The Center for Measurement and Signature Intelligence Studies and Research at Air Force Institute of Technology here held its certificate completion ceremony Tuesday.

At the ceremony, Ron Tuttle, director of the center, highlighted the significant contributions made by many of the past graduates of the MASINT certificate program in supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. These MASINT analysts, serving with such organizations as the Air Force’s National Air and Space Intelligence Center and the Army’s 513th Military Intelligence Brigade, have received high praise not only from their supervisors but from those most dependent on it, the combined combat forces in Iraq, Tuttle said.

Since Operation Enduring Freedom, the technical intelligence area known as MASINT has become a key producer of actionable intelligence for U.S. combat forces.

Tuttle explained that MASINT “measures various aspects of targets or events of interest (like a radar or chemical trail) that uniquely identify them with a kind of footprint, or signature.” Whether in Bosnia, Afghanistan, or Iraq, MASINT has increasingly played a role in satisfying the information requirements of military planners.

The Army’s deputy chief of staff for intelligence, G-2 recently praised MASINT as “extremely valuable” in supporting operations in Afghanistan. Gen. Tommy Franks , commander of U.S. Central Command, testified before the House Armed Services Committee that, “MASINT provides key indications and warning, theater ballistic missile warning and battle damage assessment.”

For more information, visit the MCP Web site at http://en. afit.edu/enp/cmsr/mcp.html, or contact the MCP program coordinator, Diane Schleppi, at 431-3810 ext 152.

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