BETHESDA, Md.–The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) broke ground today on its new home for geospatial intelligence (GEOINT) at the Engineer Proving Ground, part of the Fort Belvoir, Va., campus.
“For the first time in NGA’s history, our eastern operations will be consolidated in one location,” said Vice Adm. Robert B. Murrett, Director of NGA. “The impact of this mission deployment to our operations, resources and culture will go a long way toward furthering our organizational continuity, the stability that we all rely upon at NGA, and most of all our mission effectiveness.”
The facility will include 2.4 million square feet of administrative and support space and is projected to cost $1.4 billion.
NGA anticipates many benefits of the move, due for completion by September 2011 in accordance with Base Realignment and Closure legislation. Chief among them are:
• Better personnel coordination and collaboration;
• Improved analysis and tradecraft, with the NGA College collocated with the employees it trains;
• Integration of a uniform and robust information technology infrastructure primed for future enabling technologies; and
• Acceleration of new technologies and products as a result of fusing GEOINT research and development with operations.
All of these benefits will improve NGA’s ability to provide timely, relevant and accurate GEOINT in support of our national security.
Retired Air Force Lt. Gen. James R. Clapper Jr., Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and NGA’s previous director, noted the day as a “huge milestone, equally important for the agency and the discipline of geospatial intelligence … It’s emblematic of the continuation of the transformation of the agency, and the synthesis and melding of mapping, charting and geodesy on the one hand, and imagery, imagery analysis and intelligence on the other.”
Said ceremony guest speaker Army Lt. Gen. Ronald Burgess, acting Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence, “Without NGA, our community would be ill-equipped to respond to, much less understand, the world around us.”
NGA West facilities in St. Louis and Arnold, Missouri, while not directly involved in the consolidation, will play a critical role in mission assurance and NGA business continuity as NGA elements in the east conduct their moves. West facilities are also receiving upgrades to improve safety, operations and quality of life.
Disposition of NGA facilities in the east includes:
• The Bethesda, Md., site, which the Army owns and operates. NGA will turn it back over to the Army.
• The Reston, Va., facilities, which NGA leases. NGA will terminate its building leases, and future occupancy will be a decision made by the building owner.
• The Washington Navy Yard facility, which the General Services Administration (GSA) owns. NGA will turn it back to GSA so the land can be included in the Southeast Federal Center development in Washington, D.C.
NGA is a Department of Defense combat support agency and a member of the National Intelligence Community. The term “geospatial intelligence” means the exploitation and analysis of imagery and geospatial information to describe, assess and visually depict physical features and geographically referenced activities on the Earth. Geospatial intelligence consists of imagery, imagery intelligence and geospatial (e.g., mapping, charting and geodesy) information.
Headquartered in Bethesda, Md., NGA has major facilities in the Washington, D.C., Northern Virginia and St. Louis, Mo., areas with NGA support teams worldwide. Visit our Web site at http://www.nga.mil.
Since 1989, GITA has recognized individuals and user organizations for their outstanding achievements-in implementing successful geospatial programs, for their service to the association, and for their contributions to the geospatial community at large. Maybe you or your client organization will be next!
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