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(U//FOUO) On the Upcoming SCOR Conference, and My Tour as
SIGINT Director
FROM: MG Richard J. Quirk, USA
SIGINT Director
Run Date: 03/28/2006
(U//FOUO) The SIGINT Director discusses the Site Commanders Operational Review and his
extension as SIGINT Director until October.
(U//FOUO) I want to take a minute to tell you about the upcoming Site Commanders
Operational Review (SCOR) Conference, which will be held from 5 to 6 April. Starting with 2006,
we will hold the SCORs semi-annually. This will be our third SCOR Conference in which we've
sought to advance the state of our global enterprise. We will bring the chiefs of our largest sites
together specifically to identify net-centric solutions to our most challenging mission gaps.
(U//FOUO) As I've discussed with you before, our path to success in this 21st century is a
globally distributed enterprise that treats each cryptologic professional as the national treasure
that he or she is. Getting to that point means letting people make enlightened decisions about
which missions and tasks they are taking on. These decisions must be made in a collaborative,
communal way.
(U//FOUO) We use the SCOR as an opportunity to model such enlightened, collaborative
decision-making at the site commander level. If we at the commander's level can figure this out,
then certainly younger, brighter people below us can do the same. So, for two days we'll review
our progress in net-centric governance, we'll chart out the next tough objective, and - most
important - we'll figure out how to turn our areas of poor or limited performance (called "reds"
and "oranges" in our mission assessment process*) into good or fair performance ("green" or
"yellow").
(U//FOUO) I believe the next step in improving our process is improving how we hold ourselves
accountable for the "gray areas" - those self-identified missions falling outside the Director's
Strategic Mission List**. We all suspect that it's in the gray areas that new missions will form
and important discoveries will be made. The SIGINT leadership does not want to stifle these
kinds of initiative; but on the other hand, we must hold ourselves accountable for all of the
missions we are performing and must ensure we are putting enough emphasis on the Director's
Strategic Mission List.
(U//FOUO) We'll report out to you after the SCOR Conference about what we've learned about
the gray areas. Like us, you must constantly reassess the tasks and missions you perform daily.
In the end, it will take all of us to ensure that SIGINT is always providing the best possible value
to the nation. I, for one, see it as a sign of progress that we can now carry on this level of
conversation, because as recently as a few years ago we were not yet sophisticated enough in
our procedures to do so.
(U//FOUO) What does this mean to you? I encourage you to consider how your work fits into
the big picture of SIGINT support to the nation. Are we doing what the nation needs most? As
target experts, share your thoughts with management on how to make our SIGINT even more
relevant - that's how we'll continue to grow stronger.
(U//FOUO) Lastly, I recently got word that my tour as SIGINT Director has been extended until
1 October 2006. I asked to be extended so that there will be an overlap between my departure
and the arrival of my replacement, who probably will not arrive until early fall. We have a great
deal of wonderful things happening in the SIGINT System, and I wouldn't want any of that fine
work to lag due to the absence of a SIGINT Director. I appreciate that LTG Alexander and my
wife (not necessarily in that order!) have approved my request.
(U//FOUO) Notes:
* See related article about Mission Assessment.
** See another related article for more information on the Mission List.
"(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