National Reconnaissance Office: Difference between revisions

The NRO was established on August 25, 1960, after management problems and insufficient progress with the USAF satellite reconnaissance program (see [[Samos (satellite)|SAMOS]] and [[Missile Defense Alarm System|MIDAS]]).<ref name=Stares>{{cite web |last=Stares |first=Paul B. |title=The Militarization of Space |url=http://www.foreignaffairs.org/19851201fabook11624/paul-b-stares/the-militarization-of-space-u-s-policy-1945-1984.html |page=23,46 |access-date=2008-11-24 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090113113757/http://www.foreignaffairs.org/19851201fabook11624/paul-b-stares/the-militarization-of-space-u-s-policy-1945-1984.html |archive-date=2009-01-13 }}</ref>{{Rp|23}}<ref>{{Cite book|title=America's Secret Eyes in Space  |author=Jeffrey Richelson |publisher=Harper & Row |year=1990}}</ref>  The formation was based on a 25 August 1960 recommendation to President [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]] during a special [[United States National Security Council|National Security Council]] meeting, and the agency was to coordinate the USAF and CIA's (and later the navy and NSA's) reconnaissance activities.<ref name=Stares/>{{Rp|46}}

|publisher= National Reconnaissance Office|author= (Chief, Special Security Center)|date= 1974-01-07}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Welles |first=Benjamin |date=1971-01-22 |title=Foreign Policy: Disquiet Over Intelligence Setup |page=1 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1971/01/22/archives/foreign-policy-disquiet-over-intelligence-setup-foreign-policy.html |work=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=2021-10-18 |quote=The Pentagon's Defense Intelligence Agency has a staff of 3,000 and spends $500‐million yearly—as much as the C.I.A.— to collect and evaluate strategic intelligence. [...] Its National Reconnaissance Office spends another $1‐billion yearly flying reconnaissance airplanes and lofting or exploiting the satellites that constantly circle the earth and photograph enemy terrain with incredible accuracy from 130 miles up.}}</ref> The first official acknowledgement of NRO was a Senate committee report in October 1973, which inadvertently exposed the existence of the NRO.<ref>{{cite news | date=1973-12-19 |title = CIA and Others: Secret Agencies Studied

In December 2019, the [[United States Space Force]] (USSF) was established, also helmed by Raymond, now a Space Force General and [[Chief of Space Operations]] (CSO).<ref>{{Cite web|last=Browne|first=Ryan|date=December 21, 2019|title=With a signature, Trump brings Space Force into being|url=https://www.cnn.com/2019/12/20/politics/trump-creates-space-force/index.html|access-date=July 21, 2021|website=[[CNN]]|language=en}}</ref> NRO continued its close relationship with American military space operations, partnering with the Space Force's [[Space and Missile Systems Center]] (SMC) to manage the [[National Security Space Launch]] (NSSL) program, which uses government and [[Private spaceflight|contract spacecraft]] to launch important government payloads.<ref name=NDM1>{{cite news |last=Tadjdeh |first=Yasmin |date=July 20, 2021 |title=JUST IN: National Reconnaissance Office Embracing Commercial Tech |url=https://www.nationaldefensemagazine.org/articles/2021/7/20/national-reconnaissance-office-embracing-commercial-tech |work=[[National Defense Industrial Association#National Defense magazine|National Defense Magazine]] |access-date=July 21, 2021}}</ref><ref name=CRS1>{{Cite news|last=McCall|first=Stephen|date=December 30, 2020|title=Defense Primer: National Security Space Launch|work=[[Congressional Research Service]]|url=https://fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/IF11531.pdf|access-date=July 21, 2021}}</ref> NSSL supports both the USSF and NRO, as well as the [[United States Navy|Navy]].<ref name=CRS1/> NRO Director Scolese has characterized his agency as critical to American space dominance, stating that NRO provides "unrivaled situational awareness and intelligence to the best [[Imagery intelligence|imagery]] and [[Signals intelligence|signals data]] on the planet."<ref name=NDM1/>