Obama Learns about US Intel Agency for First time at Five Guys

[I can't think of a name]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Q_f7L6GQuI&feature=player_embedded

Imagine if Bush did this, it would have been Daily Show materieal for a Week

http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0509/In_which_the_president_discovers_an_American_intelligence_agency_at_Five_Guys.html

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.

[bobunio]

5 Guys burgers and fries rock..they're a bit pricey, but pretty good.

[Ordie]

Thanks, I never knew about the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency.
I'm sure most Americans don't either.

American federal government bureaucracy, especially intelligence is big.

[I can't think of a name]

Good job taking one for the team Ordie, Obama will appreciate you covering for him. (You would think the President would know about an expensive agency that contributes to the PDB)

[B_706K]

He could also have just been making converstion in the easiest way..?

[AZZenny]

I read recently that this was one of the 'no such agency' type places for quite a while. May be that there are no 'public' questions one could or should ask.

[Ordie]

Good job taking one for the team Ordie, Obama will appreciate you covering for him. (You would think the President would know about an expensive agency that contributes to the PDB)

Whats PDB?

[WolverineBlue]

PDB -- President's Daily Brief: summary put together by intelligence community for the president and other policy makers

I wonder which Five Guys this was -- the NGIA was put together from a hodge-podge of other agencies that handled imagery analysis, and I think that they are based near my old stomping grounds in Northern VA (at least that was where one of the original seminal agencies was).

I would venture that the president rarely sees raw imagery in his PDB's.

[I can't think of a name]

PDB -- President's Daily Brief: summary put together by intelligence community for the president and other policy makers

I wonder which Five Guys this was -- the NGIA was put together from a hodge-podge of other agencies that handled imagery analysis, and I think that they are based near my old stomping grounds in Northern VA (at least that was where one of the original seminal agencies was).

I would venture that the president rarely sees raw imagery in his PDB's.

It was the Five Guys just off M and 1st SE. It is the closest Five Guys to Capitol Hill yet it is across the street from the Washington Navy Yard (and metro). Hill staffers come down to the WNY for the Five Guys. Which is funny because the Navy Yard was known for years and being a real ghetto. Now it is all being gentrified with the ball park and all. The new Department of Transportation HQ is right there next to the NAvy Yard and across the street from the Five Guys.

[California Joe]

I did a lot of work with them a few years ago. It was a big deal when they changed their name so they sounded cool like the other 3 letter agencies. This is one of those groups that the general public shouldn't know much about. It's better that way.

[WolverineBlue]

It was the Five Guys just off M and 1st SE. It is the closest Five Guys to Capitol Hill yet it is across the street from the Washington Navy Yard (and metro). Hill staffers come down to the WNY for the Five Guys. Which is funny because the Navy Yard was known for years and being a real ghetto. Now it is all being gentrified with the ball park and all. The new Department of Transportation HQ is right there next to the NAvy Yard and across the street from the Five Guys.

Say no more, say no more -- then this guy was out of the facility at the Navy Yard, not the one in suburban NoVa.

[Soldat_Américain]

I did a lot of work with them a few years ago. It was a big deal when they changed their name so they sounded cool like the other 3 letter agencies. This is one of those groups that the general public shouldn't know much about. It's better that way.
Know about them...but my only ideas about what they do is imagery analysis...beyond that you got me. I think he was trying to relate to regular working joe the way Clinton did when he went into McDonalds.

[I can't think of a name]

I did a lot of work with them a few years ago. It was a big deal when they changed their name so they sounded cool like the other 3 letter agencies. This is one of those groups that the general public shouldn't know much about. It's better that way.

Yeah, "Walter" was in a tough spot there. It would have been a good inside joke in his office if he gave the President the run around on where he worked. Reality turned out funnier.

[szr]

I read recently that this was one of the 'no such agency' type places for quite a while. May be that there are no 'public' questions one could or should ask.Nah, or at least back in the day when they NIMA, they were a pretty straight-forward and open IC agency. They're just sort of obscure because most people don't think of the importance of mapmaking when they think of defense intelligence.

[California Joe]

Honestly, I think "obscure" is the perfect term. Everyone assumes that their functions would already belong to someone else. But obscure isn't helpful when it comes to securing funding from Congress...:)

[Hollis]

Some of those agencies like to change names too. The less attention they receive the better, even the funding part is restricted knowledge.

The text, looks like Obama was just making small talk.

