Throughout the Bush administration, my technical capabilities developed as I gained additional experience with various weapon systems. I also obtained more management responsibilities within my division as I assessed how my team performed tasking and how existing work processes could be improved. I became one of the premier subject-matter experts in my field, consistently finding and reporting a large number of new and modified threat systems that were of great interest to our counterparts in the intelligence community and senior government policymakers. I also continued to represent Pine Gap and our accomplishments, presenting analysis findings at various technical weapons-related conferences in the United States. As far as I was concerned, I really was living the dream career.
In the intelligence community, my reputation continued to grow and my contributions were acknowledged with several cash and team awards for my collection efforts. In June 2004 this culminated in my fifth promotion (my third while stationed at Pine Gap) to a higher leadership position, Grade 14; my colleagues and I had viewed this as a next-to-impossible achievement as the NSA typically considers diversity of assignments a prerequisite to achieving Grade 14.
The necessity of the NSA and other agencies to develop and retain technical subject-matter experts is recognised to some extent, but senior management is often unwilling to promote those who choose the technical, vice-management/leadership path further than Grade 13. A very senior former CIA officer recognised this and elaborated:
We need to recognize that perhaps a number of officers should spend their careers in only one or two countries, becoming the experts they need to be. We got so worried about the possibility that our officers would go native that it is nearly impossible to find officers who stay more than three years in any one country. We used to have numerous officers who made their entire career serving in only one geographical component. That practice fell to the broadening experience that came to be one of the precepts toward promotions.[1]
Since I had spent the last fourteen years at Pine Gap, I wasn’t expecting another promotion and was actually concerned that I would now be promoted out of Operations and into a day job as I had been performing the role of ‘technical manager’ for several years. I was in fact soon asked if I wanted to take the day job of division chief when it became available, but I declined as I preferred the work in Operations and would no longer receive shift work pay. Moving from shift work to days also meant that I would work five days per week rather than three and a half days. This coupled with less pay were two factors that influenced my decision.
I was later asked if I would take a position as mission director. If I accepted, I would be responsible for ensuring that my crew was effectively performing its duties, would help to resolve any conflict that occurred within the team and with our counterparts overseas and would be responsible for initiating and directing emergency procedures should the need arise. I declined the offer for the simple reason that the ‘desk job’ responsibilities were relatively boring to me, and I knew that most of the operators had an excellent work ethic. The team members on all crews in general worked very well together and Pine Gap was a very reliable facility. The number of times we went into lockdown from a perceived threat was very rare. Power generation was also reliable, as over the course of my eighteen years in Operations we lost all power to our section only once, but the matter was resolved in just over one hour. I was at work when this occurred and the coolheaded female mission director calmly and effectively followed the never-before-used procedure to bring us back online.
The mission director position was also one that, apparently, I wouldn’t have to be awake to perform. Several mission directors were notorious for sitting in their chair, elevated above the other positions so they could effectively oversee the operators, but sleeping for several hours straight during the night shift while the operators continued to perform their jobs. Once, a mission director tipped over while asleep with the resultant crash inspiring one operator to exclaim over the loudspeaker, ‘MD down!’ In fairness to the mission directors, staying awake on night shift wasn’t always easy. Needless to say, the coffee machine was a vital part of Operations.
As I believed the mission director position would take me away from where I was most useful, and where the action was, I decided not to accept a position where my primary responsibility would be to resolve the occasional emergency. This new role would have been a good career move, but in 2005 circumstances in my personal life had changed, significantly affecting my decision. I now believed I might leave the agency within a few years, so remaining on shift where I had more consecutive days off while earning extra pay was a renewed priority.
Overall, the highlight of my promotion to Grade 14 was meeting Lt Gen. Michael Hayden when he was asked to preside at the NSA promotion ceremony at Pine Gap. It was a great honour to receive my promotion certificate from the man himself. Early in the day I had had the privilege to brief him on some of our significant findings in Operations. Then, after the ceremonies, I attended an informal supper at the home of a colleague where the promotees and senior staff were invited to celebrate with Lt Gen. Hayden. I’m sure the locals of Alice Springs would have been surprised to learn that the director of the National Security Agency was having supper in their small town that night! I brought several cigars with me to celebrate with friends, careful to blow the smoke away from the non-smoking director.
When I finished my cigar, I went over and had a more meaningful chat with Lt Gen. Hayden, who remembered my name, saying, ‘Rosenberg, right?’ I shared with him stories of my involvement with the local community through the Australia Day Council and Green Gates charities. He was surprised that I’d been in Alice Springs for fourteen years and asked how I had managed to stay at one facility for so long.
The following year, Pine Gap senior management chose me and one other NSA employee to attend a management development seminar in Denver, Colorado. This was a two-week immersive course in leadership skills that discussed and demonstrated networking and partnering, team building, creativity, innovation, relationship strategies, negotiating skills and building competencies. While taking the course, I was in my element as we performed role playing, contributed ideas and developed a team-based final presentation on leadership issues. As I was now just two promotions away from the senior executive service, the leaders at Pine Gap believed that I would move into a higher leadership position when I was scheduled to return to the United States, and this course was a required step in that direction.
In Alice Springs, time was marching on and 2007 marked the fortieth anniversary since the soil was turned for the construction of Pine Gap. The 40th Anniversary Pine Gap Ball was the largest held, with over 500 attendees. To celebrate the historic event, several special guests were flown in, including Chris Inglis, Deputy Director NSA; Robert McCallum, the United States Ambassador to Australia; a former chief, Barbara; two vice-presidents from a major Defense contractor: Chuck, the former contractor chief at Pine Gap; and Steven ████████ from Garland, Texas. I had already been in discussions with Chris Inglis regarding the possibilities of pursuing a position with the NSA in Canberra—my only other choice within Australia.
At the ball, I introduced myself to Ambassador McCallum, though not in the usual way. I was standing behind The Hon. Warren Snowdon, Federal Member for the Northern Territory (Lingiari), waiting to meet the ambassador. Warren eventually approached Ambassador McCallum and had a quick chat, shook his hand to say goodbye, then stepped backwards onto my right foot. Losing his balance, he jerked his neck backwards, forcing the back of his head into my nose. He went off-balance and was tipping over to the right when I grabbed his arms and helped him regain his footing. Warren slowly turned around, a big grin on his face, and apologised for stepping on my foot. Ambassador McCallum watched all of this, thought it was quite funny and greeted me with a smile. We spoke for a short time and he too appeared genuinely impressed that I’d been able to serve at Pine Gap for seventeen years, asking how I had managed to extend my tour. Aware of the growing line behind me I simply replied, ‘The power of persuasion sir.’ He laughed and we shook hands as I left.