Technical Sergeant Hauoli Dizol, left, Mr. Derek Harvey, Army Major Derek Bickler, Mrs. Jennifer Huntsman-Olson and Marine Corps Lieutenant Colonel Brian Sanchez, assigned to the Afghanistan-Pakistan Center of Excellence at United States Central Command, receive the Director’s Annual Agency Team Award at a ceremony on MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Fla., on Dec. 6, 2010. U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Alexander W. Cabrall.
WASHINGTON (Dec. 2, 2010) — U.S. Central Command’s Afghanistan-Pakistan Center of Excellence (AFG-PAK COE) was awarded the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) Director’s Annual Agency Team Award at the 2010 Director’s 40th Annual Honorary Award Ceremony at Bolling Air Force Base today.
Mr. David Spirk, the center’s deputy director, accepted the award for the overall team.
The Afghanistan-Pakistan Center of Excellence was recognized for its “unprecedented success in its mission to lead, coordinate, integrate, and focus analysis efforts along with responsive, reliable and relevant all-source analysis to decision-makers conducting and supporting operations in Afghanistan and Pakistan.”
The center produced more than 10,000 intelligence products and answered more than 1,000 official tasks within its first year. The products are widely disseminated and used by units in the U.S. Central Command’s area of responsibility as well as by policy and decision makers for finding constructive, beneficial solutions to situations in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
In response to an assessment of a Center of Excellence assessment, a sergeant from the 2nd Marine Division, Marine Expeditionary Brigade, wrote “Your team does some really good work over there, keep it up.” The Department of State’s Office of Interagency Resources and Planning reported that “The products that [the center’s staff] are producing are fantastic and I believe would be of great benefit to Embassy Kabul and especially the PRT teams.”