ever-changing world.

Cover / Q&AFeatures

Lieutenant GeneraL raymond P. PaLumbo

DUSD (Intelligence)for Warfighter Support

DirectorISR Task Force

13

Departments Industry Interview2 editor’s PersPective4 ProGram notes/PeoPLe10 industry raster19 resource center

dan LondonVice President of Sales, Marketing and Customer Support for Geospatial Exploitation ProductsBAE Systems

December 2013Volume 11, Issue 8GEOSPATIAL INTELLIGENCE FORUM

5enterPrise FrameworkAs the defense and intelligence communities work to ensure that information can flow seamlessly across enterprise boundaries, development of the Defense Intelligence Information Enterprise (DI2E) will play a critical role in increasing operational effectiveness, agility, interoperability and cybersecurity while reducing costs.By Peter BuxBaum

7virtuaL Geoint rePortIn the wake of the postponement of the GEOINT Symposium until 2014, GIF recently reached out to key exhibitor companies that had been planning important announcements at the conference to see what they would have said if the event had been held as scheduled.

9inteL FiGhts human traFFickinGThe right tools—such as activity based intelligence, which enables analysts to bring a variety of data streams together into a single environment—recognize patterns of behavior and detect anomalies in the data that warrant further examination analysts, and can help root out the ongoing scourge.By Deette Gray

16Feature extraction comes oF aGeGeospatial feature extraction, which refers to the collection of feature data of interest from remotely sensed data such as imagery, LiDAR and radar, is being deployed not only to help in disaster response, but also is finding its way quickly into intelligence and defense communities. By Karen e. thuermer

20

“Our biggest challenge now is to take this

wonderful mosaic of capability to the next level, even as we face

the likelihood of smaller budgets for the

foreseeable future.”

— Lieutenant General

Raymond P. Palumbo

4SpeciAl Section

GeoSpAtiAl intelliGence FoRum pReSentS A SummARy oF the 2nd AnnuAl SAp nS2 SolutionS Summit, SponSoRed by SAp nAtionAl SecuRity SeRviceS.

SolutionS RepoRt

While suggestions are cheap on Capitol Hill, a recent recommendation by the Senate Intelligence Committee may represent a significant turning point in the debate over restricting commercial sales of very high resolution satellite imagery.

As this issue was going to press, the Senate panel reported its annual intelligence authorization bill, which included language urging the relax-ation of imagery resolution restrictions currently in place, as well as a review to determine the appropriate role of commercial satellite imagery in fulfilling intelligence requirements.

The fact that the recommendation is being made by a committee with close ties to the intelligence community underscores its importance, said Marcy Steinke, senior vice president of government relations for DigitalGlobe, the only remaining U.S.-based satellite imagery provider and the most outspoken advocate of relaxing the sales restrictions.

“It is the intelligence committee that is making the recommendations. They have done some diligent work in researching the pros and cons, and I think that they understand that there are some real benefits to the nation in reducing the restrictions,” she said. “It’s not necessarily law, but it tells those who may be concerned about intelligence issues that they have looked at this issue and are very supportive.”

DigitalGlobe earlier this year asked NOAA to lower the resolution size for imagery sold to commercial customers to 25 centimeters, compared with the existing 50-centimeter limit, and an answer is expected in the near future.

Changing the restriction won’t endanger national security, Steinke said, but will strengthen an industry that is a key long-term U.S. asset by making it better able to compete in international markets. “We’re pretty excited about the fact that high level government officials in a variety of arenas are talking about this. They understand that we’re at a critical time to make a decision. Our hope is that sometime in the not too distant future, they will decide that the long-term national security implications are significant.”

The Magazine of the National Intelligence Community

EditorialManaging EditorHarrison Donnelly [email protected]

Online Editorial ManagerLaura McNulty [email protected]

Copy EditorSean Carmichael [email protected]

CorrespondentsPeter A. Buxbaum • Cheryl Gerber William Murray • Karen E. Thuermer

art & dEsignArt DirectorJennifer Owers [email protected]

Senior Graphic DesignerJittima Saiwongnuan [email protected]

Graphic Designers Scott Morris [email protected] Papineau [email protected] Paquette [email protected] Waring [email protected]

advErtisingAssociate PublisherScott Parker [email protected]

KMi MEdia groupChief Executive OfficerJack Kerrigan [email protected]

Publisher and Chief Financial OfficerConstance Kerrigan [email protected]

Executive Vice PresidentDavid Leaf [email protected]

Editor-In-ChiefJeff McKaughan [email protected]

ControllerGigi Castro [email protected]

Trade Show CoordinatorHolly Foster [email protected]

opErations, CirCulation & produCtionOperations AdministratorBob Lesser [email protected] & Marketing AdministratorDuane Ebanks [email protected] Barbara Gill [email protected]

Data SpecialistRaymer Villanueva [email protected]

subsCription inforMation

Geospatial Intelligence ForumISSN 2150-9468

is published eight times a year by KMI Media Group. All Rights Reserved.

Reproduction without permission is strictly forbidden. © Copyright 2013.

Geospatial Intelligence Forum is free to qualified members of the U.S. military, employees of the U.S. government and

non-U.S. foreign service based in the U.S.All others: $65 per year.Foreign: $149 per year.

CorporatE offiCEsKMI Media Group

15800 Crabbs Branch Way, Suite 300Rockville, MD 20855-2604 USA

Telephone: (301) 670-5700Fax: (301) 670-5701

Web: www.GIF-kmi.com

gEospatial intElligEnCE foruM

Volume 11, Issue 8 • December 2013

Harrison DonnellyeDitor

EDITOR’S PERSPECTIVE

www.GIF-kmi.com

Geospatial Intelligence

Forum

www.BCD-kmi.com

June 2012Volume 1, Issue 1

www.BCD-kmi.com

Border Threat Prevention and CBRNE Response

Border Protector

Michael J. Fisher

ChiefU.S. Border PatrolU.S. Customs and Border Protection

Wide Area Aerial Surveillance O Hazmat Disaster ResponseTactical Communications O P-3 Program

Integrated Fixed Towers

Leadership Insight:Robert S. BrayAssistant Administrator for Law EnforcementDirector of the Federal Air Marshal Service Transportation Security Administration

SPECIAL SECTION:

Border & CBRNE Defense

www.MAE-kmi.com

Military AdvancedEducation

www.MIT-kmi.com

Military Information Technology

www.GCT-kmi.com

Ground Combat

Technology

www.MLF-kmi.com

Military Logistics Forum

www.M2VA-kmi.com

Military Medical & Veterans

Affairs Forum

www.MT2-kmi.com www.NPEO-kmi.com

Military Training Technology

Navy Air/Sea PEO Forum

www.SOTECH-kmi.com

Special Operations Technology

www.TISR-kmi.com

Tactical ISR Technology

www.CGF-kmi.com

U.S. Coast Guard Forum

KMI MedIa Group LeadershIp MaGazInes and WebsItes

THE GXP ENTERPRISE SOLUTION. MAXIMIZE YOUR PRODUCTIVITY – FROM DISCOVERY, TO EXPLOITATION,TO PRODUCT GENERATION.

Streamline your intelligence planning from beginning to end with unparalleled search functionality, exploitation capabilities, and product creation for the GEOINT community. Discover your data and reference materials with GXP Xplorer®. Search multiple data stores across the enterprise with a single query to locate imagery, terrain, text documents, and video. View data in any format in a Web browser with GXP WebView. Exploit data with SOCET GXP® to create geospatial intelligence products for planning, analysis, and publication using advanced feature extraction tools, annotations, and 3-D visualization. Deliver actionable intelligence when it counts with the GXP enterprise solution.

www.baesystems.com/gxp

Imagery courtesyof DigitalGlobe

CLIENT BAE Systems GXP BLEED .125" / 8.625" x 11.125"

DESCRIPTION 2013 GXP Enterprise Solution TRIM Full page / 8.375” x 10.875”

PUBLICATION Geospatial Intelligence Forum SAFETY .125” / 8.125” x 10.625”

DATE October 2013 FORMAT PDF/X1a

CONTACT Rachel Snyder, (858) 675-2850, [email protected] COLOR CMYK

ART DIRECTOR Justin Panlasigui, (858) 675-2935, [email protected]

Gavin Greene has joined the ranks at The Buffalo Group as

vice president of business develop-ment. During his career, he has successfully captured numerous opportunities, including those at the National Geospatial- Intelligence Agency and the Army Geospatial Center, and has won more than $700 million worth of contracts, mostly within the Department of Defense and intel-ligence community. Ball Aerospace & Technologies

Corp. has selected Dave Kaufman

to lead its national defense stra-tegic business unit. As vice president and general manager, Kaufman’s responsibilities include acquisition and execution of space hardware programs for Ball’s defense and intelligence-related customers.

Navy Vice Admiral Joe Kernan (Ret.) has joined the executive team of SAP National Security Services as vice president of business development.

Gavin Greene Dave Kaufman

PROGRAM NOTES

Lockheed Martin has contributed to the open source community the software search engine that facilitates intelligence interoperability throughout the Department of Defense. The corporation recently announced that it has donated all copyright for the Distributed Data Framework (DDF) source code to the Codice Foundation, a nonprofit organization established to support government-based open source projects.

DoD officials praised the move, which analysts say could be an important step in a broader industry trend toward open source and away from proprietary software. Lockheed Martin officials, meanwhile, describe the move both as a contribution to national security and as an experiment in a new revenue model for the company, similar to the way a company such as Red Hat has built its business on providing premium services in support of the open source Linux system.

“The ability to provide an open source data sharing and interoperability tool directly to our international partners is something we are happy to support,” said Rich Radcliffe, director of U.S. battlefield information collection and exploitation systems and international intelligence programs at the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence. “This new delivery mechanism for DDF significantly reduces the barrier to entry for our interna-tional partners willing to share data and collaborate between systems.”

Previously obtainable by only the defense community, the DDF is the core component of the software infrastructure that enables users of the Distributed Common Ground System (DCGS) to share time-sensitive ISR data. Developed by a Lockheed Martin internal research and development team and matured under contract with the DCGS Multi-Service Execution Team Office (DMO), the DDF provides U.S. partners and other users with improved access to DCGS data without having to purchase commercial software licenses.

“With the support of OSD, we’re able to provide this source code to the broader commu-nity,” said Jim Quinn, vice president of C4ISR Systems for Lockheed Martin Information Systems and Global Solutions. “The DDF offers others a solid foundation upon which to build new capabilities, creates opportunities to share information, and ultimately lowers the cost of development and sustainment.”

Providing unencumbered access to the DDF source code helps reduce future integration and life cycle costs and ushers in a new level of opportunity for international interoperability. The DDF can query multiple computer systems, access the requested data, authenticate the user, and then provide the user with only the information they are authorized to receive.

“Now anyone can use DDF to search separate systems securely and at scale with the results presented in a meaningful and useful way,” said Lieutenant Colonel Mark Murray, director of the DMO, where the DIB is managed.

Astrium has entered into an agreement with Google to provide satellite imagery in support of Google Maps, Google Earth and other Google products and services.

Under the agreement, Astrium Services will provide newly acquired imagery from its Pléiades and SPOT satellites. Pléiades 1A and 1B are Europe’s first very high-resolution Earth-observation satellites, while the SPOT 6 and SPOT 7 constellation, operated in conjunction with Pléiades, offers 1.5-meter resolution imagery products and is uniquely capable of mapping continent-wide areas.

This four-satellite constellation makes Astrium Services the first satellite operator in the world to offer a complete range of Earth-observation data at different resolutions (from medium to very high resolution), an image collection capacity of up to 6.5 million square kilometers each day and the ability to image every point of the globe on a daily basis.

The company also recently released a video, enti-tled “Picture the Future: How Astrium Services can help shape our world,” which draws upon Astrium’s exper-tise in satellite imagery, monitoring and intelligence services to demonstrate the impact its technology can have on the defense and security and other industries.

Open Source Donation Aids Intel Interoperability Agreement Adds New

Satellite Imagery

PEOPLE Compiled by Kmi media Group staff

Compiled by Kmi media Group staff

www.GIF-kmi.com4 | GIF 1 1. 8

As the defense and intelligence communities work to ensure that information can flow seamlessly across enterprise boundar-ies, development of the Defense Intelligence Information Enterprise (DI2E) will play a critical role in increasing operational effective-ness, agility, interoperability and cybersecurity while reducing costs.

The DI2E is one of two critical components of the Defense Intelligence Enterprise, which provides the U.S. defense and intelligence communities, as well as international partners, with all-source intelligence, counterintelligence and security. While the Defense Intelligence Collection Enterprise comprises intel-ligence collectors, DI2E consists of capabilities that turn collected data into intelligence.

The DI2E Framework provides standards and specifications, including web service specifications, that support a proliferation of intelligence capabilities through rapid technology insertion. DI2E aims for interoperability, not only of data but also of systems and workflows, in order to enable units from across the Department of Defense and intelligence community to reuse technology compo-nents that were developed and built elsewhere as well as the capabil-ity to share intelligence and collaborate on intelligence work.

The DI2E group held an event earlier this year, called a PlugFest, during which a variety of DI2E-compliant capabilities were demon-strated. Experts say that some of what was demonstrated there will come to be adopted in the military and intelligence command cen-ters of the future, where personnel will be able to access, not only data and analysis, but decision support tools as well.

“DI2E is concerned with data interoperability and much more than that,” said Ralph Wade, a vice president at Booz Allen Hamilton. “It is focused on the Defense Intelligence Enterprise, the C4ISR and information processing systems within DoD and the intelligence agencies, and the communications infrastructure that it rides on. What DI2E is trying to do within those hundreds of sys-tems and hundreds of management offices is put together a con-struct that improves interoperability among systems with a focus on operational enhancements.”

Booz Allen supports organizations that write DI2E standards as well as programs that fall under the DI2E umbrella, Wade added.

Common Capabilities

But DI2E is not a program of record, explained John Beck, a business development manager at Lockheed Martin. “It is an enter-prise approach that comprises the armed services, defense agencies, combatant commands and intelligence community bringing them-selves together in an enterprise framework.”

“All of these organizations have a common interest in certain capabilities,” explained Eric Westreich, a defense command and con-trol industry manager at Esri. “The DI2E approach says, ‘Why build stuff that we can buy it?’ It is more important to have all the func-tionality we need than to have a particular program build it all in one package.”

DI2E promotes the building of capabilities to cer-tain standards. The Distributed Integrated Backbone (DIB), for example, is built to a specific set of stan-dards. When a private company built a DIB to the same standards, the government tested it and approved its use, in addition to the government DIB.

