WASHINGTON –
Editor's note: The Faces of Defense Intelligence series highlights the accomplishments of former military and civilian intelligence personnel who exemplified the Defense Intelligence Agency creed Excellence in Defense of the Nation.
In recognition of a lifetime of service. Anne G. Love: 1922 – November 2016.
In 1994 the U.S. military planned for a sizable operation, UPHOLD DEMOCRACY, in Haiti to reinstate President Jean Bertrand Aristide’s government after a coup. In addition to U.S. Navy, U.S. Coast Guard, and U.S. Air Force elements, Joint Special Operations Command, the US Army 7th Transportation Group, 82nd Airborne Division, and the 10th Mountain Division, thirty-one countries agreed to send troops to participate. Aiding substantially in the planning process for this complicated joint operation was a DIA Contingency Support Package (CSP) providing dozens of maps with key civil and military locations, overhead and 3D terrain images, potential landing sites, egress and ingress routes, and areas that U.S. forces could use to stage operations in the event of a conflict. This CSP was vital in the lead-up to the operation and in what eventually became a peacekeeping operation. For its support in the Haiti crisis and other contingency requirements, DIA was awarded the Joint Meritorious Unit Award in 1994. The culmination of months of labor and frequent updates, the Haiti CSP and nearly a hundred like it for other locations around the world came to fruition in large part due to the efforts of Anne Love. Anne, who was transferred with the Army Map Service to DIA in 1963, built a analytic branch and product line that played a critical role in U.S. operations and evacuations in Haiti, Vietnam, Grenada, Panama, Lebanon, Zaire, Rwanda, Burundi and others, and continues to provide critical support to this day. Her accomplishments were often an uphill battle. Upon DIA's establishment in 1961, women comprised 34 percent of the federal workforce and held only 1 percent of government jobs above the GS-12 level. Anne was one of only a handful of female employees at DIA during the 1960s and 1970s that moved into leadership positions, directing the Military Geography Branch. On 14 December DIA recognizes her twenty-five years of service in DIA by inaugurating her as an agency Torch Bearer.
Anne began her career in the 1940’s with Women’s Army Corps and was transferred to the Army Map Service, which provided a strong baseline for her appreciation of foundational and geographic intelligence. During World War II, accurate strategic intelligence on Germany and Japan was required, but also tactical military intelligence to support operations. In each theatre, the services launched land, air, and amphibious campaigns against terrain and islands the U.S. Government had little or no information. In 1943, the Joint Army Navy Intelligence Studies (JANIS) began publication as an authoritative and coordinated intelligence assessment on different countries. In 1948, the National Security Council issued Intelligence Directive (NSCID) No. 3 that established the National Intelligence Survey (NIS) program as a peacetime replacement for the wartime JANIS program, which was supported by the Army Map Service. Anne was responsible for drafting Section 24, Military Geography, for the NIS publications; these were exhaustive topographic and mapping studies, often more than 200 pages in length. The baseline information provided in the NIS studies were so thorough that they remain in use today. However, to reduce redundancy across the services in the production of such extensive studies, the mission was transferred to DIA. This role took on great significance.
When Anne came to DIA the Military Geography Branch had more than 150 personnel, plus support staff, and ramped up for support to the Vietnam War. The branch provided detailed work on North Vietnamese logistics and infrastructure, but also participated in the growing POW/MIA mission. The Military Geography Division and POW/MIA branches were co-located in the same division, easing collaboration. In mid-1968, DIA POW/MIA analysis identified a major American POW camp known as Son Tay located outside Hanoi. By 1970 DIA estimated that up to 61 POWs were being held at the camp, and supported the concept of the raid, known then by code name “Polar Circle.” This special operation was supported throughout its development by DIA air defense and ground force analysts as well as the Military Geography Branch. A geographic assessment was produced to support the operation. Operators and the intelligence officials agreed that DIA’s intelligence preparation for the operation was everything anyone could expect and believed the raid would ultimately be successful. When DIA analysts spent the nights leading up to the raid going over the latest photography and information, new intelligence came to light indicating that the prisoners were moved. Despite the finding, it was determined that the gains outweighed the risks, and the President agreed to the operation. The Son Tay Raid was launched on 21 November 1970. All went as scheduled and, after the assault force engaged in a firefight, the Son Tay raiders were again airborne without suffering a single serious casualty. However, they left without a single American POW. The latest intelligence had proven to be accurate. From this episode, however, it was conclusively demonstrated that DIA could provide the full range of intelligence support for operations.
