Statement of Nathan S. Kauffman Assistant Vice President ...
Vice President s Report
Transcript of Vice President s Report
President’s Message
Vice President’s Report
In this issue of the Newsletter, we cover Chapter activities and the contributions of Chapter members to the planning and operations support to the 8th Annual Symposium. Chapter Members filled critical roles, to include presenting. The symposium is our annual “mission” where Chapter members can make a difference and it is time to prepare for 2020. The Chapter welcomes the following new mem-bers since our last newsletter:
Welcome to the premier professional asso-
ciation for Electronic Warfare and Infor-
mation Operations!!
“We Lead the Way!”
Arthur N. Tulak, Ed.D.
COL, USA, Ret.
Winter 2019/2020 Hawaii AOC Diamond Head Chapter Page 1
President’s Message December 19, 2019
Aloha!
This year’s IO Symposium exceeded all expecta-tions. We had a record number of attendees, and amazing briefs covering many aspects of Information Operations. The chapter owes a big thank you to all the volunteers who made the event possible. We also want to thank all our U.S. and foreign travelers for making the long trip to Hawaii to attend. Plan-ning for next year’s event has already begun. USINDOPACOM continues to set the standard on several Electronic Warfare and Electromagnetic Spectrum initiatives. As new and exciting EW tech-nologies are developed it is important to remember our critical role as part of a larger campaign. At it’s very core EW’s role is to degrade an adversary’s ac-cess to information, and deny them the ability to make timely decisions. Staying ahead of an enemy’s decision cycle has been at the heart of warfare for centuries, and Electronic Warfare is a fundamental pillar to that capability. The exceedingly complex nature of future warfare will require very niche ca-pabilities that are expensive to create and field. As the DoD figures out this complex web of non-kinetic harmonization, it’s important to remember the basic fundamentals of what Electronic Warfare brings to the fight. It is an honor to be part of our Diamond Head Chapter team, and look forward to building upon the tremendous success over the past few years. Respectfully, Jason A. Taylor, Lt. Col., USAF Command EWO, US Indo-Pacific Command
1. Taylor Strong 2. Terry Pratt 3. Ngoc-Hanh Le 4. Pamela Dziedzic 5. Meriel Robinson 6. Indre Jankeviciute 7. Rowdy Schaeffer 8. Kathryn Warlick 9. Jabari Dia 10. John Mitchell 11. Antonio Calderin 12. Kyle Steinman 13. Sean McDermott
14. Jerimy Doucet 15. Crystal Grijalva 16. Vane Rhead 17. Glenn Hartwell 18. LT Martin Nguyen 19. Lukas Allard 20. Joaquin “JC” Cruz 21. Patrick Mahoney 22. Tyiar Menough 23. Maximo Martinez 24. Michael DeWeert 25. Cpl. Jordon Ussel
Winter 2019/2020 Hawaii AOC Diamond Head Chapter Page 2
Chapter Participates in the 26th Annual Hawaii Tech Series at Camp Smith
By COL, Ret. Arthur N. Tulak, Ed.D.
Chapter members participated in the 26th Annual Tech Day , hosted by the Federal Business Council, Inc., at Camp Smith on 29 March 2019 in the Pollock Theater of Marine Forces Pacific. Headquarters. The Hawaii Tech Series provides a convenient, and no-cost, way for DoD and military personnel to evaluate the latest C4, IT, Cybersecurity, Intelligence, and Tactical products/services available from some of today’s leading govern-ment and industry partners. The event is held over the course of a week, but at a different military post each day, fin-ishing at Camp Smith after convening at Fort Shafter on Monday 25 March, at Schofield Barracks on 26 March, at Joint Base Pearl Harbor Hickam (JBPHH) on 27 March, and NCTAMS in Wahiawa on 28 March.
Chapter members were able to talk about the benefits of membership in the organization, what the Chapter is doing to advance IO and EW, and 9th annual IO Symposium co-sponsored by AOC and HQ US Indo-Pacific Command that was coming up in September. The Federal Business Council provided the table space once again as part of their corporate sponsorship of the Chapter, providing a great opportunity for outreach to the military professional community at Camp Smith.
The event allowed us to also reach out to many cyber professionals who ex-pressed interest in the symposium and Chapter activities. This annual event hosted by Chapter sponsor FBC pro-vides an opportunity to invite military, DoD Civilians and Contractors to join the Chapter and a few joined that day.
