The National Geospatial-lntelligence Agency (NGA) welcomed its first wave of employees at its new facility located at Fort Belvoir, Virginia, on Tuesday. Approximately 300 personnel reported to work at NGA Campus East, the first of 38 groups that will make the move to the eight-story building between now and September 15, 2011, the day of the official ribbon-cutting ceremony.

The $1.7 billion 2.4 million square foot campus, which is 85 percent complete, will eventually house 8,500 employees. It brings personnel from six sites that were consolidated by the Defense Base Realignment and Closure Commission in 2005. Design of the building began in 2006, and construction began in 2007.

To take advantage of lessons learned by other big construction projects, the design team had NGA employees and an architect to tour several other large buildings—both government and commercial—to determine which attributes would and would not work for the new facility.

Features of the complex include areas that facilitate both physical and virtual collaboration (SIGNAL Magazine, April 2010). According to Letitia Long, director, NGA, both the ability for quick collaboration and the improvements in information technology will reduce reaction time between request and delivery of geospatial intelligence from several hours to just minutes in some cases.

In addition, the computer systems within the building allow NGA personnel to sit down at any computer and bring up their desktop and even their program settings regardless of their home station. The facility also features a 300-person conference center that will be available for use by the U.S. Defense Department and other members of the intelligence community, and individual conference rooms can be set up to accommodate various levels of classified discussions.

Because the building is so large, it has sections called “neighborhoods,” which make finding offices easier. Rooms where personnel from different neighborhoods can meet to collaborate are available in several places on each floor. In addition, the design enables collaboration centers to be set up quickly when crises arise.

To ensure the security of the building, the location on Fort Belvoir was secured before construction began. Security personnel were hired to observe workers as they installed everything from concrete support beams to plumbing, Thomas Bukoski, deputy director, facility programs office explains.

Yesterday’s blog coverage was just too short to include the depth of advice the experts at the Small Business Intelligence Forum shared, so here are a few more ideas:

• Savvy SIGNAL Scape reader Ross Andrews, ARC Program Manager, Contractor – BVTI, beat this reporter to the punch on a very important item that should be on every small company’s list if it wants to do business with the intelligence community: register with the Acquisition Resource Center. See his full comment at http://bit.ly/bXmzFM.

• The road to doing business with the DIA can begin at the agency itself, where Sherry Baldwin, director of the agency’s Office of Small Business Programs, has a list of individuals to contact at large prime contracting firms. The office is located at Bolling Air Force Base, Virginia, and Baldwin can reached at Sea0132@dia.mil.

• Each government agency has a goal for working with small businesses that they must strive to meet. Many are close to meeting that goal, but many are not. Seek out those that need to work with more small businesses.

• Know the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) codes.

• The NSA doesn’t advertise its needs under its agency name, and it works with a very small community of companies, but once you’re in, you’re in. Network face-to-face on a regular basis with personnel from other companies and don’t be afraid to market your wares.

• Most members of the IC are interested in a few hot items that include fast and smart query analytics; real-time detection behaviors, security access capabilities; innovative antennas; and new battery technologies.

• Be aware of and attend Industry Days.

• “NGA is very committed to working with small business. You can take that to the bank.” —Sandra Broadnax, small business executive, NGA

• Don’t rely exclusively on the IC for keeping your business afloat. Diversify.

• Stay cautious and grow judiciously.

• Know yourself; know your customers; know the users.

• Seek out the individuals at IC agencies who are involved with acquisition and accounting so that they KNOW who YOU are.

• Listen to an agency’s vision, mission and challenges. Develop a white paper to solve those challenges. Once the agency agrees that your solution may have merit, go to the prime contractor working with the agency and tell it how you can solve the specific IC organization’s problem.

Do you have other suggestions about how to increase business with IC agencies? Don’t be shy…share them here!

It’s sometimes difficult to figure out what’s the bigger secret – intelligence or the acquisition processes of the organizations that gather it. CIA, NSA, DIA plus 13 more agencies are collectively known as the intelligence community (IC), but that’s where most of the similarity ends when it comes to these information hunters and gathers when it comes to purchasing goods, services or “carbon units.” One fact is absolutely true and as open source as is possible: small businesses have advocates in IC agencies that fight tooth and nail in their interest.

Some of these experts presented valuable secrets as well as common sense about how to capture the IC’s business at the AFCEA International Small Business Intelligence Forum. All of the big hitters representing either an IC agencies, a small business and even a large companies agreed that by following certain guidelines, working for work from one of the IC organizations isn’t any more difficult than business development with other government agencies or even other companies.

Their advice in a nutshell? Be prepared, work diligently, meet deadlines, be aware of IC business opportunities and be true to your word. Yes, this all may seem simple, but the IC’s experience with small and large companies alike has been that when just a minority of companies don’t follow these rules, it is even more difficult to promote the idea of turning to small companies for solutions when even just one program manager has a bad experience. Word spreads.