As DIA’s ability to support operations increased, force reductions in the 1970s reduced the branch to only a few analysts and Anne as the Branch Chief; from 1974-1978, Anne was dual-hatted as a branch chief and analyst. Despite the reductions, in collaboration with her senior analyst, fellow DIA Torch Bearer recipient Charlie Nomina, Anne developed the new Contingency Support Package product line. These substantive packages used all-source intelligence to provide the information a military operator would need to evacuate U.S. citizens from foreign countries. As a result of the level of detail, CSPs could also be used for a variety of other purposes and scaled to the customer’s requirements. The first CSP was scheduled to address Kabul, Afghanistan, just prior to the Soviet invasion in 1980. The topic was bypassed, though, due to equipment limitations and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Planners at the JFK Special Warfare Center at Ft. Bragg requested that the concept be applied to their next primary concern, the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, Iran. Again, the evacuation concept was not implemented due to the surprise takeover of the embassy compound by the Iranians. However, the CSP became the blueprint for what was to become the rescue mission for the hostages. Anne and Charlie used their sixty-one years of collective analytical skills to select the landing sites that would become known as DESERT ONE. The data and format of the package proved valuable to operational missions and over the next decade, CSPs were produced on sixty other nations. Other noteworthy accomplishments during this period included support to planning of Operation El Dorado Canyon, the raid against Libya in April 1986, and analysis pertaining to the destruction of the Marine barrack in Beirut. The packages gained a widespread reputation for their value and were disseminated to more than 80 customers, including the United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM), SEAL Teams, and Marine Expeditionary Forces. It was not uncommon for a thousand copies of a CSP to be produced.
As a branch chief, Anne was innovative and introduced technology and training for her staff that ensured their analysis would remain timely and relevant. With budget increases of the 1980s, she hired a new cadre of employees who had geographic and engineering experience, but also in the new field of computers. Said one former employee, “when she interviewed me for a job in the branch in 1983, she asked me about my knowledge of ‘ADP.’ After stuttering for a minute, I explained that I didn’t know….I was a topographic engineer.” There was a reason for her push to hire computer literate personnel. The development of CSPs was time and labor intensive. CSPs were produced in hard copy from materials collected from throughout the Intelligence Community and across the government; information was overlaid, then photographed, reproduced, then sent for airlift to different customers. “It’s amazing how much we accomplished with what we had. The process was totally alien to the technical processes used today.” Anne established one of the first computer labs in DIA and fundamentally altered the analytic business process, which has agency-wide effects. As Anne took on additional management responsibilities, taking over the Cultural Geography, Industries, and Underground Analysis missions, the computer capabilities further demonstrated the value added. For example, DIA's underground analysts mapped major foreign cities underground networks.
Anne also worked with Charlie Nomina to develop innovative and mission critical training. As many new employees entered the agency without military or survival experience, she leveraged relationships with the 82nd Airborne Division, the Navy Survival School, Air Force Survival School, USSOCOMs Special Operations School to provide search and rescue, survivability, evasion, resistance, and counterterrorism training. As the branch was responsible for producing Safe Area Intelligence Descriptions (SAIDs) to support downed pilots as well as evasion and escape products, she felt it critical that her analysts have practical experience to supplement their analytic skills. This combination of in-house and outside training provided her analysts with a sense of the impact of their analysis, focused their analysis on what they knew would be beneficial to operators on the ground, and bolstered analytic confidence. A former branch analyst noted, “I trained in the mountains, participated in helicopter insertions and evacuations, was chased and forced to evade the adversary, interrogated, and went through lessons learned after each exercise. I had no military background, so this training was vital in the application of my analytic trade.” Anne recognized the limits and skill sets of her employees and focused training accordingly – always with the objective of improving support to military operations.
Anne’s ability to scout talent was also notable. In the early 1980’s, while trying to fill out her branch, she hired more than a dozen new analysts. Three of those analysts rose to the ranks of Senior Executive Service (SES), and four to GG-15 positions; many remain in the ranks of the agency, continuing their support to the U.S. warfighter.
Anne retired from DIA in 1988 as a GG-15 having re-built DIAs geographic analysis capability, established new platforms to convey intelligence to customers, and leaving an innovative mark on the agency. To those who remember her, she was “formidable,” a “female Patton” with a strong command presence, and “demanding.” Anne believed she was doing remarkable work, and looked to her subordinates to do the same. But she was also known for her great smile, open-mindedness, and fairness.
On 14 December, DIA recognizes Anne Love by inducting her as a DIA Torch Bearer for her significant contributions in strengthening Defense Intelligence, her indisputable leadership, sustained impact and lasting contribution, and her extraordinary commitment to DIA, its mission, and its people. Anne was a standard bearer for DIA, and now enters DIA’s elite as a recipient of the Torch Bearer Award. DIA applauds her for her Commitment to Excellence in Defense of the Nation.