NGA Tearline: Examining Economic and Environmental Activities by China, Russia and North Korea

Case Studies Produced in Collaboration with Researchers, Students from William & Mary and Stimson Center

NGA Tearline—an open source intelligence project between the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency and U.S. research institutions—closed out 2021 with a series of reports on economic and environmental activities from top U.S. threats: China, Russia, and North Korea.


Made in China 2025 and the Beijing Economic-Technological Development Zone

Published Dec. 16, 2021

This Tearline article from the College of William & Mary’s geoLab examines the Beijing Economic-Technological Development Area using radar imagery, electro-optical imagery, and text-based data. This is the first in a series of reports analyzing the policy interactions of China's Made in China 2025 (MIC25) with Chinese industrial parks.

The broad policy goals of the MIC25 plan have a real-world activity impact on the urban layout of the Beijing Economic-Technological Development Area. Imagery analysis indicates increases in human activity and construction from 2015 to 2020. However, this activity is largely associated with more traditional, "low-tech" activity—in contrast to the MIC25 focus on more "high-tech" development.

For this report NGA Tearline collaborated with authors from the College of William & Mary: Caroline Morin, Kaitlyn Wilson and William Weston.

Read more of this intelligence report at Tearline.mil

China MIC25


The Environmental Impact of Russian Mining in the Central African Republic

Published Dec. 16, 2021

This Tearline article from the College of William & Mary’s geoLab examines evidence of eight Russian-owned mining permit areas in the Central African Republic (CAR) and evaluates the environmental impact of Russian involvement in CAR.

Since 2017, Russia has become increasingly involved in the affairs of the Central African Republic. A recent agreement between the two countries granted the Russian mining company "Lobaye Invest" exclusive mineral rights to ore deposits throughout the country. There are visible changes in infrastructure, land degradation, deforestation, and water pollution around Russian-linked mining areas, and these developments highlight potentially more harmful impacts on the population of CAR.

For this report NGA Tearline collaborated with authors from the College of William & Mary: Caroline Morin, Cole Spiller, Garrison Goetsch, Erin Horrigan, Yasha Barth, Zoe Roberts, Aliia Woodworth, Catherine Cable and Anna Glass.

Read more of this intelligence report at Tearline.mil

russia mining


North Korea’s Tideland Reclamation Efforts

Published Dec. 22, 2021

This Tearline article from the Stimson Center/38 North examines reclamation activity on the tideland on the country’s west coast, where recent GEOINT shows an uptick in these efforts.

Due to inadequate land conditions for domestic food production, North Korea has long pursued efforts to increase its capacity through tideland reclamation projects in the country. These efforts, however, have suffered serious setbacks as a result of poor engineering and maintenance and natural disasters. While reclamation efforts under Kim Jong Un have been more successful, transforming coastal mudflats into fertile farmland is slow and have provided minimal relief to the country's persistent food shortages. 

For this report, NGA Tearline collaborated with authors from the Stimson Center/38 North: Peter Makowsky, Jenny Town, Michelle Kae and Samantha Pitz.

Read more of this intelligence report at Tearline.mil

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What is NGA Tearline?

NGA is partnering with expert private groups to grow public-facing, authoritative open source intelligence on various strategic and humanitarian intelligence topics that tend to be under-reported within long-form format.

This authoritative open source content will be cited for internal purposes and it will grow public trust by increasing transparency around shared public-private interest in various strategic and humanitarian intelligence topics that are fit for public consumption.

Learn more about NGA Tearline.