Data glut forces National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency to transform.

• Author: Magnuson, Stew

* The word "open" is not often used to describe U.S. intelligence services.

But that is the buzzword at the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency since its new director Robert Cardillo took over in 2014.

"Openness" has two meanings at the agency which is best known for its thousands of analysts who pour over imagery collected by spy aircraft and satellites in order to determine the intent of rivals.

One is sharing with the world some of the data its collects. Cardillo gave two examples of this at the GEOINT conference in Washington, D.C.

In 2014 during the worst of the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, he instructed his staff to create a website where medical personnel could see maps where outbreaks were occurring. It would have tools for them to calculate the quickest routes ambulances could take to reach those stricken by the deadly disease, or use that data to find the best places to set up temporary hospitals.

He found that this wasn't as easy as it sounded.

"Lawyers, policy people, contracts officers all came into my office and they had lists of reasons why I can't do that," he said. "We pressed the envelope," while ensuring that everything was legal, contractually authorized and followed policy, he said.

The resulting website had no passwords. It was a simple browser that allowed healthcare workers to quickly isolate those with the virus and shortened time between diagnosis and treatment. "That time saving led to life saving," he said.

Things went smoother after the Nepal earthquake in April.

Within 24 hours, a response team at NGA's headquarters in Springfield, Virginia, had set up an open website, posted atlases of major affected cities as a baseline and placed 240 data layers on top of 46 continuously updated maps for U.S forces, nongovernmental agencies and allies to consult. Digital Globe, a commercial satellite imagery provider, allowed its data to be used free for 30 days. Tens of thousands used the website to help them during rescue missions. This type of open collaboration needs to become the norm, Cardillo said.

"We did well in West Africa and Nepal, but we need to accelerate our progress and make content available and as accessible as possible and find better ways to leverage the contributions of others," Cardillo said.

The latter part of that statement points to the other definition of "openness," which is the ability for NGA analysts to exploit the growing amount of data coming from commercial and public sources.

"For...