# Work Passport — Public source and link audit (2026-10-27)

**Scope:** Records in Work Passport begin **August 2017**. The separately maintained Life Map may include earlier career/research history. Public early-career research can still be cited as background without becoming passport chronology.

The public portfolio is evidence-led: records labeled **documented** are directly named in Alex Ford's published résumé, website or LinkedIn. "Candidate" means the company/program and site are independently public, but personal participation has **not** been established.

## Historically broken URLs and surviving replacements

| Subject | Historical link | Current status | Working alternative |
|---|---|---|---|
| RAPTR | https://news.northropgrumman.com/news/releases/northrop-grumman-introduces-next-generation-scalable-radar-antenna | Original news route returned access failure (HTTP 403) during research; not necessarily removed | https://www.designdevelopmenttoday.com/industries/aerospace/news/21081397/northrop-grumman-to-build-raptr-for-us-army |
| RGS-A award (2022) | https://news.northropgrumman.com/news/releases/northrop-grumman-to-develop-next-generation-relay-ground-station-for-us-naval-information-warfare-center-pacific | Original news route returned HTTP 403 during research | https://militaryembedded.com/unmanned/sensors/northrop-grumman-to-develop-next-generation-relay-ground-station-for-us-naval-information-warfare-center-pacific |
| RGS-A CDR (2023) | — | Current NG news slug works | https://news.northropgrumman.com/milsatcom/northrop-grummans-rapid-completion-of-critical-design-review-supports-future-missile-warning-satellites-in-pacific-region |
| Chesapeake Bay oyster monitoring | https://www.northropgrumman.com/corporate-responsibility-old/technology-for-conservation/chesapeake-bay-oyster-monitoring/ | Historical link returned HTTP 404 | https://www.northropgrumman.com/sustainability/technology-for-conservation/chesapeake-bay-oyster-monitoring |
| SEWIP | — | Current NG program page works | https://www.northropgrumman.com/what-we-do/mission-solutions/electronic-warfare/surface-electronic-warfare-improvement-program-sewip |
| Next Gen Polar | — | Current NG program page works; **not yet a personal assignment** | https://www.northropgrumman.com/what-we-do/space/spacecraft/next-gen-polar |

### Archive status
A historical Wayback Machine snapshot of the precise RAPTR news URL was **not verified**. Do not display a guessed archive URL. The 2019 contemporary republications are verified substitutes for reading the announcement's substance.

### LinkedIn Featured limitations
Public search indexing exposes parts of the LinkedIn profile (awards, publications, roles), but **does not expose the complete Featured carousel/links**. Therefore no claim is made to have exhaustively recovered Featured links. This remains an open review item.

## Source-of-truth references

- Personal résumé / older public snapshot: https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5f5a37130cec2145c74c6485/t/63a6093884f4eb51585ba90d/1671825720861/AlexFordResume.pdf
- Personal career page: https://www.alexlford.com/exp
- Personal recent projects: https://www.alexlford.com/
- Publications and talks: https://www.alexlford.com/pubs
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexlford
- Work map: https://github.com/alexlford/life-map (source of truth for place IDs, geo, category, dates)
- 2020 IEEE AP-S/URSI exact session: https://2020apsursi.org/Papers/ViewSession.asp?Sessionid=1212
- Public GWS/IDT contract description: https://www.highergov.com/subcontract/HQ085622D0001-HQ085622F0003-5300044362/
- SDA RMWT/PEREGRINE ground context: https://www.sda.mil/sda-seeks-sources-for-the-performance-enhanced-real-time-ground-environment-peregrine-sentry-effort/
- NG Next Gen OPIR Polar: https://www.northropgrumman.com/what-we-do/space/spacecraft/next-gen-polar

## Images and rights

The homepage currently **hotlinks** a personal Squarespace image from alexlford.com, and NG-hosted images from its public pages. Every media caption separates authentic program photographs from illustrative technology photos. Public availability of an image does not itself grant relicensing rights; retain copyright and source attribution. Rehosting requires authorization where applicable.

## Next editorial follow-ups

- Recover LinkedIn Featured links by a user-authorized export, accessible page snapshot, or provided link list. Look for verified Wayback captures, do not invent ones.
- Confirm timing and personal involvement for RMWT/GMI, GWS/IDT, Next Gen Polar.
- Add details for GSAW panel: year, venue, co-panelists.
- Add precise paper presentation vs authorship vs attendance status for 2013/14/17 APS abstracts and 2020 IEEE AP-S/URSI.
- Decide which photos from alexlford.com should be mirrored into the repository with appropriate permissions and local copies.
- Verify technical/organizational descriptions against public-release review before adding any sensitive program detail.


## Evidence intake — October 27, 2026

Additional files were supplied directly for the Work Passport interview. The public repository contains **curated, public-safe facts, not copies of the supplied files**.

