DVIDS – News – AMCOM Intelligence Division Recognized at White House with Presidential Award

The Air and Missile Command's Intelligence and Security Division team received the President's Award during a ceremony April 16 at the White House in Washington, D.C.

The Killian Award, sponsored by the President's Intelligence Advisory Board, is given annually to an organization, unit, or individual within the intelligence community to recognize excellence in five categories: analysis, collection, science and technology, mission support, or intelligence surveillance. awarded. PIAB advises the President of the United States on the quality and effectiveness of intelligence and counterintelligence operations. The award is named for Dr. James Lyne Killian, the first Chairman of the Board of Directors and the first Assistant to the President for Science and Technology.

The AMCOM G2 Threat Support Branch received this award in the Mission Support category for its significant contributions to the Program Office (Missiles and Space).

Most of their operations are classified, but Threat Director Frank Veguerita II said the team provided technical intelligence support while directly contributing to the security of allied forces deployed in dangerous locations. Told. Many systems developed at Redstone Arsenal are currently deployed and in use in various theaters around the world. Vegerita's team identifies tactics and countermeasures that can directly impact systems in real time overseas.

“As PEOs develop new weapons systems and platforms, or update and improve legacy systems, intelligence analysts examine comparable threats and have the ability to counter those systems,” he said. I'll check to see if that's the case.”

AMCOM G2 Deputy Director Lewis McMillian Jr. said intelligence integration is essential to ensure customers receive the most timely and relevant threat information possible to inform mission decisions. Stated. He added that part of the strategic effect of that integration is the high level of reliability and trustworthiness that PEOs value so highly.

“Our intelligence team must be fully integrated into the PEO program/project office to analyze and understand the weapon system perspective at the subcomponent level,” McMillian said. “This allows us as intelligence professionals to better understand what threat intelligence to inject, when and where, and how to factor threat intelligence into the acquisition cycle to help inform weapons planning decisions. Become.”

Vegelita said some weapons systems take more than 20 years to develop and threat support teams don't want to wait until those systems are fielded to discover that an adversary has a way to defeat them. said it is continuously monitoring the intelligence environment.

“We present that information to the program managers and engineers who are developing the technology,” he said. “Then you have to decide whether to accept the risk or make adjustments to overcome near-equivalent capabilities.”

Commenting on his team receiving the Killian Award and being recognized for their efforts, Vegelita said: Although it is possible to use the system in the field, it does not always happen. ”

Veguerita, a retired naval officer, said most of AMCOM's intelligence analysts are military veterans. Many of them served in the intelligence field while in uniform, or operated the weapons systems they currently support in their civilian capacities. While working at his AMCOM, they are attached to the program office and work with engineers to better understand weapon systems and potential vulnerabilities.

“We have to work with engineers to understand how the system works and what their needs and requirements are,” he said. “We're talking specifically about threats to systems, and we have to know what each other is doing. Engineers have to understand what we mean by what we're communicating, and we have to We need to understand the systems they're building. They're making significant changes to the platform based on the information we provide. That's what we do every day. You will be able to realize the benefits.”

McMillian said the award is a historic win for AMCOM, Redstone Arsenal and the Department of the Army, and the national recognition brings more intelligence to the Huntsville, Ala., market, which is more commonly associated with rocket science. He said he expected analysts to gather.

“We are honored to be associated with such outstanding employees whose work is likely not publicly available due to security classification restrictions, but whose impact is felt around the world.” he said. “Winning the Killian Award is a monumental and unique achievement in that it competes with other efforts across the intelligence community. This confirms what we already know in AMCOM G2 leadership. That means we have the nation's best intelligence analysts stationed here at Redstone Arsenal.”