JIC Serves as Wasp’s Eyes and Ears

Photo By Petty Officer 2nd Class Christopher Koons | Sailors from USS Wasp's Joint Intelligence Center go over maps and other documents on activity in Wasp's operating area, Aug. 4. With a regular staff of 11 sailors, JIC is charged with using information gathered from both unclassified and classified sources to provide an accurate portrait of all events and possible dangers happening around Wasp.  

USS WASP, AT SEA

08.04.2010

Story by Petty Officer 2nd Class Christopher Koons 

USS WASP (LHD 1)   

USS WASP, At Sea – For a Navy ship such as USS Wasp, being successful at its mission requires constant awareness of everything going on around it. To that end, the ship turns to the sailors who man its Joint Intelligence Center.

“Whenever Wasp is tasked with any operation, it’s JIC’s mission to provide indications and warning from any threat to the ship,” said Lt. Cmdr. Jonathan V. Beris, Wasp’s operations department principal assistant. “What we collect protects Wasp and its assets from other ships, coastal threats, as well as any type of asymmetric threat.”

With a regular staff of 11 sailors, JIC is charged with using information gathered from both unclassified and classified sources to provide an accurate portrait of all events and possible dangers happening around Wasp. This is accomplished with a variety of tools and roles for JIC’s staff.

“We utilize the Ship's Nautical or Otherwise Photographic Interpretation and Examination Team, imagery analysts, and all-source fusion analysts,” said Petty Officer 2nd Class (SW) Scott Myers, intelligence specialist. “The imagery analysts review images from multiple sources and the fusion analysts work on a variety of electronic networks to get all the relevant details of a possible threat.”

In addition to possible combat scenarios, JIC is also tasked with finding out pertinent information on any type of humanitarian operation in which Wasp may be involved.

“During a humanitarian mission, the senior military leadership will ask questions like ‘What’s the current condition on the ground? What’s the infrastructure like? What can we do to support it?’ JIC is a resource to provide those answers,” said Beris.

In addition to imagery and fusion analysts, JIC also employs sailors who serve as human, ground, strike, and operational intelligence analysts, as well as additional staff when Wasp deploys.

“We usually get additional personnel whenever we go on an extended underway period,” said Beris. “During Wasp’s most recent deployment in the fall of 2009, we had Army, Air Force, and civilian personnel working in our office.”

The daily superior performance of JIC sailors was noted during Wasp’s recent Unit Level Training Assessment-Sustainment inspection.

“The chief ULTRA-S intelligence inspector had evaluated JIC’s on other amphibious assault-class ships in Norfolk, and he said that we were the best of all of them,” Beris explained. “Our scores during ULTRA-S were close to perfect.”

Beyond their every day jobs, Wasp’s JIC staff also takes the time to get out and socialize with each other and help in the local community.

“We go to the same restaurants when we’re in a foreign port, had lunch outings while we were preparing for INSURV, and are planning to go on a community service project to the Union Mission Men’s Shelter in downtown Norfolk next month to serve lunch to the inhabitants,” said Petty Officer 1st Class (SW/AW) Nigeria Johnson-Key, intelligence specialist, JIC’s leading petty officer. “I’d like to get the junior sailors here more involved with giving back to the community, including having them help out in Habitat for Humanity projects.”

For Myers, being a part of the JIC team means helping both Wasp and the military as a whole being always on the alert for both possible threats and any required missions.

“It’s good to know that our job matters and that we make a difference every day,” he said.

• Date Taken: 08.04.2010
• Date Posted: 08.23.2010 16:30
• Story ID: 55051
• Location: USS WASP, AT SEA