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(U) A 'Quick' Run-Down on the 'SLO' Conference
FROM: Sharon Schwemin
Foreign Affairs Directorate Staff (DP09)
Run Date: 06/08/2005
(U//FOUO) The annual SIGINT Liaison Officer Conference took place last month at the
European Technical Center, in Wiesbaden, Germany from 3-5 May. In the past, the attendees
have stayed in a Wiesbaden hotel, but because of a shortage of rooms due to a trade show in
town, ETC used a few hotels in Mainz, on the other side of the Rhine. We were actually only a
five-minute drive from ETC.
(S//SI) Day One consisted of higher-level presentations and discussions.
Gary Grantham (NSA's Foreign Affairs Director) opened the conference with a briefing on
the current state of foreign affairs. He talked about how involved our partners are, telling
everyone that we actually leverage more than 485 foreign sites, and highlighted some
recent initiatives such as SIGINT Seniors Pacific, Olympics support (Athens as well as
Turin), our activities with Ethiopia, the Combined SIGINT Operations Center in Pakistan,
and what we've been up to in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Charlie Meals (SIGINT Deputy Director) and Jim Cusick (D/Ch S3) followed with a
comprehensive presentation about many issues with which SID is currently dealing,
including Mission Alignment, the A&P reorganization, the Global War on Terrorism.
Gary's deputies,
Bill Johnston (DP2), and
each took
some time to bring the SLOs up to date on various issues and topics relating to their
respective offices.
(S//SI) We spent the second day of the conference talking about more specific issues. Bill
Crumm, Chief NCEUR (NSA/CSS Europe), started things off with "Local Implementation of
Transformation 2.0." He was followed by the following presentations:
SIGINT Seniors Pacific (Gary Grantham),
Iraq - How are We Doing (
SLO Baghdad),
Olympic Planning, to include a review of lessons learned from Athens as well as planning
for Turin (
SLO Athens, and Gary Demack, A/SUSLAI*),
Counterintelligence and Security Threats
ADS&CI*),
forward-deployed to FAD from
the Foreign Affairs Digest
(Sharon Schwemin, Digest editor),
and a "Potpourri" briefing from Gary Grantham, in which he briefly covered topics such as
FAD's Strategic Directions, Former Foreign Relations DIR and D/DIR Day, NSANet
connectivity for the SLOs, the new DNI office, and an update of the SIGINT history on
which
is working.
(U) Day Three was taken up with a lengthy roundtable discussion, then one-on-ones at which
the SLOs were able to meet individually with Gary and other FAD managers.
(U//FOUO) Numerous actions came out of the conference, many of which deal with the fact that
the SLOs are cut off from the Agency in the sense that, for the most part, they aren't connected
to NSANet. Sharon Schwemin, who runs FAD's Registry, promised to work on many of the
communications-related issues. As a result, the Registry has already begun to cc SLOs on
actions dealing with their partners, enabling the SLOs to be a part of any ensuing discussion
related to the action. In addition, the Registry has asked all in FAD to use Word vice Frame, as
the SLOs are unable to open Frame documents.
(U) In summary, the 2005 SLO Conference was a real success. The SLOs were brought up to
date on important issues, talked with each other about their approaches to similar challenges,
were able to build on each other's experiences, and spent quality uninterrupted time with SID
and FAD leadership. The feedback that has come in so far indicates that they were pleased with
the arrangements, the topics, and the overall slant the conference took. They are already
looking forward to next year's gathering!
"(U//FOUO) SIDtoday articles may not be republished or reposted outside NSANet
without the consent of S0121 (DL sid_comms)."
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DERIVED FROM: NSA/CSSM 1-52, DATED 08 JAN 2007 DECLASSIFY ON: 20320108