| Source reviewed | What it supports | Publishing / attribution rule |
|---|---|---|
| Curriculum vitae (June 5, 2026; five pages) | Exact post-August-2017 role dates, titles, work summaries, 2020 IEEE paper, honors and panel records | Only selected work and publication facts were transcribed; the original includes personal contact and access/clearance information and **must not be published here** |
| Ground System Architectures Workshop (February 29, 2024) Working Group E outbrief | Names Alex Ford as a panelist; confirms the workshop's agenda; cover states approved for public release, OTR 2024-00514 | Credit the Aerospace Corporation; do not attribute the group's collective conclusions solely to one person or upload its slides without permission |
| IEEE AP-S/URSI 2020 paper, DOI 10.1109/IEEECONF35879.2020.9329463 | Authorship; fabricated, measured conformal array; model-to-measurement comparison | Paper bears Distribution Statement A, approved for public release #20-0020; cite publisher DOI, not a user-licensed downloadable PDF |
| IEEE Aerospace Conference 2027 Call for Papers, page 9 | Named organizer for sessions 4.01 and 4.02 in Track 4; March 2027 conference dates | Future organizational role only; not proof of physical attendance or future paper acceptance |
| 2023–2024 PGS Division Technical Fellows announcement | Confirms initial selection for the 2023–2024 term | Internal names and the original employee roster are not published |
| 2024 IEEE AP-S AdCom industry panel invitation | Confirms an invitation; attendance is **not** established | Do not present as participated or attended until directly confirmed |
| 2020 essential-work travel letter | Context about industry operations during the early pandemic | No original document, personnel names, contact details or work location information published |
| Internal IP correspondence | Confirms recognition but explicitly restricts disclosure of underlying invention information | **The protected invention/trade-secret information and original letter must not be published**; retain only the general award label already listed in the CV |
| 2020–2029 LaTeX collection title-page draft | Drafting/project context, not verified publication or institutional appointment | Do not treat title-page affiliations as independent verified employment or appointments; do not publish draft |
| Personal Chesapeake Bay boating photograph ("CBF Oyster") | A possible personal image for the Oyster Monitoring story | Event, date, participants and reuse preference need confirmation before adding it to a project page |

### Open evidence questions

- The user explicitly confirmed (2026-10-27) the 2021 Innovation Award for a wideband high-shock/high-temperature antenna **is** the projectile-tip antenna described in the CV. Do not publish nonpublic technical details.
- Whether the October 2024 IEEE AP-S Industry Panel invitation led to attendance/participation.
- The user explicitly approved uploading and displaying supplied project photos on the public website (2026-10-27). A resized, EXIF-stripped WebP copy of the Chesapeake Bay boat photograph is now used for the oyster-monitoring project card; exact photo date and activity should not be inferred.
- Current meaning of the 2025 Technical Fellow listing following the 2023–2024 initial selection; renewal is possible but not yet documented.


### Image publication policy

The user confirmed on October 27, 2026 that images they provide may be uploaded and displayed in Work Passport. The oyster card currently uses `assets/cbf-oyster.webp`, an optimized copy of a personally supplied photograph (no original EXIF metadata or full-size source redistributed). This confirms permission for this supplied photo, not a blanket license for every image elsewhere on the web. External imagery should be linked with source attribution, and downloaded/rehosted only if a suitable license or permission to redistribute can be established. Do not misidentify general illustrative imagery as a personal project artifact.

## Follow-up: 2020–2029 ZIP archive reviewed October 27, 2026

- **2020 IEEE AP-S/URSI virtual certificate** explicitly confirms online attendance, correcting earlier uncertainty; do not show Montréal as a visited city on the user's map based on this record.
- **2025–2026 PGS Technical Fellows internal announcement** confirms re-nomination for a new term, not initial selection. The roster itself was not made public.
- **The Astrophysical Journal publisher PDF** lists the article as *960:4, 2024 January 1*, **published online December 18, 2023** (DOI 10.3847/1538-4357/ad07d5). The first page explicitly includes KU and Northrop Grumman affiliations and an adjunct-research footnote.
- **2023 FXR-related award correspondence** documents two successive awards for the same previously CV-listed invention (Innovation followed by New Technology), not two independent inventions. Original letters contain confidential trade-secret restrictions and were not copied.
- **2021 engineering disclosure recognition** is preserved as a generic category/year only; subject withheld as trade-secret material.
- **September 2020 Chesapeake Bay Foundation oyster challenge photo packet** is marked Distribution Statement A, approved for public release. Photo binaries are present in the user's ZIP but are not yet ingested into the repository.
- **2020 NG Innovation Exchange poster acceptance** establishes selection for a July campus poster; participation itself is not independently confirmed.

Public archival policy: only non-proprietary, user-supplied and public-safe career facts; never expose full invention-disclosure letters, internal IDs, payment values, staff rosters, COVID access documents or licensed PDFs.


## October 28, 2026 — Interview-to-site synthesis

The new Engineering & Leadership editorial section and Baltimore-to-Boulder reflection are based on direct, first-person Work Passport interview responses (Questions 43–102). These are personal reflections rather than independently verifiable external claims. Direct phrases preserved include "steady, competent, and servant," "consistency and clarity," "the grass isn't always greener," and "Every week. I'm always learning."

RGS-A: the user reconfirmed that authoring the RF portion of the technical volume was their first capture-team assignment. GWS IDT: the user directly confirmed ongoing responsibility as Phased Array Architect. Public Northrop Grumman [GWS program background](https://www.northropgrumman.com/what-we-do/missile-defense/ground-based-midcourse-system) supports the existence of phased-array interceptor communications work, but not an individual's role. The former candidate status was updated only on the strength of first-person confirmation. The previous "Integrated Digital Test" expansion was unsupported and was removed.

RMWT GMI: the public copy includes only high-level RF integration, inherited baselines and RF site survey communication. This neither attributes the survey to a specific site nor discloses any antenna specification, GFE inventory or test result. No Australian site is plotted or claimed.

Interview entries are curated summaries in a public repository. Do not copy a complete private interview transcript, internal correspondence, customer presentations or test documents into the public site.