Norman Wood Program on Intelligence Collection

Norman Wood, President of the Tappahannock Rotary Club, was also the program speaker for Thursday, December 5th.  He gave his own speaker introduction and then put on his jacket to transition to the speaker role!  Lt. Gen. C. Norman Wood, USAF (Ret.) experience encompasses senior management positions in the government, military, industry, and the not-for-profit fields, primarily in national security and intelligence. 
 
He started his military career as a master navigator and electronic warfare officer with 3,400 flying hours mainly on RB-47's.  He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross in 1964 as an EW in the RB-47, and has 1,000 combat flying hours from the Vietnam Conflict.  He was a SAC crewmember in both the RB-47 and the RC-135.  Moving on to his Headquarters assignments at the Strategic Air Command (SAC), and the Air Staff.  After attending the National War College, he was the SAC Intelligence Wing Commander, and the Executive Director of the President�s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board at the White House in the first Reagan Administration.
 
His General Officer assignments include Commander, Air Force Intelligence Service [1 Star] ,  J-2 (Director of Intelligence), US European Command [2 Star], head of Air Force Intelligence [2 Star], and Director of the Intelligence Community Staff [3 Star]. He retired from the Air Force in June 1992, and took a job as senior vice president and general manager of BDM Federal.  There, he was responsible for national security and technology applications programs, resources, and marketing with the focus on the intelligence community. 
General Wood became President and CEO of the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association (AFCEA), International in April 1996.  AFCEA is a global enterprise with more than 30,000 members, more than 1,000 corporate sponsors, and 143 chapters located in 32 nations.  He was also the publisher of SIGNAL Magazine, the journal for communications, electronics, intelligence, and information systems professionals with approximately 130,000 readers in 82 nations.  He retired on 1 October 2001.

Norman Wood's presentation covered his career highlights in the intelligence collection field and he concluded his evening with a discussion on the Snowden leaks case and it's detrimental impact on our intelligences service capabilities.  Here is shown with Rotary District AGM Bill Croxton and Past President John Lewis.