THE SPECIFICS
• This is a $75 billion market. Go after it.
• The ODNI has very little of its own money to spend. The bucks are in the individual agencies.
• How do you navigate the beast? Follow the money. Government agencies want to spend the funds they’ve been granted because if they don’t, next year’s allotment is likely to be less.
• Today, Congress is involved in intelligence funding decisions. Stay informed about what’s going on in the intelligence committees on The Hill.
• Each agency has its own sense of identity and makes purchases based on it. Find out about an agency’s mission, vision and culture.
• “Everyone’s problem is the same: They have a ton of information, but they can’t use it to make a better decision” because they need new ways to sift through it.
• Oversight on the part of the government agencies is a problem and they know it. Often large companies bring small businesses onboard to win a contract but never actually use their services or products. This is an issue that is under increased scrutiny.
• If a small business has the experience described above, report it to the agency’s Small Business Advocate. The company’s or individual’s name won’t be revealed, but the tip will be follow up on and could result in an instant change.
• Get to know the Small Business Advocate at agencies. For example, e-mail Pam Porter at the NSA at smallbusiness@nsa.gov.
• Do business with other companies that are already doing business with the IC.
• “Be ready. Don’t try to impress us; just make sure you can do the work.”—Sandra Broadnax, small business executive, NGA
Have you tried and tried some of these approaches and still not been able to crack the IC acquisition egg? Talk about it here, and look forward to Part 2 of this coverage on tomorrow’s SIGNAL Scape.

The roots of the Army’s Research and Technology Protection Center (ARTPC) don’t date back to Shakespearean times, but the center’s genesis took place early in the 21st century with the original mission of protecting technologies of the now-canceled Future Combat Systems program.

In this month’s SIGNAL Magazine, Henry S. Kenyon takes to the stage to describe the evolution and goals of the ARTPC in his article, “Center Spotlights Critical Information.”

A 2001 security report commissioned by then Army Chief of Staff Gen. Eric Shinseki, USA, made clear the need for coordinated security efforts. ARTPC’s chief, Richard Henson, explains the general’s reasoning:

A lot of people were working on it [security], but there was no one place where it either all came together or where it was all visible. As a result, the Army created the ARTPC as a center of excellence to focus on research and technology protection activities.

The ARTPC officially opened its curtains in 2002. It’s up to the center’s experts to help PEOs and PMs identify critical program information and help them decide how to protect it, Henson says. During its FCS days, the center focused on developing a systematic way of ID’ing crucial data and standardizing its protection. These actions are evident in the role the ARTPC plays today.

Using a two-act ensemble—technology protection engineers and program protection architects—the ARTPC supports Army programs, working together to address different sides of the ID and classification process. In act one, technology protection engineers, embedded in major Army R&D efforts, work directly with PMs. They ID a program’s critical technologies, seek a balance between security and info sharing, and bridge the language gap between intel experts and researchers.

Act two features the program protection architects, who help a PM develop specific protection plans. Then they identify and recommend methods for particular scenarios.

Figuring out what should be classified is the next step. Does the program have an updated guide to classification levels? Is the technology so old that it’s already recognizable in the public domain? Is it service-unique? Will its dissemination place the nation in harm’s way?  To achieve horizontal protection, the ARTPC and the OSD, Undersecretary of Defense for AT&L, are developing an acquisition security database.

Implementing the Defense Department’s Instruction 5200.39—which sets guidelines for protecting critical program information—is another of the center’s tasks. The ARTPC has undergone enormous changes in the last two years to address its goals, one of which is staff structural changes. Although Defense Department auditing found shortcomings in the center’s implementation of countermeasures and oversight, the ARTPC is now a government organization that can assume different responsibilities where it couldn’t with a contractor—only staff.

Improvements in structure and processes are ongoing, as with all organizations that must remain relevant, so no curtain call is imminent for the center. Are there more efficient ways to streamline the ARTPC’s data identification process, or would these just add layers to what is envisioned as an already more simplified effort? Discuss your ideas, express your concerns here. We welcome your unclassified data input.

Analysts certainly don’t want to become obsolete, but they definitely appreciate a leg up in the world of technology. If finding a needle in a haystack were the challenge, the best and brightest would suggest, for example, using a giant magnet to sift right through the hay to obtain the metal prize.

Now instead, picture specialized data as the coveted prize—information so important that to find it in the vast, voluminous barn loft of information, researchers need a proverbial data “magnet” to find what they’re looking for—a system so precise in tagging verbiage that one could say it literally brings all information right through the eye of the needle.

In this month’s SIGNAL Magazine, Maryann Lawlor pinpoints a continuously evolving software that IDs specific information, groups it, and ultimately delivers a neat Cliffs Notes compilation of actionable knowledge in her article, “Googlizing Intelligence.”

