Keith Masback selected to NOAA’s Advisory Committee on Commercial Remote Sensing.

Herndon, Virginia, September 06, 2012 - The United States Geospatial Intelligence Foundation(USGIF) is pleased to announce the appointment of Keith J. Masback, USGIF President, to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Advisory Committee on Commercial Remote Sensing (ACCRES).

ACCRES evaluates economic, technological, and institutional developments relating to commercial remote sensing and submits to the Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere recommendations on promising new ideas and approaches for Federal policies and programs.ACCRES serves as a forum for the discussion of issues involving the relationship between industry activities and government policies, programs, and regulatory requirements.

“NOAA is very excited to welcome Mr. Masback and USGIF to ACCRES. Mr. Masback’s longstanding dedication to building a stronger community of interest across all aspects of CRS, including government and industry, is a perfect fit,” stated Tahara Dawkins, Designated Federal Officer (DFO) for ACCRES. “We look forward to hearing Mr. Masback's ideas and recommendations as ACCRES moves forward in providing valuable advice to NOAA on the vast amount of issues that face this expanding, evolving, and complex industry.”

As President of USGIF, Mr. Masback is no stranger to the commercial remote sensing community. He is responsible for carrying out the Foundation’s mission of promoting the geospatial intelligence tradecraft and developing a GEOINT Community among government, industry, academic, professional organizations, and individuals whose mission focus is the development and application of geospatial intelligence to address national security objectives. Prior to joining USGIF, Mr. Masback spent a combined 20 years as an officer in the U.S. Army and in the government civilian service, culminating as a member of the Defense Intelligence Senior Executive Service at the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA). He served as the Director, Source Operations Group where he was responsible for tasking the Nation’s overhead GEOINT collection assets. Prior to his service at NGA, he was a senior executive civilian on the Army Staff, responsible for planning the future of Army Intelligence and serving as the Army’s first Director of Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance Integration.

“It’s truly an honor for me to be offered the opportunity to serve the Nation in the form of participation as a member of ACCRES, and I am eager to contribute in any way I can,” stated Masback.

About USGIF 
USGIF is a non-profit educational foundation dedicated to promoting the geospatial intelligence tradecraft and building a stronger community of interest across industry, academia, government, professional organizations and individual stakeholders. USGIF is the only organization of its kind aimed at bringing together the many disciplines involved in the geospatial intelligence sector to exchange ideas, share best practices, and promote the education and importance of a national geospatial intelligence agenda. For more information, please visithttp://www.USGIF.org

About NOAA 
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is a scientific agency providing information and data about life on earth, our oceans, atmosphere, and the Nation's living marine resources. NOAA's programs range from marine sanctuaries, environmental satellites, global climate change, and ocean exploration initiatives to climate, weather, and water services. NOAA is also responsible for regulating, licensing, monitoring and compliance of operators of private Earth remote sensing space systems under the national and Commercial Space Programs Act of 2010 (Title 51 U.S.C., Subtitle VI) formally the Land Remote Sensing Policy Act of 1992.http://www.noaa.gov/index.html