Current ADM Ike Kidd Award Awardee

During the Red Tie Luncheon on 16 Oct, ADM Bill Studeman, USN (ret), Chairman, Naval Intelligence Foundation (NIF) honored civilian David I. Conley, Jr., Office of Strategic Support, Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) as the recipient of this year’s NIF ADM Ike Kidd Award for the Distinguished Intelligence Graduate of the Naval War College.  Accompanying Mr. Conley on stage for the presentation, were his wife, Deanna, and NCIS supervisor, Mr. Ken Bahe.  ADM Studeman presented the winner with a five-year membership in Naval Intelligence Professionals (NIP), a plaque and a solid brass “spy glass”, both of which were engraved with the winner’s name to commemorate the occasion.  Mr. Conley is the second Navy civilian to have received the Kidd Award and the first from NCIS.

 The Ike Kidd Award recognizes the student who demonstrates the highest level of professionalism in naval intelligence.  Candidates for the award are asked to author an essay on a maritime intelligence-related topic.  The winning paper is then selected by a NWC Awards Committee.  Mr. Conley’s background as a Surface Warfare Officer, work with ISR Forensics at the MITRE Corporation, and current assignment as an NCIS intelligence analyst proved to be invaluable in the formulation of his paper on the rise of aerial intelligence and the vital role it plays in supporting an accurate ground-operating picture.  Focusing on the change from a conventional warfare to counterinsurgency operations during Operation Iraqi Freedom, he showed how airborne ISR is now able to provide new capabilities in targeting insurgent and terrorist networks.  Mr. Conley also points out that these advanced intelligence techniques could prove to be very useful in supporting counternarcotics and counterterrorism operations along our own borders and increase regional security through intelligence sharing, military engagement, and law enforcement cooperation.

Mr. Conley graduated cum laude from Providence College in May 2000 and received a commission in the Navy at Officer Candidate School in Pensacola, FL later that year.  Reporting aboard the USS AUSTIN (LPD-4), he became a qualified Surface Warfare Officer, managing Deck Division in support of amphibious operations during the first days of OIF.  Mr. Conley left active duty service in November 2004 to join MITRE corporation, where he later became involved with ISR-Forensics.  Mr. Conley has been working for NCIS as an intelligence analyst in Washington D.C since July 2007.