NGA: 'Seismic Shift' in Geospatial Intel: The world of geospatial intelligence is undergoing a "seismic shift," the head of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) said Tuesday — one that will require a growing reliance on unclassified sources of intelligence.
Robert Cardillo said today's rapidly evolving threat environment means closer ties with industry and exploitation of open sources such as social media are key to making sure his agency can continue to provide top-level intelligence to the US government.
"We have both a challenge and a warning," Cardillo said at the 31st Space Symposium here. "We have only a limited time to transform our mindset and unleash the power of our people to leverage our enterprise and fulfill the potential that these massive changes offer."
As an example of how quickly the world moves, Cardillo pointed to the last several months that featured Russia's invasion of Ukrainian territory, the spread of ebola, the growth of the Islamic State group and the ongoing fallout from the Arab Spring uprisings has put stress on the GEOINT community.
"We must move to understanding more quickly by trending, predicting, forecasting and — anticipating — the threat in hours, if not minutes," he said. "And we must offer our customers potential courses of action dynamically."
