Much of intelligence remains understandably focused on external terror threats. However, at his keynote address at the GEOINT Conference on Tuesday Oct. 28, Charles E. Allen, Under Secretary for Intelligence and Analysis and Chief Intelligence Officer of DHS urged a more all-hazards approach to intelligence.

“Terrorism is not the only threat we face that approaches from afar,” Allen said. “Drug traffickers and alien smugglers attempt to evade our border security procedures daily. As DHS intelligence analysts monitor the activities of international terrorists, we remain on guard against the possibility that Latin American drug trafficking organizations, which have long successfully penetrated our borders and have extensive logistics networks, might support such a terrorist undertaking.”

“Within the United States,” Allen added, “we also face the danger of domestic extremists from across the spectrum of ideological beliefs: white supremicists, radicals who support violence in the name of religion, ecoterrorists, animal rights activists and anarchists all have the potential to conduct violent attacks.”

Geospatial intelligence (GEOINT), Allen said, must be at the center of an effective all-hazards domestic intelligence.

“The Department of Homeland Security’s imagery requirements are significantly greater, in number and scope, than they were at the Department’s creation,” he said, “and will continue to grow at an accelerating rate as the Department’s mission-space evolves. Reliable, real-time information and geospatial intelligence allows us to identify and characterize threats, target our security measures, and achieve unity of effort in our response. It also allows the Department’s Components to conduct intelligence-based and often intelligence-driven operations.”

Specifically, Allen said, GEOINT is crucial for broad area coverage to prepare for and recover from disasters—natural, man-made or otherwise.

In support of secure Borders, according to Allen, “Geospatial intelligence provides the framework required to conduct assessments on border vulnerabilities and enable Customs and Border Protection to develop strategic and at times synoptic components to their plans and operations.”

Geospatial products and intelligence were also cited as being key to DHS, FEMA, and State and local officials’ preparation for—and response to—recent natural disasters: Hurricanes Gustav, Hannah, and Ike; the Midwest Floods in June; and the series of California wildfires this past summer, by providing department-wide awareness to track incident management and response efforts.

Allen particularly praised the DHS led Interagency Remote Sensing Coordination Cell (IRSCC).

“ Through the IRSCC,” he recalled, “ we are able to provide a common picture of remote sensing collection activities to support disaster response operations. For example, during Hurricane Ike, for the first time US Customs and Border Protection flew the Predator B in support of FEMA and their hurricane relief efforts. The IRSCC then evaluated additional remote sensing requirements and advocated their satisfaction. This was the first time DHS provided a geospatial depiction of the civilian remote sensing picture to emergency responders and the remote sensing community.”

Finally, Allen outlined the importance of geospatial support to National Special Security Events like this year’s political conventions and the forthcoming presidential inauguration.

Looking forward, Allen said that DHS’s Geospatial Management Office, in partnership with its Chief Information Officer, is working to deploy tools to DHS’ intelligence components with a Google Earth "feel' before the end of the year.

“Inside DHS Intelligence,” he said, “ we continue to examine how we can best push geospatial intelligence and geospatially tagged intelligence reporting to the intelligence analyst's desktop in a way that remains user-friendly to the analyst. To accommodate the volumes of DHS-derived data, technical challenges remain to accurately extract geospatial information from free-flow text, for example. We’re not there yet, but we are encouraged by our future prospects.”