US agencies face a shortfall in employees who can visually depict and assess global security threats, finds a report released on 25 January by the National Academies in Washington DC. The Future U.S. Workforce for Geospatial Intelligence cites a need to measure Earth for surveying and environmental monitoring; determine objects' geometry through photos; and use visual data to synthesize information. It predicts personnel shortages at the US National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency owing to retirements, changing defence priorities and the need for international humanitarian support. Keith Clarke, a geographer at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and chairman of the report committee, suggests that interested scientists develop their skills in spatial thinking, mathematics and statistics.