February 2013 février 2013

My son Mathieu and I left for a father/son bonding time on a 14-day trek in Nepal to reach the Base Camp at the foot of Mount Everest, the world’s highest mountain. Leaving Canada on the 1st of December 2012 and returning the 22nd of December 2012

The trek was approximately 140 kilometres from Lukla to Everest Base Camp and back and we reached altitudes of almost 18,000 feet. The trails were constantly shared by people, donkeys, yaks, horses and cows. Animals always having priority because of the load that they were carrying. We slept in non-heated tents and lodges and the temperatures at night would drop to -20 Celsius. Fortunately our sleeping bags were very good for this kind of weather.

It was a hard trip to do mainly because nothing was fl at and the weather was very cold at this time of the year. Our route consisted of many suspended bridges to cross and the trails were narrow and rocky. Adding to the challenge when

Everest Base Camp TrekSubmitted by: Yves Rocheleau

one reached above 12,000 feet, the oxygen becomes a lot thinner. Luckily, we were properly prepared for this trip which made it a lot easier on the both of us. It is another checkmark on my bucket list and I was blessed to have shared the experience with my son.

Would I do it again? No, mainly because there are too many other places in the world that I want to discover.

Photo: www.national geographic expeditions.com

Mathieu and Yves Rocheleau at Everest Base Camp

The majestic view of the highest mountain on Earth, taken from Everest Base Camp

Yves Rocheleau spent 28 years in the Canadian Forces as a technician in Secure Communication, and for the last fi ve years has been working for AEPOS/ADGA as a COMSEC Specialist and a Site Surveyor.

As part of our ongoing feature, the ADGA Communiqué invites you to “Guess Who?” the following staff members are!

If you have an old photo and would like to participate in future issues, submit your e-photos to Patricia Limoges at plimoges@adga.ca or mail/drop-off your photos at ADGA headoffi ce. All photos will be returned and if you’re submitting an electronic image, it must be a minimum of 600 x 900 pixels @ 300 PPI.

The answers are on the bottom of page 7.

adgacommuniqué 2 February 2013 • février 2013

The ADGA Camelot is a 20 year tradition providing senior Company personnel with information on projects and/or technologies being delivered by ADGA and RHEA. It is both informative and strategic in nature, where an ADGA or RHEA representative makes a presentation about the technical scope of a project.

The ADGA RHEA Group is a very diverse organization where people are involved in providing a wide range of solutions of both an innovative and leading edge nature. The Camelot sessions are an initiative that highlights the distinct character of our residing competencies and knowledge with the objective in mind to perfect how best to work and collaborate with our Clients.

Last year we had four very interesting Camelot presentations that easily demonstrate the diversity of expertise that defi nes the ADGA / RHEA tradition of excellence.

Alan Higginson, from ADGA, presented details on OceanSuite, an application suite that has been developed by Alan and his team in support of the DND Polar Epsilon project. This application processes

RADARSAT-2 synthetic aperture radar images of the coastal reaches of Canada to provide a near real time ship detection capability.

Arne Matthyssen and Sam Gerene, of JAQAR Concurrent Design Services – a RHEA Group Company – presented the leading edge concurrent design services work they are doing in Europe for a number of diverse clients. Concurrent Design is a design approach that brings together all the stakeholders of a complex project, from the start, to create a design that includes all life-cycle perspectives in a complex multidisciplinary design activity, structures the currently chaotic and untraceable multidisciplinary information and decision making during these early design phases, reduces the number of changes in later phases, reduces risk, enhances productivity and saves time and money.

Greg Jenson and Tyler Moule, of AEPOS, presented ITSG-33, and how AEPOS is a leading fi rm in the implementation of this new security risk management approach that the Government of Canada has

adopted. The goal of ITSG-33 is to give guidance on IT security risk management activities to implement, operate, & maintain secure IT systems. Greg and Tyler presented an overview of the guidance document and how AEPOS has developed its own methodology to implement the approach. They then presented a case study where the methodology was successfully used to accredit DND’s primary classifi ed network.

