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FACTSHEET | May 27, 2020

Nimitz Operational Intelligence Center Fact Sheet

NIMITZ OPERATIDNAL INTELLIGENCE CENTER Seal

The Nimitz Operational Intelligence Center is the U.S. Navy's pre-eminent Center of Excellence for operational and strategic analysis of events associated with the maritime domain. The center supports fleet commanders and national policymakers, and provides timely and relevant analysis tailored to meet customer requirements. Nimitz is one of four Centers of Excellence that are distinct commands under the Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI).

 

Mission

The Nimitz Operational Intelligence Center conducts all-source and geospa­tial operations in support of Fleet and Joint warfighting operations and national decision makers' requirements. It is the leading center for Global Maritime Intelligence Integration and Maritime Domain Awareness.

 

 

Functions, Roles & Responsibilities

 

Department of Naval Analysis

The Department of Naval Analysis (DNA) provides critical intelligence required for planning and conducting campaigns and major operations to accomplish strategic objectives within theaters or operational areas. DNA conducts long-term, penetrating, all-source analysis and production in support of theater and Navy component-level strategy, operational, campaign and war planning through detailed assessments of foreign naval forces and their maritime strategies. The department comprises six divisions aligned geographically with a sub-set of functional areas of expertise.

 

Intelligence Operations Department

The Intelligence Operations Department operates the National Maritime Intelligence Operations Center (National MIOC), which serves as the Navy’s premiere 24/7/365, all-source merchant shipping and geospatial intelligence watch. Located within ONI’s Global Maritime Collaboration Center (GMCC), the National MIOC provides civil maritime analysis and positional data support to the Fleet, DoD, national intelligence agencies, U.S. law enforcement organizations, and other U.S. government agencies and allies. The collocated 24/7 GEOINT Watch supports Fleet commanders with federated and reachback access to a cadre of highly skilled imagery analysts, supporting the National MIOC’s civil maritime mission, and meeting Fleet indications and warning requirements through exploitation of imagery and Full Motion Video (FMV) obtained by national, theater, tactical, and commercial means.

 

Naval Warfare Department

The Naval Warfare Department (NWD) provides detailed analy­sis of naval warfare threats posed by foreign weapons systems and countries of interest by leveraging the tactical expertise of Fleet experienced submarine, air, surface warfare and informa­tion warfare officers, Sailors, as well as a cadre of civilians and contractors. NWD supports operational commanders, mission planners, naval warfare development centers, and the national IC with unique and penetrating analysis covering naval adver­sary capabilities, tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTP). NWD provides this dedicated, Fleet focused support via four functionally aligned divisions - SABER (surface warfare], SPEAR (air warfare), SWORD (undersea warfare), and SPECTRUM (cyber/electronic warfare/C41SR).

 

Transnational Threat Department

The Transnational Threat Department (TNT) provides Fleet and national decision makers with in-depth knowledge of the mari­time domain and the unique issues associated with it. Overlay­ing extensive maritime industry experience with cutting-edge operational intelligence analytic capabilities, TNT analysts are the community leaders in maritime counterproliferation, global maritime environment awareness, and counternarcotics analy­sis. Analysis of maritime strategic trade, infrastructure, cargo, and the Arctic environment enable superior decision making by some of the most senior-level leaders in the U.S. government. Responsible for maintaining the nation's databases on merchant shipping, TNT supports the Navy, its partners, and the entire IC on all issues related to the positional data, physical charac­teristics, and history of more than 100,000 merchant ships operating worldwide.

 

 

Maritime Domain Awareness and Advanced Analytics

The Integrated Maritime Domain Awareness (iMDA) element of the command includes the ONI Maritime Domain Awareness (MDA) program, Advanced Analytics CA2l, and Nimitz Plans and Policy. Focusing on mitigating MDA data and capability gaps (cargo, people and vessels), the MDA program office coordinates collaboration and conducts outreach to expand and optimize MDA data sources and analysis. The team partners with other IC, interagency, international, and foreign organiza­tions to maximize information sharing and analysis. ONI's MDA program office also develops and provides Maritime Activity Based Intelligence (MABI) tradecraft training for fleet analysts. The team forms a "bridge" between basic intelligence "A" school tradecraft and advanced Intelligence Community tradecraft.

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