“The DI2E community says that it doesn’t mat-ter who does it as long as it does the things we want,” said Westreich. “What DI2E is trying to do is to set the requirements to procure necessary tools. It doesn’t matter who builds them, and that includes the backbone itself.”

In order to develop components and capabilities that can be used by multiple defense and intelligence organizations, it is important to avoid a one-size-fits-all mentality. That is what the DI2E approach accomplishes, according to Wade.

“DoD missions are so diverse that one-size-fits-all for C4ISR sys-tems would not work,” he said. “The environments are different, the missions are different, and who they support and how they integrate are different. Achieving a level of interoperability, commonality and reuse provides greater operational effectiveness and drives down costs. The only way to so this is through a federated management construct, which is what DI2E is striving for. It is not building out a program of record, but it is building an environment that allows dif-ferent systems to achieve these goals.”

The basic design of the DI2E Framework is to access cloud technologies through web services. A web service is a way for two computers to communicate over the Internet, and a web service specification describes the details of how the communication occurs.

The core of the DI2E Framework is a document called the DI2E SvcV-4, which catalogs the web services specifications needed for DI2E and deals with mission services, common services and under-lying infrastructure services.

“SvcV-4 outlines the capabilities that are required,” said Westreich. “If you look at the top tier of those capabilities, geospatial tools are all over it.”

Reusable Components

The goal of the DI2E Framework is to provide enterprise grade software components that can be easily fielded as and where needed

Enterprise Framework

by peteR buxbaum, GiF CoRRespondent

development oF the deFense intelliGenCe inFoRmation enteRpRise will play a CRitiCal Role in inCReasinG

eFFeCtiveness and inteRopeRability

Eric Westreich

GIF 1 1. 8 | 5 www.GIF-kmi.com

across the Defense Intelligence Enterprise. The idea is for enter-prise components to adopt as much software as possible that has already been developed and create as little as necessary new software and capabilities.

Reusable DI2E components will be available to the commu-nity through a DI2E storefront. These components are based on the DI2E web service specifications.

“Interoperability is a broad term,” said Wade, “but what it drives you to is the ability to share intelligence and collaborate, to do things faster and more efficiently. That is one broad goal of DI2E. The second goal has more to do with financial efficiencies as far as the reuse of components. There is a lot of commonality among the hundreds of systems out there. DI2E is trying to find core capa-bilities and common capabilities and to drive more reuse of those capabilities throughout the enterprise, so different program offices don’t have to develop components and pay for them, and their implementation, twice.”

“At Lockheed Martin, we have been focused on data interoper-ability efforts to ensure standards compliance,” said Beck. “We are also focused on the integration layer. We recently released all the core components of the code of the data distribution framework we developed, and contributed that to the Open Source Foundation so others can leverage it for their utility. This provides an enterprise grade solution that is portable. It can run on a laptop or scale to a large data center, and all the way down to a field component.”

But the interoperability that DI2E strives for is larger than data interoperability. “Data interoperability refers to the ability of different system to access and understand data from multiple systems,” said Wade. “DI2E goes beyond that to promote actual application interoperability.”

The ability to share workflows is one such example. “You may have an intelligence problem pop up and you can build applications that can quickly connect different analysts at difference intelligence centers working on a common problem,” said Wade. “Advanced workflows can connect various intelligence organizations together, not just sharing data, but also are collaborating and have the ability to mass on a particular problem.”

That involves creating the ability to connect decision makers in disparate organizations. “It is not just a question of sharing data and maps, but actual workflows,” said Westreich. “We have rolled out application and map templates that allow users to package up small components of workflow into small applications that can be made part of a solution to start out with. They can combine templates together to complete a workflow. If users are working on creating a helicopter landing zone, for example, they can use our templates and bring other components into one workflow to solve problems and make better decisions faster.”

pluGFest test

A PlugFest sponsored earlier this year by AFCEA International provided vendors with the opportunity to demonstrate their solu-tions for government decision makers. “A PlugFest is an event that is designed for problem solving,” said Westreich. “The PlugFest Consortium developed a framework for continual problem solving through the updating of technology. The Office of the Secretary of Defense suggested that industry conduct a PlugFest for DI2E.”

“The PlugFest was an opportunity to reach out to industry to create this environment where interface specifications could be

demonstrated,” said Wade. “Commercial companies that partici-pated were able to quickly adapt their applications to that environ-ment, come into the PlugFest and demonstrate their capabilities to the community.”

In the most recent DI2E PlugFest, Esri participated as adviser, sponsor and vendor participant. “One of the challenges in any PlugFest is that you have many different vendors, each one cre-ating value,” said Westreich. “They have good stuff and everyone wants it, but it is difficult to incorporate in one system. Esri took many of these disparate capabilities and fused them into a drag and drop environment.”

Esri sponsored the PlugFest command center, where it created an operational dashboard that brought different capabilities into one view. “People were able to drag and drop outputs of different prod-ucts and connect that up to a real-time status on the dashboard,” said Westreich. “Then they were able to put that into PowerPoint presentations or spreadsheets that automatically update as the data changes. We were also able to being them into software products, such as Microsoft Office, that many people use every day.”

As a vendor, Esri brought core capabilities to the PlugFest that allow for sharing, visualizing, and analysis in a geospatial context. “For us it is all about integrating and making it easier make deci-sions,” said Westreich. “If you look at the core DI2E features, topog-raphy and imagery are two of them and both come through the Esri platform. These allow analysts to share, visualize and analyze infor-mation and publish it back into the decision making view.”

“The whole idea behind PlugFest was to mash up and rap-idly interface with other capabilities and technologies, said Beck. “Our open source Data Distribution Framework (DDF) enabled the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency to build the GEOBUS tool that was a winner at the PlugFest.”

The DDF allows different data sources to connect to a single location using open standards, and have data exposed to the enter-prise as a result.

The DI2E Storefront is how systems and programs gain access to DI2E components. “Eventually the virtual storefront will be where community members will be able to post applications, work flows and templates,” said Westreich. “Others can use those out of the box. It may not be a complete solution, but it can be close enough. That way the capability is created once, put it out there, and peo-ple can reuse it for different purposes. If someone needs a map in an application, they can plug into the system and make it part of their workflow.”

The future will see the ability not only to share data en masse, but also workflows, Westreich added. “If someone figures out that three components work together in a workflow, you can send it to others to use and to expand on it. Users can put together different capabilities and share it as a core capability.”

“In the future the storefront will be a one-stop spot that program offices can come to build out systems that maximize interoperabil-ity and software reuse,” said Wade. “DI2E will work with the services and the joint intelligence centers as well to drive interoperability through software reuse and commonality across those systems.” O

For more information, contact GIF Editor Harrison Donnelly at [email protected] or search our online archives

for related stories at www.gif-kmi.com.


(Editor’s Note: Postponement of the U.S. Geospatial Intelligence Foundation’s GEOINT 2013 Symposium this fall left many companies in the field without their accustomed forum for introducing new products and services to the intelligence community and industry. GIF recently reached out to key exhibitor companies that had been planning important announcements at the conference, to see what they would have said if the event had been held as scheduled. Following are summaries of some of their planned announcements and interviews, which together offer a good overview of the state of GEOINT technology innovation. The rescheduled conference is now slated for April 14-17, 2014, in Tampa, Fla.)

by haRRison donnelly, GiF editoR

Virtual GEOINT Reportdespite postponement oF Geoint symposium, industRy leadeRs Continue to Roll out innovative Geospatial intelliGenCe teChnoloGy.

After acquiring crowdsourcing pio-neer firm Tomnod earlier this year, sat-ellite imagery provider DigitalGlobe is working to implement such mass-observation technology into a range of product offerings.

The first DigitalGlobe offering to include crowdsourcing capabilities will be FirstLook, an online subscription ser-vice for emergency management that provides fast web-based access to pre- and post-event imagery of world disas-ters delivered to almost any desktop or web-based mapping platform.

“We are completing integrating into FirstLook, so that we are offering not just a layer of pixels of high resolution imag-ery, but also adding an insight layer—an analysis layer where we’re able to pick out damaged infrastructure. We’re really able to drive at what is going on

in the image,” said Shay Har-Noy, co-founder of Tomnod and currently direc-tor of research and development for DigitalGlobe. “We’re doing this within tens of minutes after the image has been made available. That’s an extraordinarily fast response time, which is getting better every few weeks with each new release.”

As Har-Noy explained, the idea of crowdsourcing is that rather than having one expert analyst looking at an entire region and identifying features of inter-est, there is a “crowd” of people—a com-munity of users, each of whom looks at a small piece of the image in order to iden-tify what is going on there. “Rather than just one person, we’re able to have hun-dreds or thousands of people looking at the imagery and picking out features. This allows the expert user to make sense of what’s going on in the feature set of

the images, instead of just looking at pix-els,” he said.

“The phrase that sums it up for me is ‘letting the experts do expert analysis.’ Let me pick out the features, and I’ll let you analyze what those features mean and what precise information can be derived from them,” he continued. “Instead of offering just imagery, we’re able to intro-duce a vector layer picking out key fea-tures from the images.

“What that means for our govern-ment customers is that there are many applications where we can save a large amount of time by pointing them in the direction of features they are interested in. For example, for mapping missions in certain parts of the world, we’re able to not just supply the imagery, but also a layer indicating the specific features they are looking for,” Har-Noy added.

For the SI Organization, a provider of full life cycle, mission-focused systems engineering and integration capabili-ties to the U.S. intelligence community, Department of Defense and other agen-cies, one of the themes of the post-poned symposium would have been to highlight the company’s recent hiring of former National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency executive Barry Barlow.

Barlow, who previously served as NGA director for online GEOINT ser-vices, joined SI earlier this year as chief technology officer. In a recent interview,

he reflected on his company’s support for NGA and other agencies.

“I’m still passionate about GEOINT, the NGA mission and the vision that Director Letitia Long laid out about put-ting GEOINT in the hands of the user, by the concept of things being online and on demand, thus freeing up time for ana-lytics. That change is significant in what she has been trying to accomplish there. As we’ve looked at it from SI’s perspec-tive, we think that the more we can do with GEOINT, which is the foundation for other intelligence, to put that content

and capabilities out there, the better sit-uational awareness we are able to pro-vide,” Barlow said.

Currently, one of the contracts SI has with NGA is for system engineer-ing and integration, which covers such areas as the application service pro-vider set of activities, software, infra-structure service provider architecture, content and mission. “SI, in their role as contractor, has to look at their exist-ing architecture, and help lay out the roadmap for getting to the future,” Barlow explained.

Crowdsourcing the WorldSatellite imagery provider incorporates mass-observation technology into its geospatial products.

Roadmap for the FutureSI Organization helps NGA look at their existing architecture and prepare the transition to the new online reality.

www.GIF-kmi.com GIF 1 1. 8 | 7

Raytheon has announced the launch of its new Intersect family of analytic prod-ucts. The first four products unveiled in the Intersect family are Intersect Reveal, Intersect Dimension, Intersect Sentry and Intersect Connect.

The Intersect family of solutions adds cutting-edge processing, analysis, visu-alization and automation capabilities to almost any data source or system, includ-ing multi-INT full motion video (FMV) fusion, 3-D modeling, activity-based intelligence processing and multi-source data integra-tion. All Intersect solutions are designed to integrate seamlessly with existing systems, platforms and data, maximizing capabili-ties while minimizing costs and downtime for customers across diverse industries, including defense, law enforcement, finan-cial and commercial services.

Each member of the Intersect fam-ily of products provides a new layer of understanding to a customer’s data set. They are:

• Intersect Sentry, a comprehensive activity-based intelligence analytics and automation solution that provides

real-time, automated decision support capabilities to help analysts identify the most relevant information in massive streams of multi-INT data.

“Sentry helps make sense out of the data, providing tools to missionize the information,” explained Mark Bigham, vice president and chief innovation officer for Raytheon Intelligence, Information and Services. “For decades, we have helped our customers gather lots of data from their systems. We’ve always touched, stored and built tools for the data, and now we’ve used that understanding of customer missions to build a set of ana-lytics, many of which have grown up over the years to help missionize the data, which an eye on efficiency. Not only do you have to understand mas-sive amounts of data, but you have to do it in an efficient way that scales.”

• Intersect Reveal, a prototype capability that automates basic FMV analysis tasks and fuses the results with multi-INT data in near-real time.

• Intersect Dimension, which integrates passive 2-D and other remote sensing imagery sources to create multi-dimensional models with groundbreaking accuracy.

• Intersect Connect, which allows easy ingest on a massive scale of both structured and unstructured data from almost any source. Objects stored and processed by Intersect Connect include data attributes that describe past and present information about the object.

Overwatch Geospatial Solutions—an operating unit of Textron Systems, a Textron Inc. company—has released its RemoteView 4 geospatial intelligence software, offering a slate of new features and capabilities that provide analysts enhanced productivity and performance.

RemoteView 4’s extensive set of GEOINT tools enhance the intelligence gathering and analysis process, provid-ing a new analyst-centric graphical user interface, streamlined navigation, as well as workflow aligned toolbars and pro-files, which can be customized by indi-vidual users and analytical teams. The intuitive design and alignment of these tools, with functional workflows, enables RemoteView 4 users to quickly learn and master the software’s full range

of capabilities. Optional RemoteView extensions, including 3D Pro, RVConnect, V-TRAC, Virtual Mosaic and GEO2PDF, expand the software’s power and func-tionality with additional customization to meet specific user requirements.

Version 4 of RemoteView software offers a full spectrum of advanced geo-spatial exploitation capabilities as well as imagery and multi-image analysis, motion imagery analysis, geospatial data management, publishing and product generation, 3-D visualization, tactical mission planning, precision positioning and third-party-integration.

In reviewing the changes in the new version, Gordon Tomlinson, RemoteView sustainment manager/chief engineer for Overwatch, emphasized the updating of

the systems graphical user interface. “The first thing the user will see in the new ver-sion is that we’ve had a large refresh of our interface. RemoteView has a 15-year heritage in the industry, and one of the things that users would say was that it looked dated,” he noted.

But the changes were a balanc-ing act, Tomlinson continued. “One of the things we had to keep in mind was that a lot of our customers have a lot of training in working with the prod-uct, and know where everything is on the interface. So we had to strike a bal-ance between updating the interface and improving the workflows, while still mak-ing it look familiar. That was one of the hardest things to do, but it looks a lot nicer now.” O

Intersecting With AnalysisFamily of solutions adds cutting-edge processing, analysis, visualization and automation capabilities to almost any data source or system.

