USAF Maj. General Marke "Hoot" Gibson (ret.), formerly Director of Operations, Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations, Plans and Requirements, US Air Force.
He is now the newly-created "Senior Advisor on UAS Integration" at the FAA. This makes him the highest level executive in the US government on integrating drones into the National Airspace.
"We look forward to working with the FAA, the Air National Guard, and our political leadership to enable RPA operations now and into the future."..."clearly, if you're unable to train in that mission set, then the overall readiness is not met and people are planning on that capability, both forward and, Heaven forbid, in a homeland support effort if it were to arise." (Testifying before the Senate on the need to open more domestic airspace to military drones, Sept. 2010)
http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CHRG-111shrg68402/html/CHRG-111shrg68402.htm
"Played central role advising and guiding all global policy and matters concerning current operations, training and equipage for air, space, and cyberspace warfighting domains. Identified and mitigated threats via pursuit of new Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) sensors, equipment, and cutting-edge technologies for both black and white world programs."
https://www.linkedin.com/pub/marke-%22hoot%22-gibson/15/1b3/306
"After watching this demo, Air Force Major General Marke Gibson invited FAA and MITRE leaders to Creech Air Force Base in Nevada to see how the military manages UAS in the skies over Afghanistan."
http://www.mitre.org/publications/project-stories/flying-the-friendly-skies-merging-uas-into-civil-airspace
USAF Maj. General James O. Poss (ret.), formerly Assistant Deputy Chief of Staff for Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance, US Air Force.
He is now Executive Director of 'ASSURE', the FAA's Center of Excellence on Unmanned Aircraft Systems. The 'COE/UAS' will do research and testing on drone technology issues, and make recommendations regarding policy to the FAA and to Congress.
"I have spent much of my career working for or with the National Security Agency"
"Gorgon Stare will be looking at a whole city, so there will be no way for the adversary to know what we're looking at, and we can see everything."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/01/AR2011010102645.html
"Technology can
occasionally give you a false sense of security that you can see
everything, that you can hear everything, that you know everything,"
http://articles.latimes.com/2011/apr/10/world/la-fg-afghanistan-drone-20110410/4
http://articles.latimes.com/2011/apr/10/world/la-fg-afghanistan-drone-20110410/4
"We should leave privacy, which is a very important concern, up to [other] agencies,”
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/apr/3/faa-forum-gauges-approval-of-drone-privacy/
"Most of my experience has been focused on cryptologic operations, and I have spent much of my career working for or with the National Security Agency,"
http://www.research.msstate.edu/rresources/news.php?id=2113
"Most of my experience has been focused on cryptologic operations, and I have spent much of my career working for or with the National Security Agency,"
http://www.research.msstate.edu/rresources/news.php?id=2113
Poss said the COE will serve as a hub for the six FAA-designated UAS test sites, UAS research universities and other government research agencies, such as NASA.
“We’ll all be working together,” he said. “The test sites have a very synergistic relationship with us. Hopefully we’ll finally get management’s attention and the funding we need to research those problems to get UAS flying safely and effectively in our national airspace.”
http://www.uasmagazine.com/articles/1098/uas-center-of-excellence-director-says-faa-regulations-a-priority
“I'm trying to take the procedures and tactics we developed in the intelligence community and find peaceful uses for them,”
"Our whole goal in ASSURE is to take UAS (unmanned aerial systems)
research and turn it into rules that the FAA can then apply"
http://www.hattiesburgamerican.com/story/news/local/2015/05/14/unmanned-aerial-systems-press-conference/27337363/
Update: December 17th, 2015
ASSURE, the FAA-designated Center of Excellence on UAS integration led by fmr. General James O. Poss, has named a new Associate Director of Research: Dallas Brooks. His previous positions include that of Chair, Dept. of Defense Unmanned Aircraft Systems Airspace Integration IPT, Office of the Secretary of DefenseThe Department of Defense's designated lead for UAS airspace integration across all Military Services"
Among other things, he authored the 2011 DoD UAS Airspace Integration Plan
"In support of their operational, training, and test and evaluation missions, DoD UAS require safe and routine access to the U.S. National Airspace System (NAS) similar to manned aircraft."
...and this cryptic statement:
"Similar UAS operational needs are rapidly evolving for Other Government Agencies (OGAs).”
Update: December 17th, 2015
ASSURE, the FAA-designated Center of Excellence on UAS integration led by fmr. General James O. Poss, has named a new Associate Director of Research: Dallas Brooks. His previous positions include that of Chair, Dept. of Defense Unmanned Aircraft Systems Airspace Integration IPT, Office of the Secretary of DefenseThe Department of Defense's designated lead for UAS airspace integration across all Military Services"
Among other things, he authored the 2011 DoD UAS Airspace Integration Plan
"In support of their operational, training, and test and evaluation missions, DoD UAS require safe and routine access to the U.S. National Airspace System (NAS) similar to manned aircraft."
...and this cryptic statement:
"Similar UAS operational needs are rapidly evolving for Other Government Agencies (OGAs).”
(OGA is the informal military euphemism for agencies such as CIA or NSA)
