WEBVTT

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- The National Air and Space Intelligence Center

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is proudly celebrating 100 years

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of integrative, predictive intelligence.

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Traversing the expanding domains of

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air, space, and cyberspace.

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NASIC is a global intelligence enterprise

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fulfilling the needs of the warfighter,

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shaping national and defense policy,

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and guiding the development of future weapons systems.

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Let us take a moment and reflect back

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at our humble beginnings,

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revel in the technological advancements,

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and celebrate the pioneering people

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that allowed the center to contribute

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during two world wars, a cold war,

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and the war on terrorism.

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Let's look at the tools of the trade through

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the lens of the NASIC intelligence analysts

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throughout the last century.

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- My experience with the foreign data section

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began in October of 1917.

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My office at McCook Field provided everything that

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I needed to accomplish the mission

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of evaluating foreign aeronautical equipment

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and publishing reports on the findings.

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I sat at a plain wooden desk

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and used the basic Underwood typewriter.

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I used fountain ink pens to write my reports

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and submitted them to the typing pool

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for publishing and stamping of classification markings.

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My desk had one candlestick telephone with no dial,

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only the operator to route my calls.

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I depended upon the slide rule

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to help with math and a magnifying glass

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to help me see tiny objects

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and descriptions on photographs.

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These were the tools of the trade

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for my team of engineers through the 1920s and '30s.

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- During World War II and the Korean War,

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we operated out of several different

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buildings at Wright Field.

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My tools of the trade were still

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the slide rule and typewriter.

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I remember our first computer purchase at

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Air Technical Intelligence Center, known as ATIC.

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The READIX cost $70,000 in 1955.

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I could have bought two houses

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and a Cadillac with that kind of money.

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It helped us reduce mountains of data,

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making ATIC pioneers in using computers

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for technical intelligence.

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In 1958, we moved the READIX from Building 263

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to the second floor of Building 828,

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due to the first floor being in

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the floodplain of the Hofmann Dam.

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I thought we were cutting edge when

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the Burroughs DataTron 205 replaced the READIX.

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The DataTron 205 had 16 kilobytes of memory

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and used punch cards, paper,

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and magnetic tape for data input.

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The DataTron didn't last long though.

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It was replaced with the IBM 7090,

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thus taking over the computing workload for ATIC

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and enhancing my tools of the trade.

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- My time in the building was very exciting.

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Technology was starting to grow

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to keep up with the workload.

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Red phones were installed,

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which allowed me to call anyone

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with sensitive, compartmented information,

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making communications with the genographics team

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a snap when I needed overhead

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slides produced for my briefings.

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I was working at Foreign Technology Division in '61

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as an analyst computing foreign data

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with 32 kilobytes of memory on the IBM 7090

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using Fortran programming language.

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Five years later, the building upgraded

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to 200 kilobytes with the IBM 7094.

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I thought they were work horses at the time,

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pulling through complex data until '72

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when more computational power was available

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with the introduction of the UNIVAC 1108 multiprocessor.

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My fellow analysts would stop off at the terminal

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cluster rooms located throughout the building

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to log into the old UNIVAC.

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I'd smoke 'em if I had 'em while I waited.

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- I was an operator,

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breaking down large piles of paper

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and distributing them to the IL room for pickup.

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I remember the UNIVAC and IBM 36065 had multiple printers,

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capable of printing 1000 lines a minute.

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Planning began in the late 1970s

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for the next generation of mainframe computers.

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We installed the first seven IBM mainframes in '81,

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introducing the Intelligent Support System,

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known as ISS.

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The ISS went through several memory upgrades,

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from eight megabytes to 128 megabytes.

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ISS enabled the deployment of terminals to all analysts,

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dawning the age of having the power

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of computing at my finger tips.

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The floppy disk was now a part of

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my tools of the trade.

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- In 1984, the new data center opened.

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But despite the upgrades, we still required

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more processing power.

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FTD created one of the largest single mainframe

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complexes in the Air Force,

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combining two mainframe computers.

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The ISS required two high speed Xerox 9700 printers,

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capable of producing one million pages per month.

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We sure kept the shred room busy.

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FTD officially had the second license of ORACLE

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ever installed in the '80s.

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Larry Ellison came personally to the building

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to install the ORACLE software.

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That poor guy needed to be picked up

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at the airport because he couldn't afford a taxi.

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He's now a billionaire.

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In 1992, planning started for ISS replacement,

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since the Air Force was moving away from mainframes.

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NAIC designed the Cornerstone network

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based on multiple Sun servers and shared ethernet.

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The Xerox printers were retired in 1997,

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when distributed printers were installed.

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In 1998, the first PC network was installed at NAIC,

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using Micron servers and running Windows NT.

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PCs started to be deployed to all desktops,

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ringing in visualization support

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such as CAD, Photoshop, and PowerPoint,

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which believe it or not,

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was initially deemed ineffectual by leadership.

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Boy, if they could only see it now.

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- Who could forget Y2K?

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I remember my coworker was stockpiling

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for the end of the world,

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but we made it through just fine.

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NAIC continue to upgrade

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with larger servers and more storage space,

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replacing Sun systems with ORACLE

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and Microns with Dell systems.

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Virtualization was implemented to reduce

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the number of physical servers.

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Shared ethernet became the standard

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for the Cornerstone networks.

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And in 2004, over 17,000 miles of

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fiber optic cable was installed,

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providing analysts with 100 megabytes to the desktop.

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The current data center opened in 2008.

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Strict adherence to standards for equipment

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placement and cabling was implemented

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to facilitate a modern and efficient data center.

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In 2009, one petabyte of storage was realized.

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And today, NASIC has 30 petabyte of disk storage

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on all Cornerstone networks.

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Advancements in computing and storage capacities

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have enabled new ways of visualizing data.

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Exceptional processing power has increased

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the impact of traditional reporting

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with the integration of 3D visualizations

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and simulations with remarkable clarity.

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- NASIC's past 100 years

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have been full of outstanding innovations:

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avoiding technological surprise,

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and countering existing and evolving

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foreign air, space, and cyberspace threats.

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The integration of all communication formats,

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textual, auditory, and visual through technology

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allows the NASIC mission to grow

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by seamlessly passing intelligence

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and bridging gaps that enables

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multiple missions to harmonize.

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The tools of the trade has defined our past

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and will propel us well into the future.

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Just imagine what the next 100 years will bring.

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(electronic music)