Full-spectrum ToolkitRevised software enhances the intelligence gathering and analysis process and provides a new analyst-centric graphical user interface.


It’s hard to fathom, but as recently as last year, the U.S. State Department was estimat-ing that 27 million people around the world were trapped in a life of slavery. Recent high-profile news stories have served as a painful reminder that even in the U.S. individuals are held against their will, subjected to forced labor, prostitution or other criminal activity.

According to a 2013 Congressional Research Service report, as many as 100,000 children in the U.S. may be victims of domes-tic human trafficking.

The FBI explains that escape is difficult because human trafficking victims are often “invisible.” In the U.S., for example, victims typically don’t speak English and are afraid to approach authorities out of fear of being deported. Further, they have no idea where they are or how to get help.

Traffickers are increasingly using tech-nology, such as pre-paid cell phones and websites, to facilitate their nefarious oper-ations and cover their tracks. This pres-ents an additional, evolving challenge to law enforcement.

Last year, President Obama called on tech companies, advocates and law enforce-ment to develop tools and solutions to help turn the tables on traffickers. Today, companies such as BAE System, Microsoft and Google are exploring how their cut-ting-edge tools and solutions can address transnational threats like human traf-ficking. One of these solutions is activity based intelligence (ABI).

At its core, ABI is both a technology and a discipline, which enables analysts to bring a variety of data streams together into a single environment, recognize patterns of behav-ior and detect anomalies in the data that warrant further examination. While many traditional intelligence disciplines focus on specific targets of interest, analysts using ABI focus on events, movements and trans-actions in a given area.

To date, ABI has primarily been used by the military and the intelligence community as a tool to monitor the geospatial locations of insurgent and illicit networks and to iden-tify their members, tactics, techniques and procedures. But the true potential of ABI outside of the defense market is only begin-ning to be realized.

ABI is a force multiplier for analysts. As a tool, ABI helps automate the collecting, organizing and aggregating of large data sets, freeing up analysts to focus their atten-tion on time-sensitive matters, or hot leads. For example, analysts reviewing physical evi-dence in an ABI system may be simultane-ously capturing any cyber-evidence that the trafficking operations leave behind.

Rather than focusing solely on evidence from past crimes, analysts could be collect-ing data about a suspected trafficking orga-nization’s involvement online, involvement in discussion forums, use of virtual currency exchanges and involvement in social net-working platforms, all in real time.

The grouping of all this data in one cen-tral operating environment could accelerate the process of identifying trafficking perpe-trators and recruitment tactics, while also enhancing the analyst’s understanding of trafficking markets. This is a critical bene-fit to international law enforcement agencies with limited intelligence resources.

Another benefit of ABI is that it allows analysts to monitor and archive intelligence geospatially. Analysts can monitor regions of interest where a known trafficking orga-nization operates to identify suspicious pat-terns. In studying the patterns of behavior of a regional operation, analysts could quickly learn valuable information about the size of a network and its operations. Analysts could also review historic data to identify shifts in operational tactics.

The BAE Systems Intelligence and Security sector’s Advanced Analytics Lab—

dedicated to developing new tradecraft in open source and social media analysis—is already engaged in research in this area. It is seeking to identify demographic profiles of suspected traffickers using open social media sites vs. hidden sites; variances in tar-get victim profiles based on origin of con-tact, if discernible; similarities or disparities in language, including emerging terminol-ogy in each community; observable range of technical capabilities displayed by traffickers within each community; and anti-detection behaviors observed in each community.

Geo-referencing data sources identi-fied through this research, and combin-ing that data with imagery and signals intelligence through advanced analytics tools like ABI, may help law enforcement stitch together virtual-world behavior with real-world activity.

Ridding the world of this scourge requires collaboration, legislation and inno-vation. With the right advanced analytic tools, we can help law enforcement agen-cies better understand traffickers’ behaviors, exploit vulnerabilities in their networks, and most importantly, liberate their victims. O

DeEtte Gray is president, Intelligence and Security, for BAE Systems.

with the RiGht tools, suCh as aCtivity based intelliGenCe, analysts Can help Root out onGoinG sCouRGe.

For more information, contact GIF Editor Harrison Donnelly at harrisond@kmimediagroup.

com or search our online archives for related stories at www.gif-kmi.com.

by deette GRay


Signal Sentry 1000, an Exelis product that detects and locates GPS interference sources in 3-D by using longitude, latitude and altitude, has demonstrated successful results during a planned field testing event at the Vidsel Test Range, Sweden. Taking advantage of the range’s remote location, Exelis was able to conduct tests of its Signal Sentry 1000 product using controlled jamming. The test was conducted without disrupting the GPS signal relied upon by civilian and military operations outside of the test range location. The test employed eight sensors positioned in an array pattern and showed that Signal Sentry was able to successfully detect and locate the jamming source. Having demonstrating interference detection and location capability, Signal Sentry 1000 can be deployed to collect actionable intelligence for law enforcement and protect GPS signal-depen-dent critical infrastructures. Signal Sentry 1000 technology is a network of threat-detection sensors, which is part of a centralized server executing Exelis developed proprietary location algorithms.

Lockheed Martin has contributed to the open source community the software search engine that facilitates intelligence interoper-ability throughout the Department of Defense. The corporation recently announced that it has donated all copyright for the Distributed Data Framework (DDF) source code to the Codice Foundation, a nonprofit organization established to support govern-ment-based open source projects. Previously obtainable by only the defense community, the DDF is the core component of the software infrastructure that enables users of the Distributed Common Ground System (DCGS) to share time-sensitive ISR data. Developed by a Lockheed Martin internal research and development team and matured under contract with the DCGS Multi-Service Execution Team Office, the DDF provides U.S. partners and other users with improved access to DCGS data without having to purchase commer-cial software licenses.

GPS Interference Locator Protects Critical Infrastructure

Open Source Donation Aids Intelligence Interoperability

[Photo courtesy of U.S. Air Force]


Compiled by Kmi media Group staffINDUSTRY RASTER

SolutionS RepoRt Vizrt has collaborated with Lockheed Martin to develop a solution

that visualizes big data in an interactive platform called the Multi-Touch Executive Dashboard (MED). To graphically visualize big data, MED combines Lockheed Martin’s real-time data asset management software, Microsoft’s Perceptive Pixel displays, and Vizrt’s Viz Artist for 3-D modeling, animation and graphics creation, and Viz Engine for real-time 3-D graphics visualization and rendering at resolutions of up to 4K.

The first large-scale big-data visualization implemented is Lockheed Martin’s MED-E (for energy), designed to graphically illustrate layers of high-volume information about the status of energy resources, distribu-tion, and supply. For example, WindOptimizer is a MED-E suite of cloud-based services that provide real-time sensor data, including weather forecast prediction and wind energy supplies.

Interactive Platform Implements Big-data

Visualization

Esri has launched ArcGIS Marketplace, a new destina-tion that allows ArcGIS Online subscribers to search, discover, and get apps and data from qualified providers for use within their organization. ArcGIS Marketplace provides data from organizations such as DigitalGlobe, RapidEye, AccuWeather and Esri, as well as apps created by Esri and its distributors and partners, such as Latitude Geographics, Azteca Systems, and con terra, that are built specifically to work with ArcGIS Online. All apps and data can easily be

shared with ArcGIS Online groups and users within an organization. Anyone can browse the listings in ArcGIS Marketplace, but you need to be an ArcGIS Online subscriber to get free trials or make purchases. Because all apps in ArcGIS Marketplace require an ArcGIS Online login, users can access their organization’s maps via the apps. Data services acquired via ArcGIS Marketplace are also fully integrated with ArcGIS Online, so you can add them to your basemap gallery or other apps.

Marketplace Offers Easy Access to GIS Apps and Data

the “new noRmAl” in u.S. nAtionAl SecuRityInsights from Fran Townsend, Stan McChrystal, and Jason MathenypAGeS 2, 4 And 6

dAtA iS Solved!

pAGe 7

A ConversAtion with sAP ns2’s

mARk teStoni pAGe 12

SolutionS RepoRt

innovAtion:expeRtS weiGh in | pAGe 8

How to Advance the National Security Mission with

biG

A R e p o R t o n t h e 2 n d A n n u A l S A p n S 2 S o l u t i o n S S u m m i t

Transactions. Tweets. Texts. Big Data. Learn how government can leverage the power of zoom to develop policies

and deploy services informed by place, overcoming the challenges that seize the gears of good policy making.

Wherever you need to go, Deloitte can see you there. www.deloitte.com/us/zoom

The power of zoom

As used in this document, “Deloitte” means Deloitte Consulting LLP, a subsidiary of Deloitte LLP. Please see www.deloitte.com/us/about for a detailed description of the legal structure of Deloitte LLP and its subsidiaries.Certain services may not be available to attest clients under the rules and regulations of public accounting.

Copyright © 2012 Deloitte Development LLC. All rights reserved. Member of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited

All

phot

os b

y Jo

hn h

arri

ngto

n ph

otog

raph

y

pRioRitizinG thReAtS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2Frances Townsend, chair of the board of directors for SAP NS2 and a former homeland security adviser to President George W. Bush, focused on the changing geopolitical landscape and the fact that national security and foreign aid are paramount to U.S. success in the national and international communities.

lookinG FoR meAninG And AGility in A SeA oF inFoRmAtion . . . . 4In the current technological age, almost all of the focus is on developing the latest and greatest capabilities. But for people like Army General Stan McChrystal (Ret.) there is a question running underneath the stream of new gadgets and gizmos: How can we make sense of all that data?

whAt mAkeS Good FoRecAStinG teAmS?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6If you want to find an analyst who is really good at forecasting geopolitical or other future events, don’t necessarily look to those who are believed to be the best experts, according to Jason Matheny, program manager, Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity.

AnAlySiS At the Speed oF thouGht. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7With its ability to provide near-instant analysis of very large data sets from a huge variety of sources, in-memory computing technology brings a level of flexibility and speed to intelligence missions that can actually change the way analysts do their work, according to Bob Palmer, senior director of SAP NS2.

intel And the “new noRmAl” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8The intelligence community must change its approach to information in order to succeed in the “new normal” of widely distributed technology and a weakened ability to maintain secrets, according to members of an expert panel at the SAP NS2 Solutions Summit.

new SolutionS FoR new chAllenGeS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10Displays at the SAP NS2 Solutions Summit highlighted world-class solutions for national security and critical infrastructure organizations.

SolutionS FoR inSiGht. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12Mark Testoni, president of SAP NS2, reviews key challenges facing the national security community, and how technology can help.

hARRiSon donnelly, Editor JeFF mckAuGhAn, Editor-in-Chief

lAuRA mcnulty, Online Editorial ManagerJenniFeR oweRS, Art Director

SeAn cARmichAel, NS2 Summit Report CorrespondentScott pARkeR, Associate Publisher

JAck keRRiGAn, Chief Executive OfficerconStAnce keRRiGAn, Chief Financial Officer & Publisher

The SAP NS2 Solutions Report is published by Geospatial Intelligence Forum, a KMI Media Group publication.

All Rights Reserved. Reproduction without permission is strictly forbidden. Copyright 2013.

kmi mediA GRoup15800 Crabbs Branch Way, Suite 300

Rockville, MD 20855-2604 USA Telephone: (301) 670-5700

Fax: (301) 670-5701 www.gif-kmi.com

GeoSpAtiAl intelliGence FoRum

to ouR ReAdeRS:Geospatial Intelligence Forum is proud to

present this summary of the 2nd Annual SAP NS2 Solutions Summit, sponsored by SAP National Security Services.

With keynote speakers General Stanley McChrystal (Ret.), former commander of U.S. and international forces in Afghanistan, and Frances Townsend, chair of the SAP NS2 Board of Direc-tors and former assistant to President George W. Bush for homeland security and counterterror-ism, the October 29, 2013, event brought some 400 government executives, program managers, analysts, technical directors, consultants and journalists together to hear from a variety of top experts on how to cope with a “perfect storm” of security challenges.

As covered in the following pages, the summit offered an insightful overview of the “new normal” in U.S. national security, which includes a longer list of more complicated threats; unprecedented cuts in military and intelligence spending; and a tsunami of data being collected by more and more humans, machines and networks.

I would urge readers to spend some time with this report, which shows how, despite what may be the most challenging environment ever for U.S. national security and homeland security organizations, new technologies and solutions from companies such as SAP NS2 and others are making it possible to improve national security mission performance at an affordable cost.

harrison donnellyManaging EditorKMI Media Group

contAct

SAp nS2 SolutionS RepoRtcontentS

Transactions. Tweets. Texts. Big Data. Learn how government can leverage the power of zoom to develop policies

and deploy services informed by place, overcoming the challenges that seize the gears of good policy making.

Wherever you need to go, Deloitte can see you there. www.deloitte.com/us/zoom

The power of zoom

As used in this document, “Deloitte” means Deloitte Consulting LLP, a subsidiary of Deloitte LLP. Please see www.deloitte.com/us/about for a detailed description of the legal structure of Deloitte LLP and its subsidiaries.Certain services may not be available to attest clients under the rules and regulations of public accounting.

Copyright © 2012 Deloitte Development LLC. All rights reserved. Member of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited

S o l u t i o n S R e p o R t 1

Whether it is Edward Snowden and his leaking of classified information, the budget crisis and its toll on governmental programs, or the debate on Syria and its use of chemical weapons, there are issues that need to be ad-dressed everywhere you look. With so much on the U.S. government’s plate, what is the best way to move forward?

That was the fundamental question posed by Frances Townsend, chair of the board of directors for SAP NS2, during her keynote address at the company’s Solutions Summit. The prominent former national security official and media commentator, who previously served as homeland security adviser to President George W. Bush, focused her remarks on the changing geopolitical landscape and the fact that national security and foreign aid are paramount to U.S. suc-cess in the national and international com-munities.

In light of the budget crisis and sub-sequent decreased spending, Townsend expressed concern that foreign aid spending would be cut, a step she argued would be extremely detrimental to U.S. interests.

“[Foreign aid] may yet again, and prob-ably will, fall victim to the budget debates. But we have to continue to invest there. Those relationships are incredibly important. And so when we look out among these ungoverned and poorly governed spaces, it doesn’t really always require an American response,” she said.

The “response” that Townsend spoke of refers to direct physical action. But she argued that the U.S. government can, in fact, make foreign aid a priority without having to send more troops. Not only that, but following this particular course of action would save the government money as well.

