Civil Air Patrol operates a fleet of 555 single-engine aircraft and 2,250 small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (sUAS) and performs about 90% of all search and rescue operations within the contiguous United States as tasked by the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center. Often using innovative cellphone forensics and radar analysis software, CAP was credited by the AFRCC with saving 108 lives last year. CAP’s 56,000 members also perform homeland security, disaster relief and drug interdiction missions at the request of federal, state and local agencies. As a nonprofit organization, CAP plays a leading role in aerospace education using national academic standards-based STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) education resources.

Scott Kaplan sat down with us to discuss what CAP’s role is in the geospatial industry dating back to World War 2. He then went on to explain the coordination between NGA and CAP in regards to search and rescue operations. Along with talking about recent news for the organization and his favorite new technology that he saw at the symposium.

Anyone who sails a ship, flies an aircraft, goes into harm’s way, makes national policy decisions, responds to disasters, or navigates with a cellphone, all rely on the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency. NGA delivers world-class geospatial intelligence, or GEOINT, that provides a decisive advantage to warfighters, policymakers, intelligence professionals and first responders. Both an intelligence agency and a combat support agency, NGA fulfills the president’s national security priorities in partnership with the intelligence community and Department of Defense.

Kathy Wever, Director of the Talent Development Office with the NGA, explains the skill sets and interests the agency is looking for in recent college graduates. She also elaborated on some academia partnerships that are making strides in diversifying the GEOINT community and getting more people interested in the field. And she even shared a personal story about working with youth to inspire the next generation of GEOINT professionals.

The interagency Civil Applications Committee (CAC) facilitates the appropriate civil uses of overhead remote sensing technologies and data collected by military and intelligence capabilities, including from commercial sources. The CAC is operated and staffed by the U.S. Geological Survey on behalf of the U.S. Department of the Interior and its interagency partners. The director of the U.S. Geological Survey is the chair of the committee, and the vice-chair is a non-Department of the Interior senior official. The CAC ensures certain Federal civil agencies have access to these remotely sensed assets to meet their statutory missions in ways that do not threaten the civil rights, civil liberties, and personal privacy of U.S. citizens. To meets its mandate, the CAC hosts various working groups and communities of interest including those focused on thermal issues (wildland fires and volcanoes), environmental security, and historical satellite imagery.

Dan Opstal and Scott Kaplan, with the Civil Applications Committee, discuss the importance of CAC and why having an organization such as this is so important to the community as a whole. They also describe how they are educating individuals and their partners about how CAC can help in their particular missions. Dan also explains some of the challenges in the industry they are trying to mitigate in the industry such as accessibility to data. Scott also went on to elaborate on the need for improved communication between disciplines and how CAC is trying to help with that.

Anyone who sails a ship, flies an aircraft, goes into harm’s way, makes national policy decisions, responds to disasters, or navigates with a cellphone, all rely on the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency. NGA delivers world-class geospatial intelligence, or GEOINT, that provides a decisive advantage to warfighters, policymakers, intelligence professionals and first responders. Both an intelligence agency and a combat support agency, NGA fulfills the president’s national security priorities in partnership with the intelligence community and Department of Defense.

Rob Shields, the Director of Analytic Technologies at the NGA, talks about the technology they develop to support the analysts. As part of the office that provides the needs and prioritizes the solutions they need from providers, he discusses the types of tools that analysts prefer. He also describes the change he’s seen in the culture with the recent emphasis placed on the collaboration and innovation at the Moonshot Labs.