Behind the scenes and out of the spotlight, as President Bill Clinton helped to broker an end to the hostilities in Bosnia in November 1995, a team of more than 50 cartographers and terrain visualization specialists worked to assist the diplomats in their deliberations.
The technical team, comprising staff of the Defense Mapping Agency and the U.S. Army Topographic Engineering Center, digitally mapped the disputed Balkans areas in near-real time and created three-dimensional visual imagery to ‘walk’ negotiators through the disputed terrain as they discussed terms. Known as the Dayton Peace Accords, the diplomatic event ended with Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic compromising on a key area under dispute — a milestone that signaled the end, at least temporarily, of bloodshed that had cost the lives of more than 300,000 Serbs, Croats and
Muslims in just four years.
The Dayton event predated the creation of the National Imagery and Mapping Agency, later renamed the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, but it nevertheless demonstrated the tremendous power of mixing mapping and imagery analysis to support diplomacy and decision-making at a time when the agency’s formation was being contemplated. Less than three weeks later, Secretary of Defense William Perry, Director of Central Intelligence John Deutch and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Army Gen. John Shalikashvili wrote a joint letter to Congress stating their commitment to creating a new agency within the Department of Defense — NIMA — to “improve the overall effectiveness and efficiency of imagery and mapping support to both national and military customers.” In December, a month after the success at Dayton, President Clinton added his official endorsement.
While the Dayton negotiations demonstrated what could be accomplished diplomatically with the combined support of mapping and imagery, it was not the start of the story by any means. More than a year of intense study and debate, often heated, had preceded the decision to create NIMA — and proponents had first floated the idea the better part of a decade earlier. But the advent of the nation’s newest intelligence organization on October 1, 1996 was more than simply rearranging intelligence assets under one roof; it
was a true breakthrough, allowing the intelligence community to realize a significant step forward in the evolution of tradecraft and analysis. It led to the emergence of geospatial intelligence, or GEOINT, as a powerful new analytic discipline critical to our nation’s security and leaders in the years ahead.
The new agency came about in an era of rising complex global strategic challenges. This forced the nascent organization to immediately begin transitioning from the traditional missions of its predecessor organizations — producing maps and static images — to creating layered GEOINT to meet both the intelligence and operational needs of our nation’s decision-makers and military leaders. This transition allowed GEOINT to become a critical tool for envisioning, exposing and combating threats around the globe.
Crimes against humanity
Despite the success of the Dayton Peace Accords, the situation in the Balkans did not resolve. On November 25, 1998, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization ordered Milosevic to stop the persecution of Albanians in Kosovo or face NATO airstrikes. His lack of response led to a nearly three-month bombing campaign aimed at stopping the conflict that threatened the stability of the south Balkans.
In support of NATO, NIMA produced virtual fly-throughs of the affected territory to prepare pilots for the local terrain and conditions they would face while waging the campaign against Serbian forces. The agency provided near-real time imagery and maps at multiple scales, plus near-real time imagery and geospatial information on laptop computers, which could be easily accessed with the click of a mouse or downloaded directly into aircraft. Dubbed ‘NIMA-in-a-Box,’ the device provided extensive data displays and also was equipped with a printer to generate hard-copy products. Almost immediately its use helped save the life of a downed U.S. Air Force F-16 pilot by allowing mission planners to plot a safe course for rescue helicopters.
NIMA’s work also revealed evidence of ethnic cleansing in the region. This hard evidence assisted the United Nations in indicting Milosevic and four of his associates for crimes against humanity.
Operation Enduring Freedom
In October 2001, in response to the attacks of Sept. 11, American forces launched Operation Enduring Freedom. OEF became a critical proving ground for GEOINT, and within weeks the Taliban and al Qaeda were reduced to isolated pockets of fighters.
NIMA expertise proved essential to the success of OEF, and conversely, OEF forced agency analysts to stretch and evolve. The challenging operating environment in Afghanistan required NIMA analysts to support combat operations on a scale unlike any previously. They were also embedded with warfighters in greater numbers, both in theater and in multiintelligence fusion hubs in the National Counterterrorism Center and the National
Counterproliferation Center.
The operation required new and different types of data and analyses. The Afghan battlespace was complex and the terrain often more urban, which drove the demand for higher-fidelity information. Human geography and human terrain analysis became critical due to the tribal nature of the region. To limit civilian casualties during airstrikes, U.S. forces required precise geospatial data to guide munitions.