Modus Operandi Incorporated has spent the last several years designing semantic software that tags text in a manner that lets intelligence analysts extract key information by using both set and adjustable search parameters. The U.S. Navy, Marine Corps, Army and Air Force each are on board, all finding ways to enhance their own data functions using this technology.

Actionable intelligence gleaned rapidly can mean the difference between life or death in theater. Tod Hagan, Modus Operandi’s director of ISR software solutions, says the company demonstrated its capabilities by choosing 100 intelligence reports directly from the field and giving them to intel specialists for analysis. At the same time, those reports also were put through the company’s software. The analysts took two weeks to finish, while the Modus Operandi product identified 19,000 essential intelligence elements in less than five minutes.

One concrete field application involved an Army intelligence specialist able to document the serial numbers of cell phones after their confiscation in Afghanistan. Data from this type of find can become lost in the shuffle of thousands of intelligence reports. Modus Operandi’s software sifts through mounds of gathered intelligence information with lightning speed to deliver only the most pertinent data.

Lt. Col. Scott E. Camden, USMC, MARCORSYSCOM deputy program manager for project management, intelligence, data diffusion and dissemination, emphasizes the benefits of linking culled data with existing intel reports and identifying gaps in intelligence:

This is really about the work ratio for the analysts. Currently, analysts spend 70 percent of their time finding the data and 30 percent of their time analyzing the data. This [technology] has the potential to reverse these percentages.

Across the military services, additional apps for this technology include automated natural language sensor programs; enhanced information fusion/representation at the command level, based on a service-oriented architecture; and filtering, parsing and sorting of large amounts of data for HUMINT purposes.

In the past, computer systems used to fill entire rooms from floor to ceiling. Handheld PDAs with previously unimaginable computing rates are now commonplace, boggling the minds of our technological predecessors.

Computing speed and accuracy are coveted goals, as is software that enables information to be broken down into the most specified subject groupings. Can these software tools become even more discerning, and if so, what other applications await them? How about dual-use technologies beyond the military? Share your opinions and ideas here.

Tuesday’s afternoon keynote speaker highlighted the importance of accepting technological change across the U.S. government. David Wennergren, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Information Management and Technology and Defense Department Chief Information Officer, shared his ideas for improving technology processes throughout the federal space.

He began his speech by stressing the need for information sharing across federal agencies, noting that in 2005 the human race created 150 exabytes of data and that by 2010 this had increased to 1,200 exabytes. Chief information officers and managers will have to manage a constantly increasing sea of data. “Data has to be sexy for you,” he quipped.

Wennergren said that several new technologies, while hyped, offer great potential. These are service oriented enterprise, Web 2.0, and cloud computing. Service oriented enterprises allow capabilities to be delivered quickly in short development increments while Web 2.0 applications such as social networking are changing the way work is done in the Defense Department. He cited the examples of Intellipedia, an open-source information sharing network used by the intelligence community and Second Life, which allows users to attend virtual meetings. “If you imagine Second Life is just a game, you’re missing the point,” he said.

Cloud computing, which used virtualization to maximize existing server resources is another new capability with lots of potential. Because cloud computing can save organization money they would otherwise spend on building and maintaining servers, Wennergren said that this capability should also be extended to replace most desktop computers with thin client workstations.

Federal agencies must also align their information technology efforts. This includes cooperating on architecture, standards, enterprise software initiatives, adopting efforts such as the Federal Desktop Core Configuration, adopting enterprise services, and maintaining consistency across networks. Wennergren added that information security and information sharing compliment each other and that both cannot individually work in a vacuum. Organizations must provide security, but they must also be open to sharing information.

Wennergren closed by noting that government technology officers must take a leadership role to successfully implement changes. Besides setting goals, he noted that the goals must push the organization to where it needs to be.

The 21st century U.S. Navy is building around information as it reshapes its force for new challenges, according to the chief of naval operations. Adm. Gary Roughead, USN, told a packed luncheon audience on the last day of West 2010 that information will be the guiding force for the Navy in the coming years.

“Our way forward must be centered on information and how we use it,” Adm. Roughead declared.

A key to that information exploitation is unmanned vehicles and systems. The admiral noted that the Navy has deployed a vertical takeoff unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) on a ship involved in counterdrug operations in the eastern Pacific Ocean. UAVs for aircraft carriers will make a big difference for Navy operations, as will underwater unmanned vehicles.

One of the most significant developments is organizational, as Adm. Roughead explained. “We’re moving out in the area of information dominance,” he stated. “Last summer, I moved to combine our directorate of communications with the directorate of intelligence. I don’t take reorganizations lightly, but I was convinced this was the way to go.”