Photo: From Left to Right: Diamond Head Chapter Members Logan
Pooler, Taj Holmes and Arthur Tulak.
Photo: Industry Outreach Committee Chair, Lt. Col., USAF, Ret. Taj Holmes answers questions from an attendee at the Annual Hawaii Tech Series Day at Camp Smith.
For the 3rd year in a row, the key note speaker was a 4-Star Com-
mander.
Winter 2019/2020 Hawaii AOC Diamond Head Chapter Page 3
Chapter Meetings 2019
By COL, Ret. Arthur N. Tulak, Ed.D.
In addition to the many sympo-
sium planning meetings, the
Chapter convened three “social”
Executive Committee meetings
that combine social interaction
with Chapter business at the
Monterey Canners Restaurant to
discuss progress on Chapter
Goals for 2019, and preparations
for the 8th Annual AOC Pacific
Conference. The first two
meetings were held February
21st, and May 28th. At these
meetings, new Chapter Officers,
John Mitchell and Trish McCrary
were sworn in as Scholarship
Committee Chairman and Treas-
urer, respectively. Chapter offic-
ers also reviewed the competing
nominations for the official
theme for the 2019 Symposium,
and supported selected
“Countering Coercion: The Role
of Information Operations.” The
EXCOM is then discussed candi-
date presenters and the issuing of
the Call for Papers.
The Chapter held the last
meeting for 2019 on 16 Decem-
ber to go over key points from
the INDOPACOM J39 After-Action
Review of the 8th Annual Sympo-
sium, as they initiated planning
for the 9th, which will take place
20-23 October, again at the Hale
Koa Hotel and Camp Smith Ha-
waii.
Top photo: from Left to Right: Diamond Head Chapter Members Col Ret. Keith Cutler, Lt.
Col. Jason Taylor, COL, Ret. Arthur Tulak, SMSgt Todd Fee, and Patricia, “Trish” McCrary at
the May 28, 2019 Chapter meeting.
Bottom photo: Chapter Members at the celebrating the Chapter of the Year Certificate
following a successful Executive Committee meeting on December 16, 2019. Left to
Right: LTC Ret. Curtis “Manny” Manchester, Jabari Dia, Dr. Arthur Tulak, Lt. Col. Jason
Taylor, SSG Thomas Mangine, CDR, RN, Mat Cottis, and LTC Ret. John Mitchell.
Winter 2019/2020 Hawaii AOC Diamond Head Chapter Page 4
Chapter Contributes to the Success of the 8th Annual IO Symposium
By COL, Ret. Arthur N. Tulak, Ed.D.
The 8th Annual Pacific Information Operations Symposium was a great success, thanks to the efforts of Chapter volun-teers and the Federal Business Council. This was the first time that the Symposium was run as a Chapter event, a feat not possible without dedicated volunteers. The 8th Annual IO Symposium had the highest level of registration, and for the first time in the symposia series, registration was turned-off when it hit 279, which was a new record.
Chapter volunteers manned the check-in desk at the “meet-and-greet” social, during first day check-in, and at the full so-cial at the end of the first day. When the symposium moved to Camp Smith, Chapter volunteers ensured the break out sessions ran on time, and that participants were guided to and from the assigned conference rooms.
Participants in the symposium heard senior leader per-
spectives each day of the full plenary, starting with Gen.
Charles Q. Brown, Commander of Pacific Air Forces, who
opened the first day with insightful comments that framed dis-
cussions and presenter remarks over the next three days. Gen.
Brown was followed on the second day by LTG Stephen
Fogarty, Commanding General of Army Cyber Command. At
Camp Smith, the senior leader speakers were COL Sean Berg,
Deputy Commander of Special Operations Command Pacific
and Dr. George Ka’iliwai III, SES 2, Director, J8, USINDOPACOM
on the day of the classified plenary. The symposium has bene-
fitted from the support of 4-Star Senior Commanders for four
years in a row now, with ADM Phil Davidson, Commander U.S.
Indo-Pacific Command serving as the keynote in 2018, and GEN
Robert B. Brown, Commanding General of U.S. Army Pacific
(USARPAC) in 2017 and 2016.
