The US has had three female secretaries of state — but until now has never had a woman lead one of its 16 major intelligence agencies.
Letitia Long was to be elevated yesterday to director of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency in a ceremony at the agency’s half-built, high-tech campus in Springfield, Virgina.
The rounded wedge of buildings is rising from a vast construction site near Fort Belvoir. The agency’s staff, now spread across the Washington metropolitan area, is scheduled to relocate there by fall next year.
Long’s 32-year career has led to a series of senior management positions: deputy director of naval intelligence, deputy undersecretary of defense for intelligence and, most recently, second in command at the Defense Intelligence Agency.
Long represents the vanguard of women in the intelligence community.
Women represent 38 percent of the total US intelligence work force, said Wendy Morigi, spokeswoman for the director of national intelligence. In six most prominent agencies, 27 percent of senior intelligence positions are held by women.
Long has taken over one of the “top computer geek shops” in the national security world.
The agency synthesizes satellite imagery, using everything from the number of electric lines a city has to the density of the soil, to create three-dimensional, interactive maps of every spot on the planet. They are used by everyone from invading troops gauging whether a country’s roads or deserts can handle tank tracks, to oil spill cleanup crews trying to decide where to deploy resources.
Long has the science and technology credentials to do it, with a degree in electrical engineering from Virginia Tech, and a master’s in mechanical engineering from the Catholic University of America.
CONFRONTATION: The water cannon attack was the second this month on the Philippine supply boat ‘Unaizah May 4,’ after an incident on March 5 The China Coast Guard yesterday morning blocked a Philippine supply vessel and damaged it with water cannons near a reef off the Southeast Asian country, the Philippines said. The Philippine military released video of what it said was a nearly hour-long attack off the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the contested South China Sea, where Chinese ships have unleashed water cannons and collided with Philippine vessels in similar standoffs in the past few months. The China Coast Guard and other vessels “once again harassed, blocked, deployed water cannons, and executed dangerous maneuvers” against a routine rotation and resupply mission to
GLOBAL COMBAT AIR PROGRAM: The potential purchasers would be limited to the 15 nations with which Tokyo has signed defense partnership and equipment transfer deals Japan’s Cabinet yesterday approved a plan to sell future next-generation fighter jets that it is developing with the UK and Italy to other nations, in the latest move away from the country’s post-World War II pacifist principles. The contentious decision to allow international arms sales is expected to help secure Japan’s role in the joint fighter jet project, and is part of a move to build up the Japanese arms industry and bolster its role in global security. The Cabinet also endorsed a revision to Japan’s arms equipment and technology transfer guidelines to allow coproduced lethal weapons to be sold to nations
‘POLITICAL EARTHQUAKE’: Leo Varadkar said he was ‘no longer the best person’ to lead the nation and was stepping down for political, as well as personal, reasons Leo Varadkar on Wednesday announced that he was stepping down as Ireland’s prime minister and leader of the Fine Gael party in the governing coalition, citing “personal and political” reasons. Pundits called the surprise move, just 10 weeks before Ireland holds European Parliament and local elections, a “political earthquake.” A general election has to be held within a year. Irish Deputy Prime Minister Micheal Martin, leader of Fianna Fail, the main coalition partner, said Varadkar’s announcement was “unexpected,” but added that he expected the government to run its full term. An emotional Varadkar, who is in his second stint as prime minister and at
Thousands of devotees, some in a state of trance, gathered at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok renowned for sacred tattoos known as Sak Yant, paying their respects to a revered monk who mastered the practice and seeking purification. The gathering at Wat Bang Phra Buddhist temple is part of a Thai Wai Khru ritual in which devotees pay homage to Luang Phor Pern, the temple’s formal abbot, who died in 2002. He had a reputation for refining and popularizing the temple’s Sak Yant tattoo style. The idea that tattoos confer magical powers has existed in many parts of Asia