Herndon, VA - June 14, 2012

The United States Geospatial Intelligence Foundation (USGIF), held its 8th annual GEOINT Community Week (GCW), June 4-8 in the Northern Virginia area. The weeklong event hosted more than a dozen separate events at various locations, bringing together the defense, intelligence and homeland security geospatial-user community.

"Each year GCW focuses on pressing topics facing the GEOINT Community," said Keith Masback, USGIF president. “Attendee and participant feedback indicates our discussions about issues surrounding commercial remote sensing, emerging technologies, and the promise and challenge of big data were spot on.”

The week kicked off with more than 100 attendees at the USGIF Workshop Series on “The Future of U.S. Commercial Remote Sensing,” keynoted by Eric Viglione, deputy director of commercial imagery, products and services at the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA). The workshop featured notable panelists from industry and government, including Kelly Gaffney, deputy assistant director, systems and resource analysis, Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) and Gil Klinger, deputy assistant secretary of defense for space and intelligence within the office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics.

Dave Bottom, director of the Information Technology Services Directorate at NGA, spoke to a crowd of almost 75 at a special edition of GEOINTeraction Tuesday as part of Community Week. He outlined changes NGA is making to what and how it delivers in terms of IT.

More than 1,000 attendees gathered at NGA Campus East for the NGA Tech Showcase, which was one of two co-sponsored USGIF classified events. The two-day event provided an opportunity for NGA employees and their Intelligence Community and industry partners to see more than 65 NGA-hosted activities displaying the Agency’s capabilities. USGIF also co-hosted the Ground Warfighter Geospatial Intelligence Conference (GGC) along with the HQDA Deputy Chief of Staff (DCS), G-2, and the Office of the Chief of Engineers (OCE). The conference drew more than 400 attendees to the TASC Heritage Conference Center in Chantilly, VA.

The week wrapped up with the USGIF Invitational held Friday at the 1757 Golf Club in Sterling, VA, attracting 124 golfers and raising money for the USGIF Scholarship Program. Saturday’s 8th annual invite-only GEOGala, was an evening of dining, dancing, and networking. The gala drew 630 attendees, including leaders from the Defense, Intelligence and Homeland Security communities, as well as USGIF members and guests.

“We are very pleased with the turnout of another successful GEOINT Community Week,” said Jordan Fuhr, USGIF director of marketing and strategic communications. “We look forward to engaging with our community again at our annual symposium, GEOINT 2012, October 8-11 in Orlando, FL.”

About USGIF

USGIF is a non-profit educational foundation dedicated to promoting the geospatial intelligence tradecraft and developing a stronger GEOINT Community with government, industry, academia, professional organizations and individuals whose mission is the development and application of geospatial intelligence to address national security challenges. For more information, please visithttp://www.USGIF.org

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