The other part, I didn't like it when Bush was slammed for similar sort of stuff.......... So why should it be cool to do it to Obama also?

[JUNKHO]

Honestly, I think "obscure" is the perfect term. Everyone assumes that their functions would already belong to someone else. But obscure isn't helpful when it comes to securing funding from Congress...:)

qft - the real issue.

[Ordie]

Honestly, I think "obscure" is the perfect term. Everyone assumes that their functions would already belong to someone else. But obscure isn't helpful when it comes to securing funding from Congress...:)

The Byzantines would be proud of us.

[California Joe]

Some of those agencies like to change names too. The less attention they receive the better, even the funding part is restricted knowledge.

The text, looks like Obama was just making small talk.

The other part, I didn't like it when Bush was slammed for similar sort of stuff.......... So why should it be cool to do it to Obama also?

They aren't exactly the type of agency that would be reporting directly to the President anyway. Their work helps all of the other agencies and DoD who then report to the President through multiple layers of governmet etc...

[Blue_0]

I was completily unaware they existed. They will have to change there name again.

Think about the guy on the spots situation. He is in a never say anything agency, and he has the president asking him what he does in a public place :). Excellent canned reply on his part. Secondly, the president probably realized pretty quick that guy was in classified work.

-- Bluelight

[Mr Gently Benevolent]

I am a big intel buff and never knew about a quarter of the agencies and sub agencies that are in the US govt guide to US intelligence, jeez there is an underground structures group that collects intel on bunkers. It used to be that you would have never found out about Special Collections unless they offered you a job or were a consumer of their work.

http://www.dni.gov/reports/IC_Consumers_Guide_2009.pdf

[Mackie]

NYT Television produced the docu "the perfect war" in 2003. NGA was shown there.

EDIT: New name "Battle Plan Under Fire" presented on NOVA.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/wartech/

[Hot Lips]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Q_f7L6GQuI&feature=player_embedded

Imagine if Bush did this, it would have been Daily Show materieal for a Week


Hard to take this concern seriously. He was networking with the public. That includes showing an interest in who you are speaking to by asking open ended questions and allowing them to talk about themselves. Nothing wrong with asking the guy where he works and what he/they do there in his words.

[SoliDeoGloria]

There is nothing secret squirrel about NGIA (Formerly NIMA). I wouldn't be surprised in the slightest if the Presidents overall understanding of the intricacies of our Intelligence community and defense programs is derived from media sensationalism and a tinge of hollywood.:roll: ....community organizer.

[California Joe]

There is nothing secret squirrel about NGIA (Formerly NIMA). I wouldn't be surprised in the slightest if the Presidents overall understanding of the intricacies of our Intelligence community and defense programs is derived from media sensationalism and a tinge of hollywood.:roll: ....community organizer.

Yeah, all that security briefing sh*t is just for show and he obviously has no aptitude for learning anything.

For f*ckssakes, if you want to criticize the guy be original or at least coherent.

[especial]

So what's the big deal? Secret organization that was not suppose to ever be mentioned? Then the agent should have lied.

[AmericanAirman]

So what's the big deal? Secret organization that was not suppose to ever be mentioned? Then the agent should have lied.

These guys aren't very secret; they came recruiting at a leadership conference on national security I went to and I met the same recruiter at my college career fair. They hire a lot of ex-military guys; just like the rest of the government I guess.

[JUNKHO]

to lie may be bad form - just answer from a more shallow perspective

"I'm an administrator and push a lot of paper"

[California Joe]

The point the initial poster was trying to make was that Obama was merely making small talk and was unfamiliar with the function of one of his government agencies.

Now you can take that to mean that he is incompetent or slightly disinterested or that he doesn't have direct contact with this agency and get's his intel from where all of the other Presidents have. From his daily security brief. Duh.

When you brief the President you don't include the 14,000 acronyms of agencies and units that put together the brief. He has no real reason to know what every single one of them does daily.

It is not some ultra secret spook agency. Just an obscure one that deals with satellite imagery.

[I can't think of a name]

Hard to take this concern seriously. He was networking with the public. That includes showing an interest in who you are speaking to by asking open ended questions and allowing them to talk about themselves. Nothing wrong with asking the guy where he works and what he/they do there in his words.
No one is criticizing him for making small talk with the public :roll: (networking at five guys? The President?)

He seriously never heard of a DoD Agency that is rather large. Even after the guy spelled out the acronym to him he did not get it. We all know he has not been involved with the federal government for that long, however anyone in the military has heard of NIMA or NGA.