One of the featured speakers was Lt. Col. Hsu, Min-Cheng,
ROCAF, who provided his perspectives on what it is like to be
on the receiving end of communist Chinese coercion and prop-
aganda, and how Taiwan Armed Forces are countering it in the
information environment.
Photo: Gen. Charles Q. Brown opens the conference with his keynote address 10 SEP, in the DeRussy Hall, Hale Koa Hotel. Photo by LCpl Danny Nateras, Marine Forces Pacific, Commu-nications Strategy and Operations, Combat Photographer.
Photo: Lt. Col. Hsu, Min-Cheng, Republic of China Air Force, presenting on how the ROC Armed Forces counter PRC coercion against Taiwan.
Winter 2019/2020 Hawaii AOC Diamond Head Chapter Page 5
One of the most favorably-rated aspects of the
symposium was the All-Army Colonels panel at
the end of the first day. All of the panel mem-
bers had prepared insightful responses to the
prepared questions. Some participants com-
mented for the After-Action-Review that they
would like to have had more time for questions
from the floor, and this will be taken up for the
9th Annual IO Symposium for action.
Another popular aspect of the 2019 symposi-
um was the use of case studies to provide par-
ticipants context about how IO is used to coun-
ter coercion. Chapter member LTC, Ret. Curtis
“Manny” Manchester presented a case study on
how the United States Support Group East Ti-
mor (USGET) conducted unilateral humanitarian
assistance operations for 3 years as a presence
mission to counter coercion from the pro-
Indonesia militia during the UN Transitional Ad-
ministration East Timor (UNTAET) Peace Keeping
Operation (PKO), and LTCOL Sandra Patterson,
New Zealand Army, provided a case study on Op-
eration Bel isi (At ease) in Bougainville conducted
in 1997, which inserted NZ troops into the Bou-
gainville civil war. In both case studies, the pre-
senters explained how these forces operated in
the information environment to counter coercion.
Providing a view of Russian Coercion was re-
turning speaker Doug Jordan, of the Joint Special
Operations University, on temporary assignment
to the American Embassy in Ukraine, who deliv-
ered his presentation over the Internet. Under
Chapter President Lt. Col. Taylor’s leadership, the
Chapter was able to pay for the enhanced audio-visual package from Pristine Audio-Visual, a local Honolulu company, to
provide a floor-to-ceiling screen and standing flat screen monitors to improve visibility of presentations to the entire au-
dience, including those in the back of the room. This set-up enabled a ZOOM presentation to Kiev Ukraine, allowed vid-
eos embedded in PPT presentations to be heard over the in-ceiling sound system, and allowed personnel in the back of
the room to see the presentations clearly on large monitors.
Another accomplishment for the symposia series was the continuing increase in Allied military participation, with 41
officers and defense civilians attending from 11 countries, with Chile sending a delegation for the first time to join the
Chilean Exchange Officer at USARPAC. This year’s symposium saw the greatest number of bilateral engagements con-
ducted on Day #3 (a total of 6) at Camp Smith with the J39. Six Allied Officers presented and participated in a panel dis-
cussion during the symposium, providing Ally perspectives on the IE.
Photo 2: COL Max Thibodeaux moderates the panel addressing counter-coercion challenges and opportunities. Panel members from left to right COL Andrew Whiskeyman, COL Brian Mellen, COL Paul Green, Col Steven Tracey (UKMOD), and COL Rob Thelen. Photo by LCpl Danny Nateras, Marine Forces Pacific, Communi-cations Strategy and Operations, Combat Photographer.
Doug Jordan greeting the audience from Kiev, 11 SEP 2019 at the start of his presentation on understanding and countering Russian coercion directed at Ukraine and America’s NATO Allies on the eastern Front facing off against Rus-sia.
Winter 2019/2020 Hawaii AOC Diamond Head Chapter Page 7
Chapter and National AOC Awards presented at the 8th Annual IO Symposium
Award presentation to LT Martin Nguyen, member of the Diamond Head AOC Chapter.
