An official website of the United States Government 
Here's how you know

Official websites use .gov

.gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS

A lock ( lock ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency in Midst of Revolution

You have accessed part of a historical collection on defense.gov. Some of the information contained within may be outdated and links may not function. Please contact the DOD Webmaster with any questions.

In existence for almost a quarter-century, the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency has been providing geospatial intelligence to policymakers, the intelligence community and warfighters since 1996. Now, says its director for operations, when it comes to geospatial intelligence, the agency is in the middle of a revolution.

"From a strictly GEOINT standpoint, we're in the midst of a revolution right now," said Army Maj. Gen. Charles Cleveland today during an online conversation with the Intelligence and National Security Alliance.

A graphic, computer-generated line map of the world highlights points of cyber activity.
Colorful Data
The Norse data wall on the operations floor of the 275th Cyber Operations Squadron provides real-time, worldwide cyberattack sources, Dec. 12, 2017. The squadron is part of the Maryland Air National Guard's 175th Cyberspace Operations Group.
Photo By: Joseph M. Eddins Jr., Air Force
VIRIN: 171202-F-LW859-014

One aspect of that revolution, he said, is the growth in commercial GEOINT capability.

"The explosion of commercial capabilities has just changed the entire opportunity for GEOINT," he said. "We're soon moving to a point where we think, essentially, every part of the planet will be imaged on a daily basis. And so we also then look at all that data coming in, and we struggle, and we think about the opportunity, though, with how to handle all of that data."

One way to handle and extract value from large amounts of GEOINT, both from the commercial sector and from government assets, he said, is through the use of artificial intelligence and machine learning. That's a second aspect of the revolution Cleveland identified — ways to use AI and machine learning to empower human workers with the best of what's possible.

A man in a military uniform sits before two computer screens; one displays a map while the other displays related data.
Computer Work
A member of the 178th Wing of the Springfield Ohio Air National Guard analyzes airborne and commercial satellite imagery, Aug. 31, 2017.
Photo By: Air Force Sr. Master Sgt. Joseph Stahl, Ohio Air National Guard
VIRIN: 170831-Z-PX427-072M

"We know that our adversaries really do have some significant capabilities," he said. "They are in many ways beginning to close the gap on us. As we move forward ... we really do think that, frankly, we are not going to be able to compete, we're not going to be able to do what we need to be doing by just simply trying to do what we were doing yesterday just a little bit faster ... we really do think that we've got to adjust the direction that we're going."

Already, he said NGA is heavily invested in AI and machine learning.

"We already have a number of efforts underway that are paying off and that are showing promise," he said.

Some of that work, he said, is in capturing, cataloging, and tagging parts of images to be fed into larger systems. Another part is standardizing data and making sure it's understandable and accessible to the entire workforce. Ultimately, he said, the goal is to get computers, AIs, to free up human employees to do more challenging work.

A computer-generated line map highlights points of cyber activity around the world.
Cyber Activity
Real-time cyber attacks -- including information on the attack's origin, type and target and the attacker's IP address, geographic location and ports being used -- are displayed on an attack map on the 275th Cyberspace Squadron's operations floor, June 3, 2017. The squadron is part of the Maryland Air National Guard's 175th Cyberspace Operations Group.
Photo By: Joseph M. Eddins Jr., Air Force
VIRIN: 170603-F-LW859-001

The NGA, he said, already has had some success on automatic reporting and automatic tipping and queuing, for instance.

"We want to be able to move our analyst workforce ... from focusing on kind of the known-knowns to shifting that paradigm, so that they have time to think and they have time to work on the unknown-unknowns," he said. "Frankly, we want those machines to be able to take care of things that machines should be taking care of, so of course we can get our team focused on the thoughtful efforts."

Related Stories