The admiral described how the Navy is creating billets for cyber warfare engineers to test computer network defense against software attack. Their selection will be similar to that of men and women of the nuclear power force. The reserve component will be an important surge capability, and the Navy will position some cyber centers near reserve centers.

SIGNAL Scape isn’t the only blog at AFCEA. The intelligence department has two great blogs as well: MAZZ-INT and a new intelligence small business blog.

MAZZ-INT is the brainchild of Joe Mazzafro, who works in Oracle’s National Security Group. He has more than 30 years of experience in the intelligence community and also served in the U.S. Navy as a naval intelligence officer. His blog has been around for a couple of years, and great discussions develop between Mazzafro and commenters.

Dan Callahan has taken on authorship of the new intel small business blog. He’s an author and a federal sales professional with more than 20 years of experience working with the military and the IC. His blog is written for small business owners who want to develop and expand their relationship with the IC and increase their revenue.

Both blogs have great information and viewpoints, so check them out and leave some feedback.

The U.S. Coast Guard is taking steps to enhance its command, control, intelligence and reconnaissance capabilities with new unmanned aerial systems (UAS) and network-centric systems for its ships. At a press briefing late last week, RAdm. Ronald J. Robago, USCG, the service’s new assistant commandant for acquisitions, discussed steps being taken to evaluate and select a new shipboard UAS.

The Coast Guard is interested in the MQ-8B Fire Scout unmanned helicopter, which will soon equip the U.S. Navy’s littoral combat ships. Under the Coast Guard’s original Deepwater plan, UASs would increase ships’ operational range ships by providing a search and reconnaissance asset with greater range and endurance than shipboard helicopters. The original UAS platform selected for the Deepwater program, the Bell Helicopter tilt-rotor Eagle Eye UAS, was cancelled due to its technical immaturity, the admiral said.

Adm. Rabago explained that the Coast Guard is considering the Fire Scout because of its maturity, versatility and the advantage of sharing a common platform with the Navy. However, he emphasized that that the service has not yet selected Fire Scout.

Another key issue delaying acquisition is the Fire Scout’s lack of a maritime search radar. The key Coast Guard role for a UAS will be to detect and identify ships and boats for a variety of search and rescue, anti-narcotics, anti-piracy and homeland security missions. Adm. Rabago claims that a search radar is key for accomplishing these missions.

Funding is available in the Coast Guard’s budget to acquire a variety of UAS platforms, the admiral remarked. For example, the service is also conducting tests with land-based Predator B UAV’s for coastal patrol operations. A dry-fit test with a Fire Scout was recently conducted on the Coast Guard’s newest ship, USCGC Bertholf. Adm. Rabago explained that the cutter has sufficient onboard space to house and operate the UAVs. He added that the Coast Guard will conduct tests at the end of this month with a Fire Scout equipped with a prototype maritime search radar.

The search radar is important because the Coast Guard and Navy require different missions from their UAVs. Coast Guard ships often operate alone, while Navy vessels work in battle groups. Navy Fire Scouts will rely on targets being detected by shipboard sensors, while the Coast Guard requires the UAVs to operate as search platforms.

Besides acquiring UAS platforms, the Coast Guard is also taking steps to enhance its interoperability with other U.S. military services. The Coast Guard’s first national security cutter, the USCGC Bertholf will soon be equipped with a sensitive compartmented information facility (SCIF) to handle classified data. It will be the first Coast Guard ship equipped with a SCIF, which will allow the vessel to operate more closely with Navy and coalition ships.

The admiral explained that the SCIF was not installed in the shipyard, although a space with all the required power and data connections was left in place. The facility will be installed with the assistance of the U.S. Navy’s Space and Naval Warfare Center. All of the Coast Guard’s national security cutters will be equipped with SCIFs.

AFCEA Intelligence and the Naval Intelligence Professionals/Naval Intelligence Foundation (NIP/NIF) have joined forces to sponsor two writing contests. The contests provide intelligence professionals with opportunities to express themselves on topics of importance to the Intelligence Community and national security.

The 2009 AFCEA Intelligence Essay Contest is on the following topic:

Collecting Intelligence: Balancing Safety, Security, and Privacy

Problem Statement: As the internal threat from terrorism has increased, the U.S. government has employed new and different methods to collect intelligence to forestall future attacks on U.S. soil. Discuss the implications of these actions on Constitutional guarantees of privacy for U.S. citizens versus the government’s imperative to provide safety and security. Include recommendations as to how this balance can be better maintained.

Top prize is $2,000 and a 2-year membership in AFCEA. Other prizes and additional information are here.

Entries for the 2009 Naval Intelligence Essay Contest should be on any subject pertaining to Naval Intelligence or intelligence support to naval forces.

This annual contest is sponsored by the Naval Intelligence Foundation, Naval Intelligence Professionals, and AFCEA, and underwritten in part by the Inman Foundation.

Prize and eligibility requirements are here.