LT Nguyen was recognized by AOC President Muddy Watters with the National AOC Military Service Award (Navy). LT
Nguyen, currently assigned to the USS Preble, previously served as a Mission Systems Special Evaluator of an EP- 3E
aircraft assigned to U.S. Navy Information Operations Command, Bahrain while attached to Commander, U.S. FIFTH
Fleet from January to August 2018. LT Nguyen significantly contributed to over 70 successful combat missions, while
accomplishing national objectives in support of Operation INHERENT RESOLVE and Maritime Security Operations. He
led 20 operators in the exploitation of critical signals of
interest against high priority CENTCOM targets and
oversaw the production of over 1,000 time- sensitive
reports, and provided over 1,100 Signals Intelligence
(SIGINT) derived Indications and Warnings tips to tacti-
cal decision- makers. LT Nguyen also led spectrum de-
confliction in congested electromagnetic operating en-
vironment by identifying friendly and hostile spectrum
use and coordinating jamming operations by U.S. and
Coalition electronic attack aircrafts while preserving key
intelligence collection and mitigating mutual interfer-
ence. In support of Maritime Security Operations with
the USS SAMPSON (DDG- 102) and Navy Special War-
fare- 3, LT Nguyen directed electronic attack and tar-
geted messaging effects into the maritime environment
resulting in the deterrence and intercept of illicit cargo
transactions by state
actors.
Photo: Lt Martin Nguyen receives the AOC Foundation Award for Military Service Navy Award from AOC President Muddy Watters. Photo by LCpl Danny Nateras, Marine Forces Pacific, Communications Strategy and Operations, Combat Photographer.
The 8th Annual Pacific IO Sym-
posium was a team effort that saw
the Chapter, FBC Inc., and INDO-
PACOM J39 working together to
accomplish the mission. If you
were not able to attend, the Sym-
posium Proceedings will soon
be published, with abstracts of
each of the speakers and the
panel. Watch for it on the
Chapter and symposium
webpage and make your plans
to support the Chapter’s plan-
ning efforts and to attend 20-23
October 2020. Photo: From Left to Right - INDOPACOM J39 Col. Jaime “BB” Hernandez, Lt. Col. Jason Taylor, MAJ Christian Nicholas, SGT Tony Serna, Dr. Arthur Tulak, LTC Ret. Cindy Glennister, Mr. Jim Mishina, LTC Ret. John Mitchell, Lt. Col. Ret. Andres Mukk, Mr. Ed Gum, Col Ret. Keith Cutler, SMSgt Todd Fee, Mr. Logan Pooler, and Mr. Jabari Dia. Photo by LCpl Danny Nateras, Marine Forces Pacific, Communications Strategy and Operations, Combat Photographer.
Winter 2019/2020 Hawaii AOC Diamond Head Chapter Page 6
Chapter Scholarship Program recognizes outstanding UH Engineering Student
By Chapter President, Lt. Col. Jason Taylor
On September 11, 2019, which was the second day of this year’s Pacific IO symposium, we had a wonderful opportunity to award schol-arships to some very deserving University of Ha-waii students. Scholarship recipient Nicholas Yama attended the awards breakfast before the second day’s events, hosted at the Ritz-Carlton. Chesapeake Technology generously funded these scholarships presented by the Chap-ter, so having Jim Gerard and Dustan Hellwig from CTI there in-person demonstrated the great relationship forged over the last several years between CTII and the Chapter. The award meant a lot to Nicholas, and it was great to see such an intelligent young man receive financial assistance to reach his education goals.
The Diamond Head chapter is refocusing its’ scholarship efforts, beginning with appointing John Mitchell as our new Scholarship Chair-man. In this role he will be interacting with not only potential donors, but potential recipients as well. John shares in our belief that STEM career fields must be engaged and supported to ensure our national interests are protected. It is only through this next generation of brilliant minds that we will maintain our technological advantage in the world. Over the coming months Jon will be reaching out to all of our corporate partners and sponsors to encourage support for student-scholarships. Fortunately for the Diamond-Head chapter we’ve been lucky enough to have Chesa-peake Technology lead the way. It is now our du-ty to build upon their foundation and make it something bigger. Billions of dollars are flowing to produce the next version of “stuff” to protect our nation, but what are we doing to ensure we maintain the next generation’s best people? We must maintain the production line of human capi-tal into the non-kinetics enterprise. General knowledge surrounding Electronic Warfare has been on a steady decline for years. Investments are necessary to maintain the industry that sup-ports military capability. The cost of not doing so is surrendering the US technological ad-vantage.
