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JEFX initiative provides boost for medical intelligence

  • Published
  • By Lt. Col. Keith Groth
  • Air Force Special Operations Command surgeon general
HURLBURT FIELD, Fla. --  With some help from the Global Cyberspace Integration Center at Langley Air Force Base, Va., Air Force Special Operations Command is taking medical intelligence far forward ... and bringing it back.

In February 2008, the Web-based Global Situational Awareness Tool went live on the Defense Department's classified computer network. The activation was a major milestone in a capability development that started in 2001 as the Global Operational Environmental Review.

GOER proved the concept of automating data collection to facilitate forward-basing planning by tapping multiple data sources based on mission parameters. GSAT advanced the concept further by creating tools medical mission planners could use to provide situational awareness of a forward location's medical threats and risks.

After an assessment of GSAT performance during Joint Expeditionary Force Experiment 2006, the GCIC Modernization and Innovation Directorate infused the program with $1.9 million to help bring the capability to the warfighter sooner rather than later.

"[GSAT] provides a suite of intelligence gathering, assessment, analysis, decision support and presentation tools targeted at the tactical operator," said Lt. Col. Mike Hartzell, GSAT program manager and AFSOC's public health consultant. "It takes advantage of the inherent power of geospatial information and relational databases to fuse information traditionally analyzed separately into a more complete understanding."

GSAT's capabilities present a more complete intelligence picture tailored to the specific needs of the operator in four core areas: site selection, site assessment, mission planning and mission support. This picture allows the operator to quickly and accurately make sense of the various data.

Of all the capabilities embedded in the platform, one of the most useful to special operations forces medical personnel is the ability to collect and rapidly share data vital for effective mission planning, Colonel Hartzell said. These data, such as the medical capabilities of host nation medical facilities, industrial operations in the area, water quality, natural hazards (flooding, volcanoes, dust storms, etc.) and mission-relevant disease information, is often outdated or missing from current intelligence sources.

"The ability to collect, store, find and rapidly share this information greatly enhances the ability to recognize and mitigate risks to people and the mission," said Colonel Hartzell. "Moreover, GSAT provides a means for the operator to validate existing intelligence and collect and store additional data that can be easily accessed by other operators and the intelligence community."

In addition to the Web-based capability, AFSOC delivered the capability on a stand-alone, ruggedized laptop. Using advanced computer data compression technology, a "snapshot" of the GSAT Web-server can be accessed without network connectivity. This provides access to more than 90 percent of the capability of GSAT-Web, giving forward-deployed medics the ability to conduct medical planning "on-the-fly" to support mission changes and to refine decision support tools using data collected during the mission.

"AFSOC is rapidly working toward simplifying the process for updating these laptops to push the forward deployed capability closer to what is available on GSAT-Web," said Colonel Hartzell. "AFSOC successfully deployed these laptops to overseas units in late 2007."