By Jessica Daues, NGA Office of Corporate Communications
Vice Adm. Robert Sharp, the director of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, delivered a keynote address at the GEOINT 2019 Symposium June 3 in San Antonio, Texas, where he discussed what it will take for NGA to be successful in its mission now and in the future.
Here are the Top 5 takeaways from his remarks:
1. NGA’s greatest asset is its people, and the agency needs the best and brightest from all backgrounds to succeed.
Sharp began his address by praising NGA’s dedicated workforce. He said that to maintain that excellence, NGA must recruit “the nation’s best and brightest” candidates that come from myriad backgrounds who can offer different perspectives.
2. NGA takes its core values seriously, and you’ll see them reflected in the agency’s work.
NGA has five core values that members of the organization adhere to, Sharp said. “We’re spending a lot of time this week talking about technology,” he said. “We thought it would be worth the time to ensure you understood who we are as humans — what you’ll get each and every day when you partner with Team NGA.”
3. NGA is looking to increase and improve partnerships across government, industry, academia and more.
Sharp said that one of NGA’s competitive advantages over its strategic competitors is its partnerships with colleagues in government, academia, industry, internationally and more. “Our goal is to continue to strengthen and expand our alliances and partnerships across the full spectrum of GEOINT missions,” he said.
4. NGA is seeking help with artificial intelligence, automation and augmentation to help free analysts to focus on what machines can’t do.
To keep up with the deluge of data on the horizon, NGA will rely on artificial intelligence, automation and augmentation — AAA for short, said Sharp.
5. The future NGA facility in St. Louis, scheduled to open in 2025, will be a game-changer for the GEOINT community.
Sharp said that to take advantage of the new facility’s proximity to strong geospatially-focused industry and academia in St. Louis, the facility will contain unclassified areas where NGA personnel can work closely with uncleared colleagues on topics and issues that don’t require security clearances.
View NGA Director Vice Adm. Robert Sharp’s keynote in its entirety.
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About NGA: The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency delivers world-class geospatial intelligence, or GEOINT, that provides a decisive advantage to warfighters, policymakers, intelligence professionals and first responders. Both an intelligence agency and a combat support agency, NGA fulfills the president’s national security priorities in partnership with the intelligence community and Department of Defense.
