Imagine merging 11 companies’ IT departments,
creating a standard communications platform that can withstand
battlefield conditions, and launching an SOA effort all at the same
time. And having it in operation just two years later. That was the
challenge Robert Gourley faced as CTO of the Defense Intelligence
Agency (DIA), which gathers, analyzes, coordinates, and distributes
intelligence data for the U.S. armed forces and in partnership with
various civilian spy agencies.
We first met when he was J2 of the JTF-CND/O/GNO. I always wondered how they picked "first" guys for new organizations, but with Bob you didn’t have to wonder for long. They don’t come much smarter (or friendlier) than Bob, who thinks nothing of actually further complicating his day for a friend.