“The single greatest life insurance policy against having to deploy your own troops is to spend a fraction of what it costs to deploy troops on building capability among your foreign partners so they can fight their own fights, secure their own borders and protect their own people,” said Townsend.

That’s not to say that there are not events that require a U.S. response, however, with international crises all around the globe demanding consideration. “Proliferation isn’t going away. North Korea continues to have their nuclear program, Iran has a strategic priority in terms of their program, and that has spurred an arms race throughout the Middle East. There is no question that our Arab allies feel threatened by Iran’s nuclear program, and Syria has taken on a real geo-political importance,” she warned.

Townsend expanded on the Syria problem, explaining that this crisis is more dire than the rest because of the intensity of suffering, even though the topic has largely slipped from the headlines following the U.S./Russia/Syria agreement to eliminate chemi-cal weapons from that civil-war-torn nation. “The victim there on the battlefield is the Syrian civilian population,” she said, adding, “Every day, Syrian civilians continue to be murdered in their homes.”

But that is not the only battlefield we have to worry about, Townsend cautioned. Americans may also have false conceptions about what is going on in Iraq, she warned, and the fact that troops have been withdrawn does not necessarily mean that all is well.

“Iraq has receded from the headlines, and right now is the bloodiest it has been since

the height of the Iraq War—more deaths, more explosions, and more bombings now than at the height of what was clearly an emerging civil war in Iraq,” Townsend said.

The former White House adviser also emphasized maintaining international rela-tionships even in the face of differences of opinion, since the nation’s security hinges on these relationships. For example, she focused on little-noticed recent comments from Saudi Arabia regarding future U.S. relations, in which officials threatened a major shift in relations because of their and our govern-ments failing to see eye-to-eye regarding Syria and Iran.

“Usually even when there’s political dis-agreement at the state level or the diplomatic level, the intelligence and law enforcement relations remain. That’s what I find troubling about the Saudi statements last week. Clearly there’s been a fracturing at the political level. There’s a disagreement between the king and the president over Syria, over Iran, which is to be expected. But if that also has now resulted in a fracturing of the security relationship, that’s troubling, because normally that’s the thing that quietly survives underneath, and you can’t afford to lose that,” she said.

The task for the U.S. government of determining what to prioritize is made more difficult by recent controversies over secrecy

the geopolitical landscape is as convoluted as ever, making every step a difficult one for the u.S. government, says Frances townsend.

pRioRitizinG thReAtS

S o l u t i o n S R e p o R t2

and U.S. policy. The National Security Agency (NSA) has dominated headlines in recent months, first with the Edward Snowden leaks and then regarding information that they had been spying on various world leaders.

Townsend voiced strong views on the NSA issues, arguing that the government needs privacy in order to do its job, and that any objection to what the NSA has done is incomprehensible. “It’s inexplicable to me the kind of reaction that there’s been. I don’t understand the White House’s reaction, and I certainly don’t understand the reaction in Congress,” she said.

“We’ll get through all that, and the intel-ligence community has been accused of worse, survived worse, and will emerge stron-ger for it, because of their ethic of service. But we have to not apologize for what our priorities are. We have to stop apologizing—and frankly, revealing—what it is we do to protect ourselves. We in the national security community cannot effectively do our jobs

if everything is at risk. Now there are some things we can do to get better at protecting secrets, and I think if we’ve learned anything from this series of leaks, [it’s that] we must get better,” Townsend continued.

Although Townsend sees many reasons for the leaks, she also believes that the key to protecting ourselves lies in a paradigm shift toward moderation in the amount and types of information classified as secret. “There’s no question that we need to classify less—you’ve heard the old adage, ‘If everything’s a priority, nothing’s a priority.’ Absolutely, I would say that, having been inside the belly of the beast, we over-classify—we classify too many things, and we don’t have a system.

“Nobody ever gets in trouble for clas-sifying something; you get in trouble for not classifying enough,” she pointed out. “So we have to change that system and figure out what’s really important. What really needs to be protected, and what are we willing to really fight about if it gets released?

“The most difficult threat is the insider. And how do we protect ourselves from the insider threat? Yes, there are easy things. We can’t let people download classified material onto thumb drives. But we have to under-stand—we’ve got to enable our people, trust our people, and then have systems by which we protect ourselves from the insider threat,” Townsend continued.

In the end, Townsend believes that the only way to navigate the tense global land-scape is by virtue of the nation’s intelligence prowess, and that those claiming that NSA is invading the privacy do not see the big picture. But she acknowledges that it is a conversation that needs to be had.

“I would hope that we could have an intelligent conversation, and not just rely on the intelligence community to defend itself. I think you’ve got to be able to say out loud, and defend the fact that if your allies are talking to your enemies, we want to hear that, and we’re not going to apologize for that.” ■

Understanding our world.Geographic knowledge allows you to make critical decisions and empowers you to positively impact the future.

Gain a greater understanding of the world around you. We can help.

Learn more at esri.com.

Copyright © 2013 Esri. All rights reserved.


In the current technologi-cal age, almost all of the focus is on developing the latest and greatest capabilities. But for people like Army General Stan McChrystal (Ret.) there is a question running underneath the stream of new gadgets and gizmos: How can we make sense of all that data?

Speaking before the SAP NS2 Solutions Summit, the former commander of U.S. and international forces in Afghanistan emphasized the importance of not just receiving information, but also under-standing it.

“It's really easy to get mas-sive amounts of information to any leader inside the organiza-tion. But I would argue that understanding it is really not easy, because an understanding takes time to put it together, think about it and discuss it,” said McChrystal.

Speaking from his experi-ence both in Afghanistan and as commander of Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) from 2003 to 2008, McChrystal

underscored the importance of a strong relationship between superiors and subordinates to maintaining the steady flow of information.

“How many times have you sat down and written a great email about some really difficult subject, and you've put in all the points, and at the end you put a recom-mendation, and then you send it to your boss, and what do you get back? Two letters—O.K. Now what does that mean? If you think about it, if a 22-year-old intelligence analyst sends a 50-plus-year-old general or CEO a well-thought-out note and gets two letters, they're never going to send another, because what you've said is 'don’t bother me.' You may think you are saying 'good,' but really you've said 'don't bother me,'” McChrystal said.

Although the information age is here, big, bureaucratic

structures have trouble adjust-ing to a world in which informa-tion moves at the speed of light. “All of us are in that stage in

our lives where we've been pretty suc-cessful to this point, but we've been successful operating in a world and play-ing under rules that don't exist

anymore,” said McChrystal.McChrystal highlighted this

problem by looking back at the ways in which the U.S. military operated against terrorist groups following the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

“We were fairly confident because we had this wonderful counterterrorism capability, great intelligence organizations and great forces,” he observed. “But the problem was that a gap had grown. They were faster, more agile and in many cases leveraged the really powerful technology better than we did.

“Even though we were theoretically a very agile force, in fact we were a hierarchical organization of highly trained, well-resourced people who operated in a deliberate fashion,” McChrystal said.

That may have worked when the chief tactic of many interna-tional terror groups was to hijack commercial aircraft and hold the passengers as hostages for political demands, he observed. But then the nature and strategy of terrorist adversaries changed.

“In fact, the charter of JSOC said, ‘Respond to terrorist acts,’ and that's fine if somebody does a hijacking and you can go try to deal with the situation. But if somebody runs planes into buildings and kills people, and they don't ask anything, the only thing you can do in response is pick up the pieces,” McChrystal continued.

In a post-9/11 world, large, set-piece military forces are not as decisive as in the past. That was difficult to comprehend in the immediate aftermath of the attacks.

lookinG FoR meAninG

And AGility in A SeA oF

inFoRmAtionFor former Afghanistan commander Stan mcchrystal, learning from mistakes in iraq and Afghanistan is more important than ever.

cherreka montgomery @cherrekam“Connections that are global, matter” - Gen. Stan McChrystal #SAPNS2Summit29 October


“If you're a small team, you don't need a big structure,” he observed. “When you start to create Napoleonic-size armies, you need a chain of command, you need communications, you need processes, and those processes are designed to miti-gate risk and give structure to increase the ability to execute.

“It was O.K. to be hierarchi-cal and ponderous if you were big enough, because in the past, being big was enough. You could be very inefficient, and nobody could compete with you because you could just crush them,” McChrystal continued.

The underlying theme is the flow of information and its role in creating the speed, agility and adaptability that will be essential characteristics of the

military force of the future.

“The chal-lenge is not going to be to get a lot of information—a teenager with a computer can do that now. The problem is going to be to pull it together, curate it into something that is of value to leaders, and not just do this dump on people who can't take in that amount. So the magic is going to be to be able to portray information in a way that shows reality, shows trends and predicts things. There are some fascinating things being done in the commercial world right now,” McChrystal continued.

The former commander was candid on the topic of military shortcomings in the Middle East. “We didn't under-stand Iraq at all, and we understood Afghanistan even less.”

But while it may be easy now to discern the military’s shortcomings in the past, the task will only grow more daunting in the future as information overload becomes an even bigger challenge.

“So here you are, adrift in a sea of information, all of which people say you ought to know. Why didn't you know this? There's certainly plenty

out there, you could have known it. And now it's going to be even more accessible, because everybody is carrying not just the ability to get information, but also the ability to generate information on a greater level than ever before.

“Massive amounts of information are available, some of which can have value, some of which not, but the key is how we pull that together to make some kind of sense out of it,” McChrystal said.

“The problem now is that things have changed so much and individuals are empowered now. Mass doesn’t work as well anymore. So you’ve got to be a big organization but act as though you’re smaller,” he concluded. ■

SAp nS2 @SApnS2Individuals are empowered now. Large organizations have to act smaller; goal should be constant adaptability - Gen McChrystal #SAPNS2Summit29 October


If you want to find an analyst who is really good at forecasting geopolitical or other future events, don’t necessarily look to those who are believed to be the best experts. Rather, find those who have proven themselves to have a knack for making accurate judgments in general.

As explained by Jason Matheny, program manager, Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA), that finding comes from the organization’s ongoing staging of “forecasting tournaments” for the modern-day versions of crystal-ball gazers.

“There are people who are really good at making forecasts about geopolitical events,” Matheny told the SAP NS2 Solutions Summit. “In identifying them, we probably shouldn’t rely on the usual measures of expertise or experience, but stage something like a forecasting tournament, in which people make forecasts and you score how well they do. This is a straightforward idea, but implementing it takes a lot of courage.”

Matheny explained IARPA programs in the area this way: “We’ve been organizing forecasting tournaments at IARPA as a way of under-standing what works and doesn’t work in making judgments about the world. Whatever problem set you work on, forecasting tournaments are a way of keeping us honest about what we know and don’t know, which methods work and don’t work, and which analysts know things.”

The first program that uses this kind of approach is called Aggre-gative Contingent Estimation, which combines human judgments in order to make better forecasts, and particularly conditional forecasts of the sort that decision makers really need. “The premise is based on the observation that if you want a really good estimate of something, instead of asking the best expert you know, ask a range of people whose judgment you generally trust, but have different relevant knowledge, information sources and worldviews,” he noted.

“Doing so has two effects,” Matheny continued. “First, you can cancel out random error just by asking lots of different people. Also by having a diverse pool, you cancel out bias.”

In the tournament, researchers ask some 10,000 participants, from grad students to Nobel laureates, a range of different questions about world events. They collect the forecasts every day, and can look at them, often over years, to see which ones are accurate, who is right early, who is right late and who is never right.

“The ability to do this for a range of questions offers a tool that allows you to take the pulse of an analytic community, such as the intelligence community, very quickly. It’s like we have a heart moni-tor measuring the anxiety of analysts about dozens of questions at any given time—like whether a particular country will test a nuclear weapon by a certain date,” he said.

The research team that has performed best on forecasting is led by University of Pennsylvania Professors Philip Tetlock and Barbara

Mellers. They used two methods, both of which reduce errors by about the same amount. “The first is to wait a sufficient period of time to find out who is really good at making accurate forecasts, ask them for their forecasts, and combine them in an unweighted average,” Matheny said. “It turns out there are people who are really good forecasters, and that this is a stable skill. There is something to the way in which a person looks at the world, or a certain set of abilities, that makes their judgments fairly reliable.”

The second method uses all forecasters’ judgments, and weighs and recalibrates them using the information about forecasters that you have learned are predictive of accuracy.

“What you know tends to be less important than how you think,” he said. “The characteristics that are more predictive have to do with flexible cognition and your level of fluid intelligence—to solve problems, think self-critically and update your judgments in the presence of new evidence. We’ve measured that, and weighted individual judgments depending on their score on particular cognitive tasks.”

Training in probabilistic reasoning can alone reduce error by 20 per-cent, he noted, while a combination of the two approaches reduces er-ror by more than half compared with conventional analytic approaches.

Another IARPA program in this area is called Open Source Indica-tors. In it, teams of researchers look at data such as web search queries, social media and financial markets, combine the data using machine learning approaches, and then use those learned patterns to predict a future societal event.

“The future of predictive analytics is to combine the best aspects of human judgment and machine learning,” Matheny summed up. He encouraged the audience to try their hand at forecasting by visiting www.goodjudgmentproject.com.

To obtain a copy of Jason’s presentation, please email [email protected]. ■

whAt mAkeS Good FoRecAStinG teAmS?Intelligence research office conducts tournaments to identify analysts who are the best at predicting the future, and combine their predictions smartly.


With its ability to provide near-instant analysis of very large data sets from a huge variety of sources, in-memory computing tech-nology brings a level of flexibility and speed to intelligence missions that can actually change the way analysts do their work.

That bold prediction comes from Bob Palmer, senior director of SAP NS2, who fore-sees a huge impact on the intelligence profes-sion and mission from the recent introduction of SAP HANA, a platform that leverages tech-nological advances in main memory, multicore processing and data management to deliver radically better computing performance at lower costs.

Engineered to provide “analysis at the speed of thought,” the SAP HANA platform not only delivers remarkable increases in process-ing speed, but also new capabilities in areas such as predictive analysis and activity-based intelligence (ABI).

“Because it can handle both structured and unstructured data, all with the speed of in-memory computing, it empowers analysts to approach the information they need to solve a mission problem in new and different ways,” said Palmer. “The ability to do analysis at the speed of thought on multi-trillion record data sets gives them the ability to work iteratively, at a natural rhythm and in real-time, in order to pursue their analytical outcomes.”

The power of SAP HANA lies in its game-changing strategy for managing and analyzing big data. Developed in collaboration with Intel Corp., which wrote HANA-specific instruction sets into its newest generation of chips, the platform provides software and hardware that are optimized to deliver breakthrough speed for complex analysis.