NIMA analysts rose to the occasion. They created the Airfield Infrastructure Intelligence Model, a three-dimensional graphical representation of airfield data and intelligence, which was used by combat aircrews on military missions and for force protection. They also created a digital mapping and reconnaissance tool for situational awareness and force protection. It captured imagery location information vital for mission planning, safety assessments and security decisions. A number of NIMA products, including special maps and aeronautical navigation data, met force positioning and logistical needs. In all, the swift success of combat operations during OEF — due in part to NIMA’s increasingly valuable support — proved that GEOINT had earned its seat at the intelligence community table.
Humanitarian crisis in Darfur
By the time NIMA was renamed NGA with enactment of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2004, the Darfur region of western Sudan was the site of a different kind of battle, one of terrible violence, death and cultural upheaval. The United Nations has often described the area as “the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.”
Secretary of State Colin Powell delivered a formal finding of genocide in Darfur to Congress that year. Use of high-resolution satellite imagery was critical to the finding, which documented undisputable destruction of villages in the region. Powell used the same images to brief U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan. The imagery was produced by NGA and the State Department’s
Humanitarian Information Unit.
But NGA involvement in uncovering the attacks by the Sudanese Liberation Army and Justice and Equality Movement had actually begun in early 2003, when an IC colleague had requested an NGA analyst to develop a baseline of imagery and maps to document events in Darfur. Other NGA analysts began studying images in the area and noticed changes in population distribution. By spring 2004 they all began to see evidence of the complete destruction
of several hundred villages.
The NGA analysts created a series of maps and graphics that combined data about damaged and destroyed villages with commercial imagery and displaced population information. This GEOINT, combined with effective interagency collaboration, revealed a humanitarian crisis that had been hidden to that point from the outside world.
In July 2004, after receiving a briefing from NGA analysts, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) took NGA maps and data to the Senate floor to bring further attention to the humanitarian crisis. Later that month, with U.S. support, the United Nations imposed an open-ended arms embargo on the Darfur region.
Violence in the Darfur region persists, but NGA-provided GEOINT has helped relief workers locate camps for displaced refugees, facilitate food distribution, quantify the effects of the continuing violence and educate policymakers on the crisis.
Raid on Abbottabad
NGA facilitated and supported countless other diplomatic and national security decisions as the years passed, but its status as a key intelligence provider skyrocketed in 2011. On May 2 that year, President Barack Obama announced to the world that the United States had conducted a military operation to capture Osama bin Laden, who was considered responsible for the horrific acts of Sept. 11. The president explained that an elite team of Navy Seals had flown in helicopters from Afghanistan to raid the terrorist’s compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, ultimately resulting in bin Laden’s death.
Finding bin Laden had been the United States’ most pressing intelligence problem for a decade. Senior government officials acknowledged the role NGA had played in pinpointing the location where bin Laden was hiding. The agency had applied a wide range of GEOINT capabilities including imagery, geospatial and targeting analysis. NGA staff reviewed thousands of maps and reams of data to identify several possible locations for bin Laden.
Following identification of the Abbottabad compound as bin Laden’s hideout, NGA and other IC specialists worked to create a replica of the compound. The model was used in senior strategy briefings and assisted the military assault force in mapping out its attack.
Letitia Long, director of NGA at the time, watched the mission unfold in real time, alongside other national security partners. The atmosphere in the situation room was tense, she said. She and the others could only wait and wonder if the months of intelligence preparation would pay off. In the end, although not perfect, the mission was a success.
The shifting strategic landscape
Today’s world is fast paced and full of security threats, many as yet unknown. In testimony to a House Armed Services Subcommittee, current NGA Director Robert Cardillo stated that the evolution of GEOINT has allowed NGA “to provide key insight and warning to policymakers and warfighters” to effectively deal with myriad crises and challenges. Among them, he said, are “ISIS attacks in Iraq and Syria, refugee migration, continued threats of aggression from Russia and North Korea, China’s moves in the Spratly Islands, cyber attacks from faceless antagonists and international criminal networks.”
NGA stands at the ready. As Cardillo often says, the agency exists for one reason: “to enable mission consequence for our customers. We are shaping everything we do to ensure that we are delivering the optimum potential for their success.”
For more on NGA’s 20th anniversary and its generation of GEOINT, read the full edition of the agency’s Pathfinder magazine.
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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 the Department of Defense.