Photo: AOC President Muddy Watters presents a scholarship award to University of Hawaii Electrical Engineering Senior Nicholas Yama. At right is Mr. Dustan Hellwig, CEO of Chesapeake Technology who spon-sors the annual AOC scholarships presented each year at the AOC Pacific Conferences. Photo by LCpl Danny Nateras, Marine Forces Pacific, Com-munications Strategy and Operations, Combat Photographer.
Photo: Chapter President Taylor congratulates University of
Hawaii Electrical Engineering Senior Nicholas Yama. Scholar-
ship winner at a breakfast held at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel
Winter 2019/2020 Hawaii AOC Diamond Head Chapter Page 8
From the Scholarship Chairman.
By John Mitchell
As our Diamond Head Chapter President alluded to in recapping the Scholarship Award Breakfast during the 8th Annual AOC IO Symposium, our Chapter can do more to support scholarships for collegiate scholars pursuing fields of study related to EW.
At the National level the Association of Old Crows Educational Foundation provides scholarships, and will be taking applications in January 2020. Completed applications and accompanying paperwork must be received not later than March 31, 2020. Appli-cants must be registered as a full-time student in sophomore or junior year of matricu-lated undergraduate engineering or engineering technology study at time of application submission in an accredit-ed college/university. Learn more at the AOC Educational Foundation page at https://www.crows.org/page/scholarshipprogram
Nationally across the Association of Old Crows, 30 U.S. chapters have an AOC Educational Foundation Fund, and in the first half of this year, 17 chapters gave out scholarships. In the new year, I will be working to find more scholarships and STEM grant opportunities for the Diamond Head Chater. My goal is to research funding opportu-nities here in Hawaii and then nationally to help connect innovative students with interested parties to fund their dreams and aspirations. For example, I will be reaching out to AFCEA Hawaii, who has awarded nearly $300,000 in the last three years alone to help enhance learning and education initiatives (www.afceahieducation founda-tion.org). In addition, I will be reaching out to STEMFinity Hawaii that provides grant opportunities for students and their projects (https://www.stemfinity.com/stem-grants-hawaii). Finally, I am looking forward to helping stu-dents connect with resources that will help fund their initiatives and projects to help America keep its great stand-ing as a World leader in innovation.
Developing the Theme for 9th Annual IO Symposium
The next major step in preparing for the 9th Annual IO Symposium is to identify the symposium theme that pro-vides a unifying concept to assist keynote speakers, presenters, and panel members to link together their presen-tations and remarks into a comprehensive whole. As the speakers will represent several of the Information-Related Capability (IRC) disciplines, an organizing theme is necessary for the presentations to be complementary and to present an IRC examination of a single thematic issue. In selecting our theme, it should be clearly appropri-ate for the Indo-Pacific theater, and should permit the detailed examination of the application of IO in carrying out a new or emerging operating concept, or for employment against a type of threat or crisis that is possible for INDOPACOM. The themes for the previous symposiums follow:
• 2012: “Air, Sea, Land Battle Concept: IO/EW/Cyber Operations” • 2013: “Understanding the Contested and Congested Pacific Theater Information Environment” • 2014: “IO in Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief Operations (HA/DR)” • 2015: “The Role of IO in Hybrid Warfare” • 2016: “The Role of IO in Countering/Defeating Anti-Access and Area Denial (A2/AD) Strategies” • 2017: “IO and EW in Multi-Domain Battle: the Future of Non-kinetic Fires” • 2018: “Deterrence in a Complex World: The Role of Information Operations” • 2019: “Countering Coercion: The Role of Information Operations.” Developing a theme is crucial to getting the right speakers and for shaping audience expectations. The theme serves help narrow down the list of possible speakers as we look for subject-matter-experts who understand the operational challenges associated with the theme, as well as IRC SMEs who have specialized in the related oper-ating environments.
Please submit your idea for the theme for the 2020 IO Symposium to Chapter Vice President, Dr. Arthur Tulak.
Winter 2019/2020 Hawaii AOC Diamond Head Chapter Page 9
December 2019 Chapter EXCOM Meeting
By Secretary Todd Fee
Aloha members!