SAP HANA embodies a unique approach to the problem of operating on very large data sets, because the logic to be applied to the data—and all of the data that will be subject to processing—are both contained in main memory at all times. External memory—either in solid state or spinning disk drives—is not part of the computational path. Yet because it is based on open standards, SAP HANA can deliver this acceleration to any existing tool or user interface that already is in use.

“Historically, analysts have either worked iteratively on smaller data sets, or they’ve worked on very large data sets in batch mode, with a latency between the desire for an analyt-ical outcome and the fulfillment of that desire,” Palmer explained. “SAP HANA changes that paradigm, in that even very large data sets can be exposed to complex predictive algorithmic processing in sub-second response times.

“For example, analysts can process geospatial data and open source unstructured data all in one platform. It can perform ‘what if’ or predictive analysis on possible future outcomes in just seconds, even on trillions of records,” Palmer continued.

The result is an unprecedented ability to analyze both real-time streaming events and compare them against historical data in time-series analysis in one platform. “Historically, streaming data is processed separately from historical analysis of data. The difference with SAP HANA is that both those types of data can be handled in one analytical view,” he added.

Another advantage is that the SAP HANA platform can interact easily with other tech-nologies in the enterprise, without the need for esoteric skill-sets or proprietary interfaces.

This accelerates existing tools within the enter-prise with the speed of in-memory processing.

That is critical in areas such as ABI, where one of the prerequisites is that the analytical solution must be very fast. “If the data platform only operates in a batch mode, and can only give you a rear-view mirror view of what has already happened, it does not fit well in an ABI-based paradigm,” Palmer observed.

Similarly, predictive analysis is particularly well suited for in-memory data processing. Because complex predictive algorithms are traditionally very computing-intensive, analysts historically have only used samples of data to run their predictive models, given the slow speed of traditional computing architectures.

“With SAP HANA, by contrast, predictive analysis can be performed on every element of the data set. It’s axiomatic in predictive analysis that the more data points that you use in the algorithm, the more accurate the range of predicted outcomes are,” Palmer said.

SAP HANA is also a strong complement to the Hadoop Distributed File System, which was created to speed work on very large data files.

SAP HANA combined with Hadoop offers the ability to absorb any sort of data needed for the mission or the business into a large unstructured “bit-bucket” file in Hadoop, where it can be accessed from queries in the SAP HANA platform.

“SAP HANA can leverage the ability of a Hadoop system to store multiple petabytes of data, and yet bring to it real-time analysis without the time delay that is usual in the Hadoop batch processing paradigm,” Palmer said. “That’s a great way to leverage the exist-ing investments that an agency has in data infrastructure.” ■

AnAlySiS At the Speed oF

thouGhtThe SAP HANA data platform has enough flexibility

and speed to change the way analysts do their work.


The intelligence community must change its approach to information management if it is to succeed in the “new normal” of widely distributed technol-ogy and a weakened ability to maintain secrets, according to members of an expert panel at the SAP NS2 Solutions Summit.

Addressing the topic were Carmen Medina, formerly a senior official at the CIA and now at Deloitte; Phil Mudd, another former CIA official now at the Crumpton Group; Victoria Romero of Charles River Analyt-ics; Noah Shachtman of Foreign Policy magazine; and Tom Wein of the Behavioral Dynamics In-stitute. Led by SAP NS2 National Vice President Cherreka Mont-gomery, the panelists engaged in a wide-ranging conversation that mixed freewheeling analysis and incisive insights into the informa-tion challenges facing the IC.

Shachtman began by defin-ing the new normal in contrast

with the recent past. “If you look at the last dozen years or so, there are certain assumptions you can make. When the U.S. was taking on irregular foes, there was an assumption of superior fire power, vastly superior technol-ogy, and that what you learned from that technology could gen-erally be kept secret. Now at least two of those assumptions are coming undone—secrecy, and on the technology front, where you have to be careful not to assume a technology edge as well.

“In the new normal, you have to assume that the raw tech-nological edge isn’t going to be enjoyed, and even when it is, what you learned from that edge will only be enjoyed for a brief period of time,” he said.

“The IC and national security establishment are finding them-selves in a completely different information environment, and have been slow to adjust to it,” said Medina. “Part of the reason

we were slow was that a lot of this stuff wasn’t secret. One of the new normals that will emerge from the Snowden case and oth-ers is that the traditional secret intelligence information that the community has relied on is going to decline in certain areas.”

“There is a couple of hundred years of history of being able to keep diplomatic correspondence relatively secure, at least for a short period of time, but that window of time is going to close,” added Shachtman. “The differ-ence is that rather than giving in-formation to your opponent, you are giving it to everyone. There is going to have to be a rethinking of how you conduct diplomacy, and whom you interface with.”

But on the flip side, analysts also can benefit from exposure to vast quantities of hitherto-unreachable data in the form of the explosion of social media, as Romero pointed out. “One of the most interesting and important

aspects of the new normal is that we’re no longer limited to the opinions of leaders and spokes-people, but now have insight into the thoughts of everyday people that we never had before. This is a tremendous amount of data, and it opens an area that we never had before.

Romero continued: “What this new data source gives us is the ability to look at the thoughts of people around the world and understand the threats and fears that they talk about. Then we can compare that with the behavior that we see there,” and draw new insights.

One interesting area of social media mining is in looking for the linguistic indicators that a group of people is radicalizing politi-cally and possibly moving toward terrorist action. “One of the primary indicators is the amount of dehumanization language,” Romero explained. “This is data that we couldn’t have gotten even

intel And the “new noRmAl”

Expert panel probes the implications for u.S. intelligence of widely distributed technology and a weakened ability to maintain secrets.

left to right: Carmen Medina, Tom Wein, Dr. Victoria Romero, Phil Mudd, Noah Shachtman


five years ago. We hear them, but they’re really talking to one an-other. We’ve got to look at social media and find the groups before they begin to form.”

But overall, the U.S. coun-ter-radicalization strategy is piecemeal and disjointed, said Mudd, contrasting it with the highly touted British strategy in that area.

“My own instinct is to focus on behavior rather than attitudes,” said Mudd. “The U.S. government is never going to be credible in pronouncing the meaning of theological concepts within Islam. Anyway, social science has shown that atti-tudes are not good predictors of behavior.

“Tech can only do so much. If you buy a new technology,

you have to put the culture in around it—dedication to assump-tion checking, monitoring and oversight. If you’re going to spend money, put the other stuff around it,” Mudd added.

Policy also is limited in its ability to deter “lone wolf” ter-rorists, Wein noted. “Lone wolves are incredibly difficult to find and stop. But that may not matter so much, because while they may cause havoc and tragedy, they’re generally not enough to affect policy. So we have to frame these attacks in ways that people un-derstand that they may happen. There is no 100 percent solution, but you can reduce these.”

Along with new technologies and analytical methods, panelists also called for new approaches to thinking and training within the IC.

“One of the challenges we have is that 10 years ago, the peo-ple who could manipulate that kind of information were experts,” said Mudd. “But we’re starting to realize that the best analysts are not the experts, but the people who ask the best questions. That aggregation of data is going to require more and more analytical skill—not expert skill, but the skill to look at things in a different way.”

CIA veteran Medina ad-dressed similar concerns. “I worried when I was at the agency that our culture was excluding the cognitive diversity that we needed to deal with problems. We

would get lots of resumes, but it is possible that the people who truly thought creatively did not see the IC as a place to be, and if they got there, they soon left.

Increasingly, young people view the IC as a place they would like to work, because of the mis-sion, but they have to pay too high a cost for it.

“When I see people who’ve left the IC, the

number one reason for leaving is the culture—that they’re being asked to live in a way that runs counter to their peer group. An organization that can’t adjust to modernity will not long survive,” she warned. ■

SAP’S AUTHORIZED SPATIAL INTEGRATOR

• Real Time Situational Awareness

• Advancing Spatial Capabilities in SAP HANA

• Building SAP Mobile & Desktop Spatial Solutions

• Modeling Infrastructure Assets

• Associating, Visualizing, & Analyzing Data Quickly

critigen.com

Aaron hopp @thehoppnetPhillip Mudd at #sapns2summit: The best analysts are the people who ask the best questions, not the best experts.29 October


ReAl time SituAtionAl AwAReneSS

With Real Time Situational Awareness solutions from SAP NS2, national security and critical infrastructure organizations can associate, visualize, and analyze data from disparate systems to gain a comprehensive, real-time understanding of current and emerging conditions.

SAP’s high-performance Real Time Data Platform can quickly—and on demand—cor-relate information coming from a multitude of high velocity data sources. The platform also provides a means of initiating responses as the interconnections among data are exposed. The benefits include faster, more accurate and more automated decision making, which is crucial to saving lives and staying on top of emerging crises.

inFoRmAtion inteGRAtionNational security and critical infrastruc-

ture organizations cannot afford to run their operations on questionable data. With SAP Data Services and SAP Information Steward solutions, users can integrate, transform, improve, and deliver trusted data to support critical missions and business processes.

SAP Data Services enables you to gain a complete view of information by accessing and combining data—of any size and from any data source—for contextual insight and clear meaning. You can access, integrate and process structured and unstructured con-tent from a variety of data sources across your enterprise. You can also analyze linguis-tics to extract information, create semantic metadata, and analyze text in 31 languages to discover entities, relationships and senti-ments. These tools help customers gain significant insights into current conditions, identify emerging trends, and proactively respond to opportunities and risks.

With SAP Data Services, you can also manage data integrity by correcting data

issues as they arise, and preventing prob-lems before they occur.

ActionAble inSiGhtS And biG dAtA AnAlyticS

While federal budget cuts and mission re-alignments are bringing about many changes in U.S. national security, the fundamental need for actionable insights into the opera-tions of an organization has not changed. In fact, keeping up with demands and expec-tations is even more challenging amid an explosion of data that needs to be analyzed, understood, and turned into action.

The SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform is a flexible, scalable information infrastructure designed to pres-ent crucial data to analysts and others in a user-friendly, graphical way so that they can glean actionable information quickly, without having to wait for service from the I.T. shop. It guides users through their information to gain faster, more accurate, and more action-able insights into the key performance indica-tors of any mission. SAP BusinessObjects

provides users with new ways to examine their data and understand the underlying dynamics by drilling down into the details.

SmARt mobility And AppSWith SAP solutions for secure mobility,

delivered in the most secure environments by SAP NS2, you can make your mission-critical information securely available at all echelons of the organization, from highly connected CONUS environments to “occa-sionally connected” deployments in the field.

SAP is the only vendor that can provide customers with not just individual mobile solutions, but rather a complete, end-to-end suite of solutions that securely mobilizes the business processes of entire organizations. The SAP Mobile Platform is an on-premise or cloud-based mobile application develop-ment platform that accelerates the develop-ment and delivery of secure, highly scalable mobile applications on any device.

Users can meet FIPS 140-2 and HSPD-12 security requirements; deploy their own secure and scalable enterprise app store;

new SolutionS FoR new chAllenGeSSummit displays world-class solutions for national security and critical infrastructure organizations.


and embrace “bring your own device” with confidence.

peRFoRmAnce mAnAGementSAP’s Enterprise Performance Manage-

ment (EPM) solutions—delivered in the most secure environments by SAP NS2—empower defense and intelligence organizations to op-erate at peak efficiency with the world’s most respected business platform. Easy to deploy and use, the SAP business platform can handle the full range of mission-critical busi-ness tasks, as well as the interdependencies between various units’ actions and decisions. Managers can leverage information from a variety of authoritative information sources, instead of needing to oversee constant manual updates.

SAP EPM will help you prioritize initia-tives; allocate resources; translate agency goals into department-specific metrics that everyone can understand; facilitate

collaboration among various units and com-mands; measure ROI and key performance indicators; and drive accountability through clear, efficient reporting.

mAintenAnceThe adoption of condition-based mainte-

nance—using real-time data to prioritize and optimize maintenance operations—is well un-derway within the Department of Defense for all forms of equipment. While this technology does help improve performance and safety levels, it rarely reduces costs. Defense and in-telligence organizations need a highly efficient, affordable solution that provides real-time analysis of massive quantities of data.

By leveraging the speed and power of the SAP HANA “in-memory” data management platform, SAP Predictive Analytics meets that need, enabling organizations to rapidly analyze collected maintenance data in an iterative manner that was previously not

possible. With the SAP solution, users gain a real-time view into operations and logistics, allowing them to operate in a more preventa-tive and efficient mode.

GeoSpAtiAl with SAp hAnASAP NS2 has joined forces with Esri,

a leading geographic information system (GIS) and location analytics provider, to more deeply integrate GIS solutions with platforms and enterprise applications from SAP to improve customers’ speed, efficiency and decision-making. The combined solution offers organizations the ability to enrich SAP Business Suite applications with geographic content; rapidly process spatial, location, and enterprise data using the SAP HANA platform in real time; visualize geographic informa-tion in maps, graphs, and charts using tools from the SAP BusinessObjects portfolio; and deliver applications for front line personnel using the SAP Mobile Platform. ■


SolutionS FoR inSiGht

Q: whAt ARe the key chAllenGeS FAcinG the nAtionAl SecuRity community todAy?A: There are several. First, we face many more diverse and complex threats, from the disper-sion of al-Qaida, to Iran, Pakistan, North Korea, narco-traffickers, cyber criminals, domestic terror-ists and more.

Second, there is so much more national security informa-tion to process. Going back a decade or so, we still focused primarily on obtaining secret information about our enemies. There was no Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr or texting, and until re-cently, these information sources were not a part of the national security discussion. Today, there is much more information to manage and potentially to derive insights from.

Third, the economic situation is extremely challenging. The real-ity is that spending is going down, with no increases for the Depart-ment of Defense or the intel-ligence community. Everybody is looking for ways to get more out of a declining pool of resources.

Also, information security is paramount and offers more challenges in this environment. Ubiquitous access to data drives geometric growth in potential vul-nerabilities. Any solution set must account for these cyber threats.

But where there’s a chal-lenge, there is an opportunity. NS2’s value proposition is right in the center of these chal-lenges—providing solutions that help organizations get the most insight in the shortest amount of

time from their oceans of data—and doing it in the most secure environments.

Q: how cAn i.t. innovAtion help meet theSe chAllenGeS, And whAt ARe the key FActoRS to enSuRe thAt technoloGy plAyS A uSeFul Role?A: If you take a look at our customers in defense and related areas, they're really most concerned about two or three things. One is leveraging existing environments that have worked well in the past but now are faced with an overwhelming amount of new information, and the need to integrate and draw insights from the combination of new sources and old.

