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2009-05-31 Home Front: Politix
president discovers an American intelligence agency at Five Guys
In which the president discovers an American intelligence agency at Five Guys

On his trip to get a burger with Brian Williams at Five Guys this afternoon, the president appears to have learned of the existence of a Defense Department intelligence arm, the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency, from an agency employee also at the burger restaurant.

"So explain to me exactly what this National Geospatial..." Obama said, after the worker mentioned his employer, according to a video of the event.

"We work with, uh, satellite imagery," the worker, Walter replied.

A POLITICO reader caught the exchange, which starts around 5:45 on this C-SPAN video.

The transcript:

Obama: What do you do Walter?
Walter: I work at, uh, NGA, National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency
Obama: Outstanding, how long you been doing that?
Walter: About six years
Obama: Yea?
Walter: Yes.
Obama: You like it?
Walter: I do, keeps me...
Obama: So explain to me exactly what this National Geospatial...uh...
Walter: Uh, we work with, uh, satellite imagery..
Obama: Right
Walter: [unintelligible] ...support systems, so...
Obama: Sounds like good work.
Walter: Enjoy the weekend.
Obama: Appreciate it.

Sad, very, very sad. Balance at the link.
I dunno, first I ever heard of them either. I bet the NGIA likes keeping a low profile ...
The president needs a bit of work on his Lady Bountiful routine. Dear Diana, Princess of Wales, would have been a bit smoother and more sympathetic, but wouldn't have said much different.
Posted by Besoeker 2009-05-31 00:00|| || Front Page|| [11138 views ]  Top

#1 NGA does satellite IMINT of terrain. Defense uses it, but so does interior (forestry for example, uses it to survey growth and observe fires).

Been around for years as NIMA - changed name a few years back.

I wonder if Obama knows about NRO yet? /sarc

The guy really is damnably ignorant and is going to hurt the nation and get a lot of people killed because he DOES NOT KNOW things he should know.

I wish he would drop dead of natural causes before he does more harm due to his ignorance combined with his preference for other similarly ignorant Chicago style thugs around him, like Rahm Immanual the little facsisct.
Posted by OldSpook 2009-05-31 00:57||   2009-05-31 00:57|| Front Page Top

#2 FYI: NIMA -> NGA

Mission:

It is a Department of Defense (DoD) combat support agency that has been assigned an important, additional statutory mission of supporting national-level policymakers and government agencies. It is a member of the Intelligence Community and the single entity upon which the US government now relies to coherently manage the previously separate disciplines of imagery and mapping. By providing customers with ready access to the world's best imagery and geospatial information, this agency provides critical support for the national decisionmaking process

NIMA founded in 96, renamed NGA sometime after 9/11. Probably works with NRO since NRO flies the satellites.

NGA (then NIMA) was formed through the consolidation of the following: the Defense Mapping Agency (DMA), the Central Imagery Office (CIO), the Defense Dissemination Program Office (DDPO), and the National Photographic Interpretation Center (NPIC) as well as the imagery exploitation and dissemination elements of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), the Defense Airborne Reconnaissance Office (DARO), and the Central Intelligence Agency.

Damnably bad that he appears to know nothing about who is making the maps for him and his briefings, or else he is simply not paying attention at all, like the stupid boob that he is.

Sad thing is, were Bush to have done this, the press woudl be lampooning the hell out of him. But the press ow is too busy fellating him to notice that they are destroying our nation by failing utterly at their job of informing the populace.
Posted by OldSpook 2009-05-31 01:03||   2009-05-31 01:03|| Front Page Top

#3 Lest anyone call em unsympathetic to the idiot that got elected president, I will grant that he may have been at a disadvantage: he did not have his teleprompter, nor his puppet masters in his earpiece telling him what to say.

Fascist Idiotocracy. That's the Obama administration.
Posted by OldSpook 2009-05-31 01:08||   2009-05-31 01:08|| Front Page Top

#4 OK 3DC, you hangin out at five guys again?
Posted by 49 Pan 2009-05-31 02:55||   2009-05-31 02:55|| Front Page Top

#5 huh?
Posted by 3dc 2009-05-31 03:32||   2009-05-31 03:32|| Front Page Top

#6 OS:

Isn't NGA the old Defense Mapping Agency off McArthur Blvd?
Posted by Jack is Back!">Jack is Back!  2009-05-31 07:39||   2009-05-31 07:39|| Front Page Top

#7 The link is not pretty, but it willget you there Jack. There are several office for the NGIA across the WDC area and in St Louis MO, brief rundown available at the link.

