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Maximize the positive press from your feature in Reprints Maximize the marketing power of your feature. Eprint Give your feature a presence on the World Wide Web. Custom Plaques Showcase your great press in a public area for all to admire. Emergency Care A Web-Based Spatial System Assists Patient Evacuation during a Mass Casualty 22 How GEOINT Is GPS for Troops: Operation Waypoint 26 WINNING THE FIGHT 14 (01) Cover GEO1011.indd 1 BY ADAM BENNETT 11/2/2011 3:29:13 PM How GEOINT Is WINNING THE FIGHT T he small cream and mahogany paneled room barely holds the crowd packed around the con- ference table. Eyeballs are fixed intently on a screen along the far wall. A normally calm Sunday in May 2011 has given way to a tension-filled after- noon. Unfolding before President Barack Obama and members of the U.S. national security team is one of the military's greatest Special Forces operations, the targeted raid on the long-sought hiding place of Osama bin Laden. A celebrated photograph captured this dramatic moment within the White House Situation Room. Among the busy mix of people and laptops, it's easy to miss an important item near the image's center. Lying on the table are recently reviewed mission-briefing materials. One page is classified and blurred, but another page has been permitted public release. This page displays high-resolution imagery of the Osama bin Laden compound, carefully annotated by intelligence analysts weeks ago as part of the mission-planning process to prepare the Special Forces. The amazing story of the Navy Seals who executed the mission has been widely distributed. What's largely overlooked is the way in which geospatial intelligence (GEOINT) enabled the mission's success. Central to this intelligence activity is the National Geospatial- Intelligence Agency (NGA), whose mission is to feed U.S. military forces with "timely, relevant and accurate geospatial intelligence in support of national security." NGA supplied key intelligence for the Bin Laden mis- sion, just as it had supported countless other military operations scattered across Iraq and Afghanistan. "NGA applied a range of geospatial intelligence capabilities, including imagery, geospatial and target- ing analysis, along with image sciences and modeling that, supplemented with work from the CIA and NSA, allowed the United States to carry out this operation," notes Letitia Long, NGA director, through a prepared statement released the day after Osama bin Laden's death. "I am extremely proud of the work that NGA men and women have done that led directly to this outcome. Their GEOINT was critical to helping the intel- ligence community pinpoint Bin Laden's compound." 14 GEO W ORLD / OCT O BE R 2O11 King of the Hill GEOINT sits at the confluence of multiple disciplines, encompassing imagery intelligence, geospatial analysis, GIS mapping and any intelligence that can be positioned in time and space. Rigorous accuracy defines GEOINT; decision makers must trust that the coordinates identi- fied for a terrorist safehouse are accurate, strategists must trust that the enemy fortifications are well under- stood, and soldiers must trust that the wall will be short enough to be easily scaled when they reach the site. Think of GEOINT as the eyes of the intelligence com- munity and military. Throughout history, armies have always sought the high ground from which to operate. The fort on the hill controlling key terrain offers many benefits, among them the ability to observe the threat Now offering short-run reprints! Order 100 copies or less. President Obama and his national security team watch as Special Forces engage Osama bin Laden's compound on May 1, 2011. The inset displays a close-up of the GEOINT briefing materials sitting on the table. OCT O BER 2O11 / WWW . GEOPLA CE . C OM 15 (14-17) GEOINT feature GEO1011tddn.indd 14 11/2/2011 3:48:29 PM (14-17) GEOINT feature GEO1011tddn.indd 15 11/2/2011 3:48:51 PM For custom reprints contact us today! Call (678) 292-6054 or email cnaughton@m2media360.com. T H E E SS E N T IAL V O I CE O F T H E INDUS TR Y OCT OBER 20 1 1 From Disaster Response to Relief and Development An Integrated GIS Approach for Nonprofit Organizations 18 Warfighter Support WHITE HOUSE