Another big concern is the cost of dealing with all that data. Our customers are feeling a tre-mendous amount of pain in

having to deal with the legacy cost models that are still out there. In the “new normal,” the old models are placing severe bur-dens on customers. It’s not just software licensing; it’s people, including all those doing analyti-cal work. One of the challenges in moving away from those old models will be change manage-ment—that is, there are a lot of players making a lot of money under the old models. If we are to meet our national security needs, then all of this will have to change.

Q: tuRninG SpeciFicAlly to the cApAbilitieS oFFeRed by SAp nS2, how iS youR compAny AddReSSinG the pRoblemS oF biG dAtA?A: In just the last few years, hu-manity has doubled the amount of information ever created in the history of the world. That’s

a destabilizing requirement. We can’t take that kind of quantum leap in information and process it through traditional methods.

Real time, in-memory data platforms offer huge poten-tial to help meet today’s and tomorrow’s needs by offering a quantum leap in data manage-ment and analytics. SAP HANA is a flexible, multipurpose data platform capable of real-time assessment of ‘big data’ to make it more manageable and action-able. That’s a dynamic transition in technology that’s going to help our customers meet their ever-increasing data demands.

We have customers in the commercial sector as well as in government who are leveraging SAP HANA today and achieving substantial improvements in ef-fectiveness.

On the business side, we're the new alternative in the market, so we are unencumbered by the business models of the past.

mark testoni, president of SAp nS2, reviews key challenges facing the national security community, and how technology can help.


We offer new and different kinds of business models and cost-effective terms that are more attractive to customers who are in search of cost savings. These options include demand-based licensing models that are similar to a cloud offering or the software as a service model.

Q: youR compAny pRomoteS the ideA oF combininG SAp hAnA with hAdoop to Achieve betteR peRFoRmAnce. pleASe explAin. A: Without going into the techni-cal details, Hadoop is an open source solution for data storage. Companies were seeing an explo-sion of information, and were tired of paying other companies to store their data. Hadoop is an inexpensive way to store data since the hardware involved is ge-neric and inexpensive, and there is no fee for using the software. In places like the intelligence community and Amazon, Hadoop is an excellent tool for taking raw information and storing it. How-ever, an open source solution like Hadoop can become very costly if you have to rely on technical tal-ent to build custom data-extrac-tion capabilities. However, with HANA, you can bring in subsets of the vast amounts of the stored information, and query or analyze it much more effectively, without relying on data scientists. You can obtain insights and inferences in seconds or minutes, not days. By putting the two together, it’s a very powerful combination.

Q: whAt Role do you See FoR pRedictive AnAlyticS, And whAt hAS been Achieved in thiS AReA So FAR?A: Being able to make better predictions based on the data is

the “Holy Grail” in the intelligence community today. Because if all we do is collect and analyze data on what has already happened, then all we’ve done is write a good history book.

An important part of the SAP HANA investment is develop-ing algorithms that look at data from various places and detect patterns that may point to some troubling trend. For example, we might combine sentiment

analysis on Twitter with captured signals and information from blogs to detect an emerging threat. That is predictive analyt-ics, and SAP technologies are an important part of that discussion.

Q: whAt do you See FoR the FutuRe? wheRe ARe youR induStRy And youR compAny heAded?

A: As I often tell my staff, we are trying to look not at where the hockey puck is now, but where it will be in two or three passes. I want to see our company continue to grow, but more im-portantly I’d like to think that our customers will say that we have done some important things for them and have helped enhance national security, and we couldn’t have done those without the help of NS2. ■

nS2 SeRveS lAunched FoR veteRAnS

The SAP NS2 Solutions Summit also provided an opportunity for the company to highlight its ongoing com-mitment to veterans’ causes, starting with the launch of a new nonprofit organization that will offer training and employment assistance to military service veterans.

NS2 Serves will offer train-ing courses in SAP solutions geared for national security applications, leading to certifi-cations that will be valuable in many career paths in the U.S. and worldwide.

Over a three-month period, full-time, paid trainees will undergo training in busi-ness process integration; military supply chain manage-ment; presentation and com-munication skills; preparation of a case study to solve a customer problem; weekly discussions with a business mentor; “soft skills” training and support; and access to an exclusive job fair with potential employers.

Trainees will receive a monthly stipend, mid-term bonuses for completion of requirements, and, upon

graduation, placement assis-tance to work in the national security space. Training will kick off in Bethesda, Md., on March 3, 2014, and continue through the end of May. Inter-ested parties may visit www.sapns2.com/vet-erans to get more information and submit a resume.

In another show of commit-ment to veterans, SAP NS2 shared its stage with Billy Hurley, a Navy veteran and PGA TOUR golf profes-sional, representing Birdies for the Brave, and Steve Kupcha, a

longtime activist for veterans, representing the Military Warrior Support Foundation (MWSF). In partnership with

Bank of America, MWSF under its “Homes4Wound-edHeroes” program awarded a four-bedroom, three-bathroom home near Char-lottesville, Va., to wounded veteran Mitchell Grimes, specialist, E-4, U.S. Army retired.

Specialist Grimes served as an infantryman from October 2009 to March 2013 and was wounded by an enemy rocket near Kirkuk, Iraq, in 2011. ■

billy hurley iii @billyhurley3@SAPNS2: @BillyHurley3 and @BirdiesForBrave now announcing funds for vets n conjunction with @PGATOUR #SAPNS2Summit // Awesome 2 b involved29 October

left to right: Steve Kupcha, Ashley Booker, Mitchell Grimes, Mark Testoni, Billy Hurley


IN U.S. NATIONAL SECURITY, NEW CHALLENGES REQUIRENEWSOLUTIONS SAP NS2TM CAN HELP YOU RUN FASTER, SMARTER, LEANER IN THE MOST SECURE ENVIRONMENTS. We would welcome the opportunity to discuss how SAP NS2 can help you achieve your mission.

For more information, please visit www.SAPNS2.com


Compiled by Kmi media Group staffINDUSTRY RASTER

BAE Systems has announced GXP WebView, a new lightweight, universal Web-based electronic light table that allows users to find and exploit mission-critical geospatial data using only a Web browser. Developed using HTML 5, this component of GXP Xplorer empowers all-source analysts to view, annotate and publish products on their own, without the need for assistance from a geospatial imagery specialist. The innovative GXP WebView

Pixel Server quickly turns any image, regardless of format or location, into a standards-based data stream viewable in a Web browser. GXP WebView leverages 25-plus years of experience in software development and support of commercial and national imagery formats to deliver the same geolocational accuracy that users have come to expect from more robust commercial soft-ware products like BAE Systems’ SOCET GXP.

The HP Designjet T2500 eMultifunction Printer brings new customer-driven design features to a single, compact device that scans, prints and copies to help highly mobile teams work together better and faster.

For architects, engineers, construction and geographic information system firms, as well as government agencies and enterprise customers, scanning large-format color documents is one of the most effective ways to review and communicate changes. However, large-format scanning is a time-consuming and complex process. In addition, many scanners today are still separate devices from in-office, large-format printers. The HP Designjet T2500 eMultifunction Printer features an integrated scanner, which makes it easy to scan and send sketches to team members, as well as incorporate hand-anno-tated changes. Additionally, the printer’s ergonomic design relieves traditional pain points with features like an integrated output stacking tray, two-roll front media loading with smart switching and an intuitive touch screen that allows monitoring media rolls and viewing status of the printing jobs.

Optech, a provider of advanced LiDAR and camera survey instruments, has released the Intelligent Laser Ranging and Imaging System (ILRIS) Scan software suite for its ILRIS Terrestrial Laser Scanner product line, which brings ILRIS operational efficiency to a new level. ILRIS Scan is a completely integrated workflow application suite that

leverages a powerful, fully functional API to control the ILRIS, optionally integrate cameras, and process its data. With the introduction of ILRIS Scan, users can now efficiently operate their sensor, collect data, process the results and visualize the final point cloud, all in one easy-to-use program. In addition to integrating all ILRIS survey

functions into one solution, ILRIS Scan also introduces a modernized and user-friendly interface that automatically adapts to the sensor configuration in use. This simplified interface takes the guesswork out of ILRIS operations for beginners while providing power users full flexibility in both operating the scanner and processing data.

Software Integrates Laser/Imaging Sensor Operations

Component Geospatially Empowers All-source Analysts

Multifunction Scanner Helps GIS Teams Work Together

Boundless, formerly OpenGeo, has released version 4.0 of OpenGeo Suite, which brings new features and improvements that include component upgrades to PostGIS 2.1, GeoServer 2.4, GeoWebCache 1.5 and support for OpenLayers 3 and QGIS. These enhancements expand the capa-bilities of the suite, enabling enterprises to replace legacy software with a Web-based open

source geospatial stack. Boundless offers OpenGeo Suite instal-lation packages for all major operating systems. The 4.0 release includes completely reworked packages for each system, making it easier to evaluate the software, develop appli-cations and deploy in production. Additional developments include a GeoServer clustering extension which allows high availability and better scaling under load. With the extension OpenGeo Suite users can configure GeoServer in a database as opposed to a file system, as well as automatically synchronize multiple instances.

Open Source Suite Enables Legacy Software

Replacement

GIF_OWad_8.375x10.875_1113b.indd 1 11/18/13 1:50 PM

Lieutenant General Raymond P. Palumbo is the deputy under-secretary of defense (intelligence) (DUSD (I)) for warfighter support and simultaneously serves as director, Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance Task Force.

Palumbo was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the infan-try and subsequently attended helicopter flight training. He served in command assignments from platoon through joint task force levels and in key staff positions from brigade through four-star combatant com-mand levels. He participated in operations around the globe, includ-ing the Panama, the Balkans, the Middle East, Somalia, South America, and most recently Operations Iraqi and Enduring Freedom. His gen-eral officer assignments include assistant commanding general, Joint Special Operations Command; deputy commanding general of U.S. Army Special Operations Command, and commanding general U.S. Army Alaska.

Palumbo has a Bachelor of Science degree from the U.S. Military Academy, a Master of Science in Administration from Central Michigan University and a Master of Strategic Studies from the U.S. Army War College.

Palumbo was interviewed by GIF Editor Harrison Donnelly.

Q: How would you define your role as DUSD (I) for warfighter support?

A: Broadly stated, my job is to ensure that the combatant commands (CCMDs) and combat support agencies have the intelligence policy and processes they need to plan and conduct successful military operations and campaigns. I see myself as the combatant commander’s primary military voice in all defense intelligence matters.

In addition to my DUSD (I) role, I’m also the director of the SECDEF’s ISR Task Force. The task force was formed in 2008 by Secretary of Defense Robert Gates to help speed up the delivery of urgent ISR capability to Iraq and Afghanistan. I like to refer to our job as “bird-dogging” requirements through the Pentagon bureaucracy. To do this, we routinely engage with the services, combat support agencies and joint and OSD staffs, as well as Congress, academia and industry, in order to work CCMD ISR requirements faster than the traditional DoD processes.

Q: What do you see as the key challenges facing DoD in providing full-spectrum support to the warfighter, and how are those changing as a result of changing operational needs?

A: DoD has done a great job over the past few years increasing both capacity and capability across the ISR spectrum. Going forward, we need to build on this success by leveraging the lessons we’ve learned and apply them to the network and analytical capabilities that we con-tinue to bring on line. Technological capabilities in areas, such as activity

based intelligence are still fairly nascent; as is the way we integrate and fuse intelligence across our various sensors and collection platforms. Our biggest challenge now is to take this wonderful mosaic of capability to the next level, even as we face the likelihood of smaller budgets for the foreseeable future.

It’s important to note that while we look to the future, the planned drawdown of combat forces in Afghanistan will most likely not yield an immediate, large-scale reduction in ISR—that will come gradually. The ISAF commander has specifically highlighted the need to keep select ISR capability in theater to compensate for the reduction in combat forces. We learned this lesson in spades when we left Iraq. As we look to the end-state in Afghanistan, ISR will remain a key enabler for counterterrorism and stability operations, as well as for force protection of American and friendly forces that may remain in theater.

Another challenge we see is the growing demand for ISR in other parts of the world. Some of this demand is driven by operational require-ments that couldn’t be met prior to some of the new capability develop-ments fielded in Iraq and Afghanistan, and some of it is the result of new and emerging threats.

Lastly, we face the challenge of resolving the ongoing debate on the strategic versus operational role of ISR in a post-Afghanistan environ-ment. How much do we need? How much can we afford? How do we rationalize one versus the other? The answer, I suspect, is not one or the other, but a proper mix of both.

So to sum up, we face numerous challenges, but with these chal-lenges come plenty of opportunity. I think we have an opportunity to take what we’ve built over the last decade and make it even better.

DUSD (Intelligence)for Warfighter Support

Director ISR Task Force


Intel WarfighterServing as the Combatant Commander’s Voice on Intelligence

Q&AQ&A

Q: How have your past experiences in field operations shaped your approach to providing intelligence for warfighter support?

A: I think I was selected for the position because I was a consumer of intelligence in a couple of key positions. I never really made intelligence, rather I was a consumer, so this job is a little different—to man, train, organize and equip the defense intelligence enterprise to make intelli-gence. Before this, I was in Alaska, “living the dream” as commander of United States Army Alaska, enjoying that state’s natural beauty. I was out driving with my wife when I got a call offering me a promotion and new job as DUSD for joint and coalition warfighter support and head of the ISR Task Force. When I asked why they wanted someone like me, the answer was that I had consumed intelligence well, and that was what they needed. So that’s how I got the job. I’ve been doing it for the last 17 months, and it’s been exciting. We deliver some important work on behalf of the department, particularly now as we face tighter budgets for the future. The department has built an incredible capability that our warfighters use primarily in Central Command, but also around the globe.

To do the job, you have to listen to the intelligence consumer and pay attention to how they articulate their needs. Because we’ve had con-siderable budgets over recent years, we have been able to build some pretty good capability. Warfighters tend to ask for more than they need, because when you are out there with America’s sons and daughters in harm’s way, you want to make sure you’ve done all you can. Back here in the Pentagon, however, you have to look at the requirements coming out of the field and ask whether we can afford it. It’s a tension between the requirements coming out of the field, and the ability to deliver on those. Over the last 10-12 years, we’ve been able to deliver a lot. But with sequestration and budget cuts, it’s a tall order for the national security community, not just the military. We have to make some judgments on what we can deliver.

Q: You were scheduled to address the GEOINT Symposium this fall, which was postponed. What message would you like to deliver to the GEOINT community about how to improve intelligence support for the warfighter?

