Weekly GEOINT Community News

DoD Updates Procedures Governing Defense Intelligence Activities; DigitalGlobe Receives Contract from PSMA Australia for Mapping Initiative; PlanetRisk Acquires Analytic Strategies; Surrey Satellite and NanoRacks Team to Deploy Satellites from the ISS; Intelligence Officials to Assist Companies in Averting Hackers; UMass-Lowell to Build Satellite for NASA

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DoD Updates Procedures Governing Defense Intelligence Activities

The U.S. Department of Defense released an update of procedures governing the conduct of DoD intelligence activities. The DoD Manual 5240.01, “Procedures Governing the Conduct of DoD Intelligence Activities,” is put into effect following Executive Order 12333, which authorizes certain members of the Intelligence Community to collect, retain, or disseminate information about U.S. persons. According to the press release, the manual has been overhauled to reflect changes in technology, law, and intelligence collection practices that have changed since 1982. Read more about the new manual.

DigitalGlobe Receives Contract from PSMA Australia for Mapping Initiative

DigitalGlobe received a follow-on contract from PSMA Australia to deploy its Geospatial Big Data platform (GBDX) to map more than 15 million structures across Australia for PSMA Australia’s new Geoscape product. GBDX will be used to create a massive amount of geospatial content and location information from high-resolution imagery, proprietary DigitalGlobe and ecosystem partner technologies, and crowdsourced data. Geoscape will host location and structural information on buildings across Australia. These insights can be applied for applications in risk modeling, urban planning, emergency planning and management, business intelligence, research, and policy development.

PlanetRisk Acquires Analytic Strategies

Data visualization and analysis company PlanetRisk acquired enterprise analytics service provider Analytic Strategies. PlanetRisk will expand its suite of analytics capabilities with the addition of Analytics Strategies’ enterprise analytics, data system management, operations research, supply chain management, and intelligence analysis offerings.

Surrey Satellite and NanoRacks Team to Deploy Satellites from the ISS

Surrey Satellite Technology signed a contract with NanoRacks to deploy 100-kilogram-class satellite platforms from the International Space Station (ISS) using the NanoRacks Kaber deployment system. The platform will significantly expand the satellite launching capability of the ISS, enabling larger, higher performance missions and payloads to be deployed from the station.

Intelligence Officials to Assist Companies in Averting Hackers

According to Bloomberg, U.S. intelligence officials are planning to provide information such as classified threat reports to companies to help avert supply-chain hacking. This effort is in part of a new campaign by the National Counterintelligence and Security Center to raise awareness that vulnerable supply chains give China, Russia, and other governments the opportunity to steal sensitive information or disrupt operations. The program will be targeted toward U.S. telecommunications, energy, and financial businesses.

UMass-Lowell to Build Satellite for NASA

NASA awarded $200,000 to a team of students from the University of Massachusetts Lowell to design and build a small satellite, reports The Boston Globe. Named SPACE HAUC, the satellite will be launched in 2018 for a yearlong mission in which it will orbit the Earth every 90 minutes to collect and transmit research data. The funding is part of NASA’s Undergraduate Student Institute Project.

Peer Intel

Staff Sgt. Aaron M. Tobler, a geospatial intelligence analyst of the Air Force’s 50th Intelligence Squadron, was one of 12 Airmen selected for the Air Force’s “Outstanding Airman of the Year” award. The award recognizes enlisted Airmen for their achievements in leadership, job performance, significant self-improvement, and community involvement.

Photo Credit: University of Massachusetts Lowell

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