[I can't think of a name]

These guys aren't very secret; they came recruiting at a leadership conference on national security I went to and I met the same recruiter at my college career fair. They hire a lot of ex-military guys; just like the rest of the government I guess.

They (like the CIA, NSA etc) have booths on college campus career days right next to Google, and Microsoft.

[SoliDeoGloria]

Yeah, all that security briefing sh*t is just for show and he obviously has no aptitude for learning anything.

For f*ckssakes, if you want to criticize the guy be original or at least coherent.

Just because he receives a daily security briefing doesnt make him competent.

[Scriptable]

Just because he receives a daily security briefing doesnt make him competent.
Dude, its not like they hand those out to just anyone.

[SoliDeoGloria]

Dude, its not like they hand those out to just anyone.

so because they are not just handed out to anyone that gives him vast experiential knowledge in how the Intelligence community is comprised and operates?

[Scriptable]

so because they are not just handed out to anyone that gives him vast experiential knowledge in how the Intelligence community is comprised and operates?
He's not writing them, he's receiving them. A good, competent leader delegates to skilled and trusted advisors and subject matter experts.

[Gordon]

Their website seems to have a fair bit of info. on it:
https://www1.nga.mil/Pages/Default.aspx

[Noble713]

When you brief the President you don't include the 14,000 acronyms of agencies and units that put together the brief. He has no real reason to know what every single one of them does daily.


Got me thinking....

staffer giving brief: "If you'd like to check my citations, sir, they're all in the sources at the back of the brief."

President: "Jim, your bibliography is not in the proper MLA format."

Yeah, I just don't see that happening....


however anyone in the military has heard of NIMA or NGA.

I don't recall ever hearing about them, but things pertaining to satellite imagery rarely filtered down to my level, even when I rubbed elbows with some Intel skanks in the Brigade shop.

[California Joe]

There is nothing secret squirrel about NGIA (Formerly NIMA). I wouldn't be surprised in the slightest if the Presidents overall understanding of the intricacies of our Intelligence community and defense programs is derived from media sensationalism and a tinge of hollywood.:roll: ....community organizer.

It's a TS/SCI/SAP environment. And if you actually believe what you wrote above then I'm figuring there's really not much sense in trying to get you to separate facts from vitriolic opinion.


Just because he receives a daily security briefing doesnt make him competent.

OK, you're right. What was I thinking. He should probably just be a greeter at Walmart.

[Violet Fashion by Mindy]

I did a lot of work with them a few years ago. It was a big deal when they changed their name so they sounded cool like the other 3 letter agencies. This is one of those groups that the general public shouldn't know much about. It's better that way.

Good thing our nations have Freedom of Information laws if the public wanted to know they could. p-)

[Hollis]

Good thing our nations have Freedom of Information laws if the public wanted to know they could. p-)


The other aspect is oversight, Elected officials, people who are elected by the mob to handle our affairs, part of their fiduciary responsibility is oversight of "secret" operations. Current example is the Pelosi scandal.

Freedom of information is set up not to aid our enemies, so it is not 100% public right to know everything.

[Dominique]

however anyone in the military has heard of NIMA or NGA.

Bullsh*t. Half the idiots in the military can't tell you what the acronyms, listed in the phone book for their installation mean.

[Soldat_Américain]

bullsh*t. Half the idiots in the military can't tell you what the acronyms, listed in the phone book for their installation mean.
Fact .. ...

[rkpo]

Anyone with an interest in intelligence would. Does the US President have an interest? No, or was pretending to not know for whatever reason. If President knew it was sensitive he shouldnt have asked what the guy did as it might have led to him letting something slip - he is talking with the President in a public forum so why bother 'testing' the employee - my money is he really didnt have a clue or is trying to act 'un-military'. Though it depends on the context of the interview as it could have stood for anything...

[budgie]

Just because he receives a daily security briefing doesnt make him competent.

Indeed. Take for example his predecessor, who didn't even read his daily briefings unless Rummy had splashed pictures of Jesus and biblical quotes all over them. But then why bother reading them when they have such ambiguous and woolly titles like "Bin Laden Determined to Attack the US"?

[Scriptable]

Indeed. Take for example his predecessor, who didn't even read his daily briefings unless Rummy had splashed pictures of Jesus and biblical quotes all over them.
http://img190.imageshack.us/img190/299/aog.jpg