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PrintMay 30, 2009
What Obama learned about US intelligence at a burger joint
Imagine what the president would learn at an Italian restaurant.
Ben Smith at Politico:
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.
So here's the president, paling around with one of his buds from the National 'Bama Network (NBC), and he strikes up a conversation with a patron who works in a top secret agency of the government our "smart power" president never heard of.
Here's part of the transcript, courtesy of the Smith article:
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.
Just what do these particular spooks do? The Defense Department says:
NGA provides timely, relevant and accurate geospatial intelligence in support of national security objectives. The term "geospatial intelligence" means the exploitation and analysis of imagery and geospatial information to describe, assess and visually depict physical features and geographically referenced activities on the Earth. Geospatial intelligence consists of imagery, imagery intelligence and geospatial (e.g., mapping, charting and geodesy) information.
Sounds to me as if the NGA could be supplying our boys in the field with highly detailed maps of the battlefield in real time. Is this something a president of the United States should know? More to the point; is this something a president of the United States should be learning in a burger joint?
Stay tuned. It's anybody's guess where our clueless chief executive will learn more about the government next. Maybe he'll find something out by watching a movie.