A: First and foremost, I would send a message of thanks. No country on this planet can do what we do with ISR. ISR is integral to everything we do, and it has been an incredible team effort to get where we are today. The entire community should feel gratified for what it has accom-plished and the resultant successful missions and lives that have been saved by ISR.

I would also foot stomp that even with the drawdown of forces in Afghanistan, it is clear that ISR capabilities will remain both a critical force protector and force multiplier no matter where we operate around the globe—in peace or in conflict. We like to say in OUSD (I) that intelli-gence is the first line of defense, and ISR is in front of the line.

Finally, I would note that DoD has reaffirmed the necessity for orga-nizations and a cultural mindset that can respond rapidly and agilely to urgent and emergent needs. The synergy of the entire intelligence com-munity, including our labs, industry and academia, is needed in order to deliver ISR capabilities that address existing shortfalls and rapidly fill gaps with full-up, cost-effective solutions.

Q: What are some of the most promising approaches you see for enhancing geospatial intelligence support to the warfighter in the future?

A: We need to continue to work on linking our intelligence, such as SIGINT, HUMINT across national, tactical and operational domains, and to be able to do it anytime from anywhere. We need to build on the great strides we’ve made in how we do multi-intelligence cuing and tasking of assets, and the exploitation and dissemination of the resultant intelligence across a broad and disparate network of consumers.

There are several promising efforts to fuse intelligence data across platforms and sensors before it reaches an intelligence analyst. This sen-sor/platform-agnostic way of doing business will increasingly free up the analyst to more quickly focus on what the data is saying. In addi-tion, there are some very smart folks who are building software capa-bilities that enable both the analyst and the operator to better visualize the entire operational environment.

Another area of emphasis—and I cannot overstate this impera-tive—is to improve our ability to work more effectively with our allies and partners. This speaks to interoperability and burden-sharing, but also to security. We are pushing hard to improve our systems to share information more effectively and appropriately in light of the recent spate of insider threats. I see this as a growth area.

Q: How would you assess the overall role and achievements of the ISR Task Force?

A: I am extremely proud of my association with the ISR Task Force and our partners within the Joint Staff, CCMDs, services, combat support agencies and OSD staff. The task force’s accomplishments, first under Lieutenant General Richard Zahner and then Lieutenant General Craig Koziol, have truly been the result of a great team and an integrated joint effort. Secretary Gates understood that the Pentagon’s acquisi-tion process was not designed to acquire materiel with speed and agil-ity. The system worked exceedingly well during the Cold War but proved inadequate for moving fast in delivering operational capacity in Iraq and Afghanistan. By standing up organizations like the ISR TF that could focus, break through paperwork if needed, and have the atten-tion and support of the department’s senior leadership, Secretary Gates enabled solutions that were delivered faster and more effectively than thought possible.

The question that DoD has asked itself as we begin to draw down in Afghanistan is whether the capability to move rapidly and agilely in response to urgent requirements is something that should be retained in the Pentagon’s bureaucracy. After all, this kind of business approach can be disruptive to the normal acquisition system. However, many including my boss, Dr. Mike Vickers, feel that we cannot afford to lose this quick response capability in a world of rapidly evolving technolo-gies and threats. The very reason we created the ISR Task Force seems to be the new normal. As a result, the deputy secretary of defense made the decision to transition the responsibilities of the ISR Task Force to the OUSD (I) where it will continue to do the same great work that it’s been doing since 2008.

Q: What have you learned and seen in visiting Afghanistan as part of your current position?

A: In my last two trips to Afghanistan, I went around looking specifi-cally at how we’ve delivered ISR to support the commander there—cur-rently, General Dunford, and before him General Allen. When I came on board here, I reported to Under Secretary Vickers. The first thing he said was, “Ray, your first job is this—whatever John Allen wants, John Allen


gets,” and later, “whatever Joe Dunford wants, he gets” in ISR. So I listen very carefully to what they say. I would compare it to what I saw in Iraq in terms of ISR. You would think that because we had so many more soldiers in Iraq, we would have a lot more ISR assets. When I’m talking about ISR over there, it’s really airborne ISR—manned and unmanned airplanes. The manned aircraft have a pilot and co-pilot up front and four to six seats in the back, loaded with sensors and high tech equip-ment to transmit the information to where it can be used.

Comparing Iraq to Afghanistan, what I’ve noticed is that in Iraq, we had a certain amount of ISR in terms of numbers of airplanes, each of which would have one kind of sensor, whether photos, full motion video or signals intelligence. The difference between the peak in Iraq and the peak in Afghanistan, which we’ve already passed, is that we have many more aircraft, and each of those aircraft has multiple sen-sors. They don’t just look, but look and listen, and perhaps in a cou-ple of different ways. The video might be high definition. So not only are there more platforms, but also there are more and better sensors. We’re moving the digital information that comes out of the sensors, and distributing it through communications pipes that are much bet-ter. We can move these ones and zeroes, in many cases back to the United States. We have a more professional workforce that is looking at video, analyzing it, and sending it to commander. That’s what I noticed the last two times I went to Afghanistan, compared with what I used to see in Iraq—there is more, it’s better, and what we’re doing with it is better.

Q: What were some of the critical lessons learned from ISR programs in Afghanistan about providing intelligence support for the warfighter?

A: The department has made significant investments in processing, exploitation and dissemination (PED) systems to enable deployed forces to rapidly process and relay targeting information. And that, in turn, led to a significant change in how we’re doing multi-intelligence cuing and tasking of assets, and how this is integrated into a consolidated PED architecture.

Our investments in integrating this architecture have allowed us to provide a significant percentage of PED from reach back locations. The inherent advantages of reach back operations are a smaller footprint in theater and reduced vulnerability of facilities with little to no degrada-tion of timely support to the warfighter.

Q: What are the plans for an ISR drawdown in Afghanistan as that commitment draws to a close?

A: As I mentioned earlier, ISR is a critical contributor at the beginning and at the end of operations, and will remain a key enabler for the tran-sition to host nation led operations and force protection for the smaller footprint of U.S. and coalition forces. ISR needs to be first in, last out.

Notably, ISR demand does not end when combat operations cease. CCMDs employ ISR to provide situational awareness of potential adver-saries and to strengthen partnerships with key allies by sharing appro-priate information that they may need to maintain security. ISR is also a critical enabler for our forces engaged in counterterrorism operations and helps facilitate CCMD reaction and support to contingency opera-tions elsewhere in the region.

Q: Can you expand on the future for the ISR Task Force, and why you think we need such an organization?

A: Absolutely. The deputy secretary of defense’s Management Action Group met on July 17, 2013, to discuss the way forward for so-called QRC organizations, which includes the ISR Task Force.

In a subsequent memorandum the deputy secretary directed that the ISR Task Force (TF) align to a permanent entity within the USD (I) organization. The memo stated that the transitioned organization will be staffed appropriately to enable rapid fielding of new ISR capabilities in support of global warfighter requirements.

What that means is the ISR TF will be institutionalized within the Office of the Secretary of Defense under the USD (I). We are currently working with Dr. Vickers to define and refine future courses of action for just how we do that. Certainly, we’re in the very initial stages of reach-ing out to and engaging with the services and combatant commands on how this will work, but for now our main focus remains Afghanistan until we transition to the mission.

Q: What are some of the other achievements of those you work with that you would like to highlight?

A: Ever since I was a young commander, I had the philosophy that I’m in this business to accomplish the mission, and the mission is the most important thing. I describe this philosophy as being like a three-legged stool. The business of DoD is different from most oth-ers, because you may have to give your life. The same is also true for police and firefighters, among others, but I would say that the pro-fession of arms is special. I would argue that there is nothing more important than the mission if you’re going to ask someone to offer their life for it. The three legs that hold up the mission are the peo-ple, and the training and equipment they get to do the job. They would wobble if that stool wasn’t held together by all three braces. My philosophy has always been good teamwork, good leadership and good discipline.

Now I work at the Pentagon, for the first time in my career. There are no planes or ships here, but just people who are trained and edu-cated, with little more equipment than a phone, conference table and video teleconference system. The most important thing I’ve noticed in this job is the dedication of the people who walk in every day, whether they are a contractor, career civil servants or military personnel rotat-ing through on assignments. They are full-on, and they know that we’re still at war. They are coming in here and tackling problems every day. That’s what I’ve learned, and I am grateful. It’s good people working as hard as they can every day to support the warfighter.

Q: Is there anything else you would like to add?

A: Right now our top priority remains Afghanistan. In spite of the draw-down, we are still delivering capabilities to theater in order to improve ISR capability as a means of mitigating the risk inherent in a drawdown. The ISR TF with our CONUS and theater partners is working to deter-mine best of breed in several ISR functional areas to inform decisions on which ISR platforms to redeploy first, and which ones to retain. We are also heavily involved with efforts to equip the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) with enabling capabilities. The Warfighter SIG chaired by the deputy secretary tasked the ISR TF to supervise the delivery of ISR enablers to the ANSF.

Outside of CENTCOM, the ISR TF has supported AFRICOM in help-ing with fielding ISR solutions required in that large and austere area of operations. The bottom line is that there’s plenty of work ahead in the world of ISR. It’s an exciting time to be in this line of work. O


When Hurricane Irene slammed into the East Coast in August 2011, extensive flooding occurred in several states including Vermont and Connecticut. Government organizations, such as the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), swung into gear, request-ing satellite images of the affected land, property and infrastructure to plan a coordinated response to the flooding and organize relief operations.

The duty of processing raw satellite imagery of Hurricane Irene’s aftermath fell to the South Carolina Air National Guard (SCANG). SCANG participates in an Air Force program called Eagle Vision IV, which consists of five imagery receiving stations capable of being deployed wherever and whenever needed to serve imagery to responders during a crisis. That imagery is relayed to receiving stations in individual units—tiles—that must be stitched together (mosaicked) to create actionable maps of large areas.

To improve its imagery delivery service and trans-mit the images to FEMA and other agencies as soon as possible, Eagle Vision integrated an imagery exten-sion into its existing ArcGIS workflow, automating the mosaicking of specific satellite imagery contain-ing fresh imagery of the affected areas. According to PCI Geomatics, a software provider for remote sens-ing, photogrammetry, cartography, spatial analysis and GIS, automating this process sped up the creation and delivery of the images during Hurricane Irene by several hours.

“One of our missions is to downlink and produce satellite imagery of disaster-affected areas for first responders,” said Master Sergeant Troy Wilkerson, SCANG, who is also the system administrator for the Eagle Vision IV program. “That requires turn-ing raw satellite imagery into a useful base map within the shortest amount of time.”

The amount of data that needs processing can be enormous in a large-scale event such as a wildfire or flood. More automated pro-cesses are then required to get the imagery out faster.

In another situation, Army geospatial engineers were tasked with defining helicopter landing zones (HLZ) to support supply deliver-ies in an earthquake-stricken country. The engineers used the most recent imagery available to generate an area boundary and contours of the area. Those features were used to automatically identify and measure the HLZ, which can then be used to determine the maxi-mum number of helicopter landing sites. Vertical obstructions in the vicinity were also collected as features to be used in the analysis of approach and exit paths.

That example, provided by Intergraph, as well as the one provided by PCI Geomatics, highlights the use of geospatial feature extraction, a technology that has grown out of the computing world.

mission planninG

Geospatial feature extraction, which refers to the collection of feature data of interest from remotely sensed data such as imagery, LiDAR and radar, is not only being deployed to help in humanitarian

assistance and disaster response. It is also finding its way quickly into intelligence and defense communities where the technology is being used in numerous ways.

One example would be the extraction of spe-cific vehicle types to get an idea of an enemy’s mobile capabilities.

“Extracted feature data can also be used to assist mission planning by identifying key features a force would encounter, such as buildings, trees and bodies of water and their exact location and geographic char-acteristics,” reported Rob Mott, vice president of geo-spatial solutions, Intergraph Government Solutions.

“Generally speaking, it’s the conversion of this raster data into vectors [points, lines, polygons],” explained Kevin Opitz, manager of sales operations for Overwatch Geospatial Solutions, an operating unit of Textron Systems, a Textron Inc. company. “This vec-tor information can then be measured, catalogued and used for a variety of purposes.”

In essence, feature extraction is the process of cre-ating graphics from image vector data, attributing features and storing them in a feature database. Three-dimensional image features include a collection of geometric types such as points, polylines or polygons.

“That information can be as simple as finding all of the same color pixels in an image to something as specific as extracting an image of, say, a building in an image,” explained Anne Lilje, project engineer and team lead for the professional services 3-D and imag-ery team at Esri. “As a result, we are not only getting information of 2-D spatial characteristics of targets, but also information about that third dimension.”

Geospatial feature extraction can occur manually, via an operator digitizing or tracing the object’s representation within the imagery, or in a semi-automated manner through the execution of algorithms that are trained to recognize patterns and objects in the imagery’s pixels and patterns. These are then used to construct the intelligent digital representation.

“Single images provide a good basis for extracting 2-D fea-tures, such as a building outline, while stereo pairs of imagery pro-vide the basis for extracting 3-D features, such as a mountain road,” explained Mott.

Not only do the resultant features have an accurate geospatial representation, but in many cases metadata (or attributes) also are assigned to the features.

Feature Extraction Comes of Age

Kevin Opitz

Rob Mott

by KaRen e. thueRmeR, GiF CoRRespondent

ColleCtion oF FeatuRe data oF inteRest FRom Remotely sensed data suCh as imaGeRy, lidaR and RadaR is beCominG a vital intelliGenCe Capability.

16 | GIF 1 1. 8 www.GIF-kmi.com

“For example, in addition to collecting a set of vertices to repre-sent a segment of roadway, the operator may also define non-graphic attributes such as road type or primary usage,” Mott explained.

Three-dimensional features can be used in a myriad of ways that 2-D would have been inappropriate or not useable. One example would be a raid on a particular compound believed to house a high-value target.

“It’s one thing to extract data in a 2-D sense, but if you can extract data in a 3-D sense, you can create a 3-D mockup on a screen of target areas that visually is much more intuitive for a human being than anything else,” commented Lilje.

By doing so, defense organizations can prepare missions more effectively. And if an image of any area is extracted over and over again, defense and intelligence organizations can discern changes in that area.

Feature extraction is an important part of a many geospatial workflows. Analysts within military and intelligence agencies contin-ually collect features from remote sensed data over areas of interest where current or future military operations are likely to occur. The resulting feature datasets are used to support a variety of analytical and mission planning activities, and are also used in the construc-tion of digital maps.

“In many cases, such as humanitarian assistance and disas-ter response, the feature data is then shared with international and domestic mission partners,” Mott stated.

