A team from the Air and Missile Command's Intelligence and Security Division received the President's Award on April 16 at the White House.
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. The PIAB advises the President on the quality and effectiveness of intelligence and counterintelligence operations. The award is named for 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 Division received this award in the Mission Support category for significant contributions in support of the Missile and Space Program Executive Office.
Although most of their activities are classified, Threat Director Frank Veguerita said the teams provided technical intelligence support while directly contributing to the security of allied forces deployed in dangerous locations. . 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 in real time that can directly impact systems abroad.
“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.”
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, that does not always happen. ”
Veguerita, a retired naval officer, said most AMCOM intelligence analysts are military veterans. Many of them served in uniform and worked in the intelligence field, or in civilian capacities operating the weapons systems they currently support. 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 need to understand the systems they're building. They're making significant changes to the platform based on the information we provide. It's a partnership. will be able to see the benefits of what they do every day.”
AMCOM G2 Threat Support Branch Killian Award recipients include Gretchen Abbott, Joshua Adams, Shannon Baker, Michael Fields, Joel Lackey, Joshua May, Christine Miller, Patrick Passler, Russell Parman, Karl Peterson, Ryan Pickett, Tracy Ralphs, Richard Romine , includes Jordan Summers, Frank Begerita and Charles Woodward.
