COL Brian Sterling, while Deputy Director of Resources and Analysis at USCENTCOM, awarded NSI Principal Analyst, Sarah Canna, with a Challenge Coin in recognition of her work in supporting the Strategic Multilayer Assessment’s Reach Back effort for CENTCOM.
Using NSI’s Virtual Think Tank network and methodology, Sarah recruited over 200 experts from industry, academia, and government—from across the globe—to contribute to one or more of CENTCOM’s 51 questions. As part of the NSI team, including Allison Astorino-Courtois, Sabrina Pagano, and Weston Aviles, she summarized the contributors’ key findings into 2-3 page executive summaries to accommodate CENTCOM’s busy op tempo.
Sarah’s team also produced a knowledge index of major findings and insights searchable by substantive theme as posited by experts over the course of the CENTCOM Reachback Effort. This effort was part of an effort called Project Noor, which was a proof of concept effort to provide the CENTCOM Commander the capability to query interactively the vast amount of data on Syria/Iraq and to inform means of maneuvering in the cognitive space.
NSI continues to support CENTCOM through the SMA Virtual Reach Back and Project Noor efforts. For more information, please contact Sarah at SCanna@NSIteam.com.