Cedric Seynat, RHEA Aerospace Engineering Manager located in Montreal, provided an interesting look at the European satellite navigation programs, Galileo and EGNOS. Galileo is a new program that will provide Europe with a capability similar to the US Global Positioning System (GPS). Based upon a constellation of satellites, Galileo is currently going through an initial validation process with 4 satellites, and will achieve full operational capability with 30 satellites in the 2020 timeframe. EGNOS is a European space-based augmentation system designed to enhance the performance of GPS.

February 2013 • février 2013 3 adgacommuniqué

Risk: the Science and Politics of Fearby Dan Gardner

They say that sex sells. Author Dan Gardner (an Ottawa Citizen columnist) argues convincingly that fear sells as well. We are very bad at properly evaluating the risks in our modern, technological society. This is not surprising, considering that we evolved on the African plains. Fear kept us alive. Fear of snakes, lions, and other predators. We needed to make snap judgments. We continue to do so, but in situations that are much more complicated and require more thought. Our intuition is often wrong in modern life.

In this very good book, Gardner explains the psychology behind the way we assess danger and how the media, politicians, and other communicators use that knowledge to solicit our support for their causes. Basically, if it’s scary, we remember it and think it’s more common than it might really be. Gardner shows how we over-estimate the risk of cancer, terrorism, pollution, and other modern threats and underestimate the likelihood of the things that are more likely to kill us, like old age, heart disease, diabetes, obesity, or car accidents.

The book does go on longer than necessary to get the point across. And Gardner’s tone, while not quite patronizing, does seem a little harsh to judge us for being human and prone to snap decisions. The fi nal chapter is a must-read for some perspective on how good modern life really is.

Mike Smith, an AEPOS employee, is an avid, life-long reader. He reads on the bus to and from the suburbs and gets through almost a book a week, plus an issue of Maclean’s magazine. He likes to read a wide range of non-fi ction (including history, science, religion, politics, and relationships), and fi ction (including popular and obscure novels, Star Wars fi ction, and science fi ction). He is also highly opinionated and likes to share his opinions, so he writes book (and movie) reviews. Currently he has over 160 reviews on goodreads.com. Even though he took English Lit in every year of his Engineering undergrad degree, he is not a trained book critic, nor does he play

Submitted by Mike SmithBook Reviews by Professionals for Professionals

SecureTech, organized by the Canadian Association of Defence and Security Industries (CADSI), is a two day Conference and Tradeshow focused on public safety and security. This most recent event was held October 30-31 2012 in the new 20,000 square foot Ottawa Convention Centre. With such a strong presence in the Security Market in Canada, ADGA Group was in attendance to share, discover and discuss the major developments, threats and issues affecting the security of our country and the world at large.

This 2012 Conference Theme centred on “The Economics of Public Safety and National Security – Charting the Future Together”. The two day program featured a multi-track conference program that offered delegates the latest in security strategies, best practices and policy insights. Key speakers at the event included Senator Pamela Wallin, Chair of the Senate Committee on National Security for Canada, The Honourable Vic Toews, Minister of Public Safety, Sir David Omand, formerly Security and Intelligence Coordinator, Permanent Secretary, Cabinet Offi ce, UK, and Mr. John Adams, formerly head of the Canadian Communications Security Establishment, to name just a few.

For ADGA, the show once again proved to be a valuable networking and market analysis event that showcased some of our core capabilities in the Security Sector. Congratulations to Ed Robertson for his stellar art-work and support in setting up the ADGA display and to Sharon Hill for her tireless efforts coordinating the entire event from start to fi nish.

We look forward to another fantastic event next year.

