10dB Gain, LLC

10dB Gain, LLC is one of the 2,000+ corporations featured in the Washington Post's 2-year long investigative series, Top Secret America, in which Post investigative journalists Dana Priest and William Arkin uncovered the massive, "seen, but invisible" underbelly of that has unfurled inside of the post September 11, 2001 National Security State apparatus within the United States.

It is headquartered in Warner Robins, Georgia and was established in 2000. It also has offices in New Jersey as well as Texas and says on its website that it "provides key assistance to the C4ISR communities within the U.S. Army, Air Force, and U.S. Department of Defense."

C4ISR is a version of "[c]ommand and control, or C2, [which,] in a military organization can be defined as the exercise of authority and direction by a properly designated commanding officer over assigned and attached forces in the accomplishment of the mission. A Command and Control Center is typically a secure room or building in a government, military or prison facility that operates as the agency's dispatch center, surveillance monitoring center, coordination office and alarm monitoring center all in one. Command and control centers are operated by a government or municipal agency. Various branches of the U.S Military such as the U.S Coast Guard and U.S. Navy have command and control centers. They are also common in many large correctional facilities." It is short for "Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance."

10db Gain also says that it "has more than doubled its staff and contract value every year since September 2002." It also says that. It boasts of its "highly esteemed and educated personnel (25% with Masters and PhD degrees) are all cleared, with more than half possessing TS and SCI levels. With strengths in Advisory and Assistance Services and network design, our scientists, program managers, and analysts have assisted our Nation in developing the world's most modern ISR architectures that are extremely effective and sustainable."

TS stands for Top Secret, and is "The highest level of classification of material on a national level. Such material would cause "exceptionally grave damage" to national security if made publicly available."

SCI stands for Security Clearance, which is defined as "a status granted to individuals allowing them access to classified information, i.e., state secrets, or to restricted areas after completion of a thorough background check."

ISR is under the umbrella of ISTAR, the former standing for Intelligence, Security, and Reconnaissance, the latter standing for Intelligence, Surveillance, Target Acquisition, and Reconnaissance.

Examples of ISR systems include "manned aircraft such as the U-2, to unmanned aircraft systems such as the US Air Force’s Global Hawk and Predator and the US Army’s Hunter, to other ground-, air-, sea-, or space-based equipment, and to human intelligence teams."

External resources

 * 10db Gain Top Secret America Profile
 * 10dbgain Homepage