Defense and intelligence operatives can use feature extraction in a host of ways. “Any time there is a need to have knowledge of an area and its characteristic in a 3-D manner, feature extraction becomes extremely important,” remarked Lilje.

extRaCtion appliCations

Several years ago, geospatial feature extraction within the geo-spatial community would have been difficult to execute. For a decade or more, the focus had been on 2-D feature extraction, whereby sat-ellites or aerial photography was used to look at images of things of interest on the ground.

“That was the case in terms of long-term surveillance in order to do reconnaissance before taking any kind of action, or to moni-tor certain treaties,” Lilje said. “Two-dimensional feature extraction was also used to examine an area of suspected targets or buildings, or to collect evidence that something is being done in an area that you want to know about.”

But in the last few years, great advancements have been achieved in understanding how to do 3-D feature extraction both in imagery and LiDAR.

“You cannot extract features from imagery, espe-cially if it is a large area, by looking at only one image,” Lilje said. “But if you have 50,000 automated images of an area in a geospatial context, that is a huge time and money saver.”

Today geospatial feature extraction software gen-erates thousands of images that create intelligent dig-ital representations of real-world objects from pixels within imagery or other varieties of remotely sensed data. To use the software, an intelligence or defense organization has to have some kind of geospatial management sys-tem, such as ArcGIS, to be able to do feature extractions of phenom-ena such as tanks, roads or objects of interest over a large area.

ArcGIS is Esri’s platform for designing and managing solutions through the application of geographic knowledge. ArcGIS enables users to create, organize and share geographic information and tools with anyone through intelligent online maps and useful apps. These apps run virtually anywhere, including on desktops, smartphones and tablets.

Today Esri offers three COTS packages for geospatial feature extraction: ArcGIS desktop, ArcServer and ModelBuilder.

ModelBuilder, an application that comes within ArcGIS desk-top, allows users to edit, manage and create models that are basically symbolic representations of a geospatial workflow. ModelBuilder can also be thought of as a visual programming language for building workflows. Models are workflows that string together sequences of geoprocessing tools, feeding the output of one tool into another tool as input.

“For example, if you want to do feature extraction on a large number of images and want to find all of the buildings in that image, in ArcGIS you have already determined that you can put together and extract a workflow of images of, say, buildings and put them into a geo database,” Lilje explained.

“The ModelBuilder will assist you in creating that workflow with-out having to do a lot of programming,” she continued. “You can take the elements in each step, drag them to another screen, then con-nect the images and run models. It makes the power of ArcGIS more accessible for those who do not like to program.”

What differentiates Esri’s capabilities in the GIS market is the fact that the company offers full end-to-end geospatial systems, Lilje said. “We go from geo database to mobile devices. You can either have a standalone GIS system in your office desktop, or you can create a larger-capacity GIS system using ArcGIS server. And with ArcGIS server or other extensions that we have, you can create a web-based geospatial capability.”

The application is compatible not only with desktop web browsers, but can also be used on Windows mobile phones or Android devices. In addition, Esri offers a cloud-based solution that can tie all these elements together. “We have a complete end-to-end GIS solution on all modes of delivering geospatial information,” Lilje said.

sCalable soFtwaRe

PCI Geomatics develops scalable satellite and aerial image pro-cessing software that is used by customers around the world to cor-rect raw imagery, and derive information products.

“PCI provides software to read, correct and output imagery and map products that can be used for deci-sion making by the military and other types of orga-nizations,” reported Kevin R. Jones, spokesman for PCI Geomatics. “Our three main market segments are government, commercial and education. To extract information from geospatial imagery, orthocorrection is typically required.”

PCI, which provides automated, rigorous image correction capability, supports a number of differ-ent satellite and airborne sensors that collect imag-ery on a regular basis. Features can then be extracted

from imagery. “Examples include detecting flooded areas, identify-ing targets on the ground, or extracting detailed elevation features,” Jones explained.

Kevin R. Jones

GIF 1 1. 8 | 17 www.GIF-kmi.com

PCI has also established itself as a reseller for a new product, 3-D FeatureXtract, which it bills as “an easy-to-use and photogrammet-rically accurate tool to extract elevated features from stereo overlap-ping satellite or aerial imagery.”

PCI is recognized for its work in processing the synthetic aper-ture radar (SAR) imagery used for numerous military and intelli-gence purposes. “Maritime domain awareness, elevation mapping, change detection, and target analysis are a few of the many applica-tions that leverage the powerful capability in Geomatica software to extract information from SAR imagery,” Jones reported.

Intergraph provides a variety of software applications that sup-port the processing of imagery for manual or semi-automated feature extraction workflows, as well as the feature extraction itself.

Intergraph offers five products. ERDAS Imagine is a geospa-tial data authoring system that incorporates geospatial image processing and analysis, remote sensing and GIS capabilities into one application.

“ERDAS Imagine is the baseline product for a feature extraction workflow,” explained Mott. “In addition, ERDAS Imagine allows users to easily create 2-D images, orthophoto mosaics, landcover classifica-tion, 3-D flythrough movies, and cartographic-quality map composi-tions from geospatial data.”

Intergraph’s LPS is a photogrammetry system that can be used to generate of digital terrain models, produce orthorecti-fied photo images, and extract 2-D and 3-D feature extraction in a user-friendly environment.

Imagine Easytrace is a semi-automated feature extraction capa-bility that collects features by simply placing a few vertices along the line or polygon. “Imagine Easytrace automatically places the other points to precisely define the feature,” Mott said.

Imagine Objective automatically finds and collect features in imagery by combining learning and expert knowledge systems in a true object-oriented feature extraction environment so that vector feature layers can be created and updated. Stereo Analyst for ERDAS Imagine, meanwhile, uses stereo pairs to collect 2-D and 3-D vector features from imagery.

Robust alGoRithms

Going forward, it’s difficult to predict the next step for geospatial feature extraction technology. One thing is for certain; It continues to improve and evolve.

“The manual tools are becoming easier to use and becoming more seamlessly integrated with baseline geospatial applications, such as ERDAS Imagine,” commented Mott. “The algorithms associ-ated with semi-automated extraction are becoming more reliable and robust. As higher resolution imagery is collected at improved qual-ity, the algorithms are able to generate results with a higher degree of accuracy.”

Those in the business see a move to thin-client and cloud-based solutions.

“We see the cloud as the engine that will allow real-time pro-cessing of big data for decision making,” Jones remarked. “We will become more and more dependent and used to getting answers faster than ever, which will be made possible by processing and analyzing large geospatial datasets.”

Esri currently has a cloud-based offering, but Lilje is convinced that its footprint, as far as the intelligence and defense communities are concerned, will increase its presence even more.

“There are public clouds such as the Amazon cloud, which is where we store our GIS online, or individual groups can cre-ate own clouds,” she said. “Although we are doing this right now, I think the capacity of those clouds to be able handle data will increase significantly.”

Opitz sees feature extraction as a service in the future. “As image pipelines get more and more robust, and analytical resources con-tinue to be finite, automated feature extraction services that can be running as image tiles are ingested could be a large part of the solu-tion,” he said. “As we’ve seen over the years, the market demands solutions that not only satisfy technical requirements, but are also flexible and cost effective. That holds true in the geospatial feature extraction market as well.”

“As an example, five to 10 years ago LiDAR data was very new,” Opitz remarked. “Few analysts understood it and even fewer had access to it. Now LiDAR is relatively common across many geospatial organizations. As remotely sensed data becomes less expensive and more understood, we will continue to see new industries leveraging the power of geospatial information, which is exciting for those of us who work in this market.” O

For more information, contact GIF Editor Harrison Donnelly at [email protected] or search our online archives

for related stories at www.gif-kmi.com.Copyright © 2012 Esri. All rights reserved.

Understanding our world.

Learn more at esri.com/intelligence.

G61568_Geospatial_Int_11-13.indd 1 11/15/13 12:39 PMwww.GIF-kmi.com18 | GIF 1 1. 8

January 21-24, 2014Defence Geospatial IntelligenceLondon, U.K.www.wbresearch.com

February 10-12, 2014 2014 Federal GIS ConferenceWashington, D.C.www.esri.com/events/federal

March 23-28, 2014Geospatial Power in Our PocketsLouisville, Ky.www.asprs.org/conferences

April 14-17, 2014GEOINT SymposiumTampa, Fla. http://usgif.org

the

adve

rtise

rs in

dex

is p

rovi

ded

as a

ser

vice

to o

ur re

ader

s. K

mi c

anno

t be

held

resp

onsi

ble

for d

iscr

epan

cies

due

to la

st-m

inut

e ch

ange

s or

alte

ratio

ns.

Astrium Geo-Information Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . C3www.astriumservices.comBAE Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3www.baesystems.comDynCorp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . C2www.dyn-intl.comEsri Conference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18www.esri.comGeneral Dynamics Advanced Information Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . C4www.gd-ais.comIHS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1www.ihs.com/beyondmapsOverwatch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12www.overwatch.com

Compiled by Kmi media Group staffGIF RESOURCE CENTER

advErtisErs indEx

CalEndEr

With more than a decade as editor of Military Information Technology, Harrison Donnelly has the background, relationships and understanding to lead MIT, widely considered the “Voice of Military Communications and Computing” and the most effective and trusted way to reach military IT professionals. His continuity of service guarantees the highest quality of editorial coverage, and makes advertisements in MIT all the more valuable. In a time of turmoil and change in both the defense and publishing worlds, “Hank” is someone who people across the community turn to when they want to deliver a message that makes a difference.

has been published to serve the military, Congress, and the executive branch for 17 years by the same KMI Media Group management.

» Stability » Consistency » Integrity

EXPERIENCE YOU CAN

COUNT ON

Critigen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9www.critigen.comDeloitte . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . C2www.deloitte.com/us/zoomEsri . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3www.esri.comImmix Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5www.immixgroup.com/for-governmentSAP National Security Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . C4www.sapns2.comVerizon Terremark . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11www.terremark.com

NEXT ISSUE February 2014, Vol. 12, Issue 1

Insertion Order Deadline: January 24, 2014Ad Material Deadline: January 31, 2014

Cover and In-Depth Interview with:

CommanderJoint Special Operations Command (invited)

• Activity-based Intelligence

• ArcGIS for Intelligence

• Unstructured Data

• Predictive Analytics

Features

Bonus DistributionEsri Federal GIS

ConferenceFebruary 10-12,

2014Washington, D.C.

Lieutenant GeneralJoseph Votel


S A p n S 2 S o l u t i o n S S u m m i t

Dan London is vice president of sales, marketing and customer support for BAE Systems’ Geospatial eXploita-tion Products (GXP) group. GXP develops industry-leading geospatial-intelligence software for data management, image exploitation, geospatial production, and intelligence reporting.

Q: Tell us about yourself, and how you joined BAE Systems’ Geospatial eXploitation Products business.

A: After leaving General Electric in 1987, I joined a small start-up company called VITec. VITec started as a hardware com-pany producing image processing boards for Sun computers that we sold to the Department of Defense and the intelli-gence community. In order to sell the hardware, we developed software to dem-onstrate the hardware’s performance. These demos were so well received by the users that I saw an opportunity to build a software application to replace the hard-ware light tables that were used to exploit imagery at the time. VITec Electronic Light Table [ELT] was released in 1990. This software overturned the DoD indus-try standard light tables from hardware to software.

Upon taking over as general manager of VITec in 1996, I saw an opportunity to merge VITec ELT, the leading image analyst package, with SOCET SET, the leading geospatial analyst package from BAE Systems. I orchestrated the sale of VITec to BAE Systems in 1997. The goal of the acquisition was to build a brand-new product from the core components of both VITec ELT and SOCET SET. This came to fruition with the creation of SOCET GXP, our flagship software, which was released in 2003.

Q: You’ve seen a lot of changes to Geospatial software over the course of your career. How is BAE Systems driving innovation in the industry?

A: An integral part of our ability to drive innovation within the industry is working directly with our customers to understand their needs and wish lists. We use this information to continually enhance our current products and cre-ate new ones as well. For example, we added web-based applications to our soft-ware over the last five years. These appli-cations stand in contrast to the desktop applications, which has been the soft-ware industry standard for the last 20 years. We created the web-based appli-cations because that is the direction we think the software industry is going. We are not solely betting on web-based appli-cations being the future of the industry, however; we are also optimizing our soft-ware to run as an application for virtual computing environments. This approach allows us to support the two emerging industry standards.

Q: Your products are widely used in public and private industries around the world. How do you keep your products relevant to such a diverse set of customers?

A: Our solution to maintaining our products’ relevance is simple: We lis-ten to our customers. We are readily available to our customers and provide free support and training. We also hold annual international user conferences in the United States and biannual con-ferences in Europe, the Middle East and Africa region, and Asia, Australia, and

the Pacific Rim. In addition to introduc-ing new products and providing presenta-tions from our customers about how they use our products, a significant aspect of these conferences is directly asking our customers about their needs. Last year, knowing the challenges posed by sequestration, we held a series of “GXP Roadshow” workshops across the coun-try in lieu of our GXP International User Conference. Our customers could not come to us, so we went to them.

Q: How are you adapting your products to address customer challenges?

A: As our addressable user base continues to expand in existing and new industries, our tools need to be more diverse. With this mindset, we created a search-and-discovery tool three years ago to accom-pany SOCET GXP. We had a software package that uses imagery from satellite and aerial sources to identify, analyze and extract ground features quickly. It made sense to us to also have a software data management application that quickly locates and retrieves geospatial data and allows analysts to share it on a local net-work or across an enterprise. As such, we created GXP Xplorer. This new soft-ware allowed analysts to find the images they then loaded into SOCET GXP. We were aware that other search-and-dis-covery tools existed, but we did not like their concept of a “data super store.” The existing tools in the industry housed all of the data, which required the analysts to copy their maps, images, vectors, and other data into this “super store.” In con-trast, we built a search-and-discovery tool called GXP Xplorer on the concept that an analyst should have the power to crawl the entire network to find data and then have the ability to “catalog in place” and leave the data where it resides. Going for-ward, we will continue to expand our cur-rent products and create new products to address industry challenges. O

INDUSTRY INTERVIEW Geospatial Intelligence Forum

Dan LondonVice President of Sales, Marketing and

Customer Support for Geospatial eXploitation Products

BAE Systems


GDAIS-GEOINT-Ad - Sep 2013 - AD5-813-1.indd 1 8/1/2013 10:37:30 AM

Gif%2011 8%20final

Documents

Transcript of Gif%2011 8%20final