ADGA attends SecureTech 2012

ADGA’s booth at SecureTech 2012

ED ROBERTSON

MARITZA SPARKSERWIN MEIER

BRIAN COOPER

TERRY RIMMINGTON

MICHEL DESROCHES

FATIHA RIELNAIS DAUBENY

MICHEL CHENEYMICHEL CHENEY MICHEL CHENEYMICHEL CHENEY MICHEL CHENEY

MICHEL CHENEY

MICHEL CHENEY

MICHEL CHENEY

MICHEL CHENEY

MICHEL CHENEY

KAI LAU

JOHN FREEMANPAUL RODY

JERRY DECHNIKBEV RUSHTON

MIKE SMITH

adgacommuniqué 4 February 2013 • février 2013

CYNTHIA BROWN DAN BERNARDTYLER MOULE

MICHAEL ST JEAN

LEE LESTER DUNLING CHENSIHONG LEI

?????? MICHAEL ST JEANANDREA CLEVELAND

TRISHA BLASKO BERNARD WALKER

TONY SOLLOWS

JAY LYMER

GUY CHARBONNEAU

February 2013 • février 2013 5 adgacommuniqué

adgacommuniqué 6 February 2013 • février 2013

Michel CheneyMichel Cheney is a Workshop Supervisor on the CSC Electronic Maintenance Contract. During his ten year plus tenure with ADGA, Michel has demonstrated superior skills in problem analysis on a wide variety of electronic systems and in

ADGA Award of Excellencehandling his day-to-day responsibilities as both a site technician and Workshop Supervisor. He is responsible for the maintenance of all the security systems at the two Federal institutions serviced by his workshop and he is called on regularly to provide assistance in rectifying technical problems throughout the Region. He has an excellent understanding of electronics as a whole, and uses these skills regularly to help out his fellow technicians and to advise the CSC Regional Technical Authority on security design issues.

Michel received a Certifi cate of Appreciation Award from Mission Institution earlier this year for his Can-

Do attitude and his professional and courteous attitude, no matter what the issue or situation. This award is normally given to CSC employees and not contractors, which makes this achievement all the more noteworthy.

Michel’s ability to consistently impress our client with his high level of performance and his co-operative nature has gained him the respect of all who know him. Combined with his outstanding work ethic and exceptional organizational skills, Michel is an outstanding member of the ADGA team and deserving of this Award of Excellence.

eney

mabrerethu

adgacommuniqué 6 February 2013 • février 2013

A warm welcome is extended to the following employees who have joined the ADGA Group during the period of November 2012 - January 2013.

Nous sommes fi ers d’accueillir les personnes suivantes qui se sont jointes au Groupe ADGA durant les mois de novembre2012 jusqu’en janvrier 2013.

Welcome - Bienvenue

Brandon AuclairKirby BennettKevin Buffi nPatrick CainesThomas ChesterDerek FoebelDonald GagnéGregory HattYael (Julie) KabirWilliam George KnoxWarren Kohls

Richard LadouceurJordon LamontagneHarry NicolayBryan ParrAvnish PatelChristiane PetrinAlexander RosenbergHarpreet SagguSomnath SinhaPatrick SmithBernard Soucy

Langis SoucyChristian Tremblay

Welcome back APS Part-Timers:Benjamin GuthrieJames SmythSteven BakerJesse Dybka

Harry Stobbe RetiresHarry Stobbe joined the ADGA Group in September 2000 as a Senior Technician at the Matsqui, BC workshop and was promoted to Regional Supervisor of the Pacifi c

Region in February 2009. Harry was responsible for the direct supervision of 8 technicians in 4 workshops in BC, as well as all of the technical and

Brian Cooper congratulates Harry Stobbe on his retirement.

Jeff Rutter presenting a retirement gift to Harry Stobbe and his wife Mary.

administrative duties associated with this position. Harry was extremely well liked by both the ADGA technicians and the CSC staff and he was known for his sterling leadership/management attributes in all of his professional dealings. Harry and his wife Mary have decided to retire in New Zealand as their children moved to Australia and New Zealand and as Harry says it was a conspiracy between his wife and their children to make sure he and his wife would return to Mary’s native New Zealand for retirement. We wish Harry and Mary all the best for a very happy, long and healthy retirement.

1. Yves Isabelle - LSEC System Software Architect 2. Jim Waggott - LSEC System Software Engineer

February 2013 • février 2013 7 adgacommuniqué

ADGA Staff Holiday Dinner & CelebrationsHeld 15 December 2012 at the NAC Panorama Room

adgacommuniqué 8 February 2013 • février 2013

ADGA Annual Cocktail Receptionheld 6 December 2012 at the Westin Hotel, Ottawa