Link embedded. Please use the 'link' function to do this in the future; otherwise you break the formatting of the Burg. AoS.
Posted by Rupert Angese1092 2009-05-31 08:42||   2009-05-31 08:42|| Front Page Top

#8 Doesn't matter how obscure the agency, if this had been Dubya, he'd have been crucified on the network news.
Posted by eLarson 2009-05-31 09:10||   2009-05-31 09:10|| Front Page Top

#9 Rupert, honey, you need to use Fred's wonderful and easy "link" feature. If I can do it, anyone can.

Copy the link, then come back and click on "comment" in the article you want to comment on. Type your comment, then select a word or words ("link" is often used) to use to place your link. Highlight the word(s), click on the "link" icon at the bottom of the comment block (it's a tiny blue/green world with a tiny chain link in front of it), paste the copied link into the little window that opens up, and press OK. The link is now embedded with the word(s) you chose.

To "test" it, click on the "Preview" button and look at the preview of your comment. If you hover your mouse pointer over the word with the link, the word will turn red and the link will show at the bottom of the preview screen.

Not being a computer-savvy person, it took me a while to figure it out, but now that I know how, it's really easy. And it doesn't "break" the page.

/pedant ;-p
Posted by Barbara Skolaut">Barbara Skolaut  2009-05-31 09:46||   2009-05-31 09:46|| Front Page Top

#10 I think his puppetmasters are probably thinking the less he knows the better for them.

But, yeah, he's stupid, too.
Posted by Zorba 2009-05-31 10:16||   2009-05-31 10:16|| Front Page Top

#11 He (Bambi) completly redefines the concept(s) of stupid, uninformed, empty suit, ad nauseum.
Posted by WolfDog 2009-05-31 11:00||   2009-05-31 11:00|| Front Page Top

#12 Dirk Pitt denied the existence of NUMA.
Posted by bman 2009-05-31 11:51||   2009-05-31 11:51|| Front Page Top

#13 I worked in the Air Force liaison office in the old NPIC building for most of 1980. Great job, just in a terrible location. I could easily have done the job for the rest of my career if I could have done it from Colorado Springs or Great Falls. Even Omaha is preferable to DC.
Posted by Old Patriot">Old Patriot  2009-05-31 14:33|| http://oldpatriot.blogspot.com/]">[http://oldpatriot.blogspot.com/]  2009-05-31 14:33|| Front Page Top

#14 Obama: What do you do OP?
OP: I'm a USAF LNO and work at an intel agency that I'm sure you've never heard of.
Obama: Outstanding, how long you been doing that?
OP: I was assigned there in 1980.
Obama: Yea?
OP: Yes. It's work though. I doubt you'd understand.
Obama: You like it?
OP: I do, I help stamp out communism....
Obama: So explain to me exactly what this agency...uh...
OP: Uh, we work with, uh, satellite imagery..
Obama: Right
OP: [unintelligible] ...support systems, so...
Obama: Sounds like good work.
OP: Enjoy the weekend dipshi*.
Obama: Appreciate it.
Posted by Besoeker 2009-05-31 16:19||   2009-05-31 16:19|| Front Page Top

#15 LOL!
Posted by Scooter McGruder 2009-05-31 16:59||   2009-05-31 16:59|| Front Page Top

#16 Here's to 8 years of "bambi"!!
Posted by Rupert Grusons6456 2009-05-31 20:36||   2009-05-31 20:36|| Front Page Top

#17 Bite your tongue keyboard, Rupert! :-(
Posted by Barbara Skolaut">Barbara Skolaut  2009-05-31 21:01||   2009-05-31 21:01|| Front Page Top

#18 Why am I beginning to feel nostalgic about the Clinton years?
Posted by Besoeker 2009-05-31 21:06||   2009-05-31 21:06|| Front Page Top

#19 Besoeker, maybe its because while Bill was otherwise occupied in the oval office with Monica acting stupid and letting Bin Laden get away, at least the economy was so golden it gleamed.
Posted by GirlThursday 2009-05-31 22:08||   2009-05-31 22:08|| Front Page Top

10:25 DarthVader
10:20 Matt
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