Your Chapter leadership met on December 16th at Monterey Canners to discuss the success of the 8th Annual Symposi-um and begin planning the 9th Annual AOC Pacific Conference Symposium. While most of the discussion focused on developing this years’ theme, there was another item that caught our attention. During the 8th Annual Symposium, I heard a few rumblings similar to “What value does this membership provide me?” Those discussions have your chapter leadership thinking – What else can we do to provide value to you? Currently, your membership provides you a sub-scription to JED magazine and access to crows.org, both of which provide insight to the future of Electronic Warfare and its expanding role with the DOD. Discounted entrance into Symposium events is another added benefit. But per-haps, we have not done enough to inform you of what those membership fees provide not only you, but the Electronic Warfare community. Therefore, I’ve taken the liberty of reviewing Crows.org and I want to take this moment to high-light the value of your membership:
• As previously mentioned, a subscription to the Journal of Electronic Defense, the premier publication for the EW community; it’s delivered to AOC members physically and digitally.
• The weekly eCrow e-Newsletter featuring the latest industry & community news, keeping members aware of the latest happenings in their community.
• The Virtual Series, webinars that provide bite-sized educational sessions on a myriad of technical topics in Electro-magnetic Warfare, and AOC members receive complimentary access to the webinar archive - with over 100 hours of recorded educational content!
• The Annual AOC International Symposium & Convention, the largest & most prestigious EW event each year with 2,000 of our community’s leaders convening to shape the future of the Electromagnetic Warfare enterprise.
• Information and access to regional conferences, located at EW centers of gravity across the globe, which provide in-depth discussions on solving the latest challenges and threats facing the warfighter.
• Access to the only Career Center that serves as the intersection of talent and opportunity within the Electromag-netic Warfare enterprise.
• Information on training and education opportunities leading the EMS workforce through world-class Professional Development courses.
• Advocacy for EW and related EMS capabilities across government, military, and industry.
• Connection to a network of members through more than 69 Chapters across the globe, providing members with local networking opportunities and a vital sense of community.
• Membership provides awards for individuals and military units for their outstanding performance in furthering the aims of the AOC and the Electromagnetic Warfare enterprise.
• You help support the next generation of crows with scholarships and a yearly STEM outreach program.
Most of all, your membership supports the heart of the Electromagnetic Warfare community. However, the question remains, are we doing enough? What other support can your chapter leadership provide and what other value would like to see? Is it a stronger sense of local community through more frequent organized events such as quarterly lunch-eons and dinners or volunteer opportunities? We welcome your thoughts and if you have any recommendations, please let us know! And lastly, the Diamond Head Chapter is in search of assistance. We have had contributing mem-bers move on and are in need of leaders who would like to take on expanding roles. Currently your chapter needs vol-unteer to lead the vacant positions listed on the following page. Interested? Again, please let us know!
Thank you,
Todd D. Fee
Hawaii Diamond Head Chapter Receives Chapter of the Year Certificate
By COL Ret. Arthur N. Tulak, Vice President, Hawaii AOC Chapter
In October, the Hawaii Diamond Head AOC Chapter received a “Best Chapter of the Year Certificate” for the
for Greatest Membership Increase in the Pacific Region. The efforts of Chapter members to reach out to other
EW and IO professionals is a key reason for this success. On the front page we welcome 25 new members since
our last news letter. The effectiveness of this Chapter is dependent on its members, and continued membership
growth. Consider whom you might invite to join the next chapter event, or the annual IO Symposium.
Visit the Chapter Website for more information
https://www.crows.org/group/diamond_head
Winter 2019/2020 Hawaii AOC Diamond Head Chapter Page 10
At left: Chapter of the year certificate presented to the Hawaii AOC Diamond Head Chapter. At right: Chapter Members at the celebrating
the Chapter of the Year Certificate assembled at Headquarters, U.S. Indo-Pacific Command— Left to Right: Dr. Arthur Tulak, Lt. Col. Jason
Taylor, Lt. Col. Ret. Andres Mukk, Jabari Dia, and J.C. Cruz.
Chapter Officers: President—Lt. Col. Jason Taylor Vice-President— Dr. Arthur Tulak Director— MAJ Rob Scheiern Secretary —Todd Fee Treasurer— Trish McCrary Scholarship Chairman — John Mitchell Awards Chairman — Vacant Industry Outreach Chairman— Vacant Recruiting Chairman — Vacant
Mahalo to our 2019 Corporate Sponsors:
Chesapeake Technology, Inc
Federal Business Council, Inc