National Security And International Affairs Medal Leading The Way

ven as a child, Alfred League wanted answers. On family vacations, the future federal cartographer would pester his parents to see road maps, so he would know where they were going. "I guess it kind of carried through," says League, now 43, who has spent two decades in government helping a wide range of map users-from the Salt Lake City Olympics security force to Army helicopter pilots in Afghanistan-find their way.

But it's not just mapmaking that won League, a GS-15, respect from his colleagues and rave reviews from his customers. He has built a unique technology think tank within the National Imagery and Mapping Agency that encourages creativity among 70 scientists, analysts and technologists. And their advances have enhanced national security from the nation's capital to the battlefields of Southwest Asia.

"League is an exceptionally motivated and dynamic leader who has single-handedly, with limited resources, collaboratively created several technological innovations that have earned him and NIMA an outstanding reputation," says League's boss, James Godfrey, the agency's director of research and development.

As he once pressed his parents for answers, League now constantly pushes his colleagues to come up with better ways to provide maps, digital images and other geospatial information.

"The environment he has created is what is needed in research, development, test and evaluation," says Damien Kerr, an imagery and geospatial scientist who works with League for NIMA's Geospatial Intelligence Advancement Test Bed in Bethesda, Md. "You can take risks here and have the freedom to think outside of the box. He lets people come to him with ideas that a traditional manager would not think of."

League says innovation often means determining what customers need before they ask for it. On Sept. 11, League didn't wait around for rescue workers to ask his office to come up with imagery of the disaster sites at the Pentagon and in New York. Instead, League had test bed scientists and analysts draw upon experimental technology to provide interactive imagery of the sites. It allowed rescue crews to move more easily around the chaotic scenes. "We knew all the experiments we had been running had to come into the real world real fast," says League.

The war on terrorism has proved fertile ground for creativity among League's pioneers. Traditionally, NIMA has deployed employees to war zones to provide mapping and other geographic information to military commanders. But during Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan, League harnessed online computer networks to give troops 24-hour access to digital maps and other imagery that is continually updated at NIMA headquarters. "Is that truly revolutionary? No," League says. "It's just a way of looking at it intuitively."

The results offered pilots a digital tool they never had before, contributing to the success in pinpointing al Qaeda targets during the opening weeks of fighting.

League deflects credit for his organization's success, praising his team of computer scientists and analysts for many breakthroughs. In fact, he notes, he never has received formal computer training. League likens his workforce to a highly skilled orchestra. "I don't get to play every instrument in the orchestra, but I do the conducting," he adds.

Indeed, League is the maestro.