National Reconnaissance Office

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United StatesUnited States National Reconnaissance Office
- NGO -
NRO.svg
State level United States Federal Agency
Position of the authority Military intelligence
Supervisory authority (s) United States Department of Defense
Consist since 1960/1961
Headquarters Chantilly (Virginia)
Authority management * Betty J. Sapp , Director (DNRO)
  • Frank Calvelli, Principal Deputy Director (PDDNRO)
  • Major General Susan K. Mashiko , USAF, Deputy Director (DDNRO)
Employee approx. 3,000
Website www.nro.gov

The National Reconnaissance Office ( NGOs , German  National education office ) is a 1960/61 established military intelligence of the United States , which for the military satellite program is responsible.

Mission and organization

The knowledge gained through satellite reconnaissance serves various purposes, such as international arms control and nuclear surveillance, early warning of military events, the fight against terrorism , but also the preparation of own operations.

Most of the personnel are provided by the military and the CIA . The costs of this intelligence service are borne by the CIA and the Ministry of Defense . The NGO is formally subordinate to a director who, however, is bound by the instructions of the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency .

history

The NGO was founded on August 25, 1960 as a so-called "black" organization after management problems and insufficient progress in the USAF Satellite and Missile Observation System (SAMOS) and Missile Defense Alarm System (MIDAS) missile and satellite programs. The NGO did not officially exist for a long time and the budget was hidden under other titles within the defense budget. His early budget was likely far higher than the CIA's. It was founded in response to debates in the White House, the Department of Defense, the Air Force and the CIA after the shooting down of CIA pilot Francis Gary Powers in the Lockheed U-2 spy plane over the Soviet Union on May 1, 1960 - which triggered it for a serious crisis in the Cold War between Moscow and Washington.

The existence of the NGO became public in 1973 due to an error in a Senate committee report mentioning it. The NGO was part of the Air Intelligence Agency , as Victor Marchetti and John D. Marks revealed in their 1974 book "The CIA and the Cult of Intelligence". Within the AIA, with a budget of $ 2.7 billion, the NGO, which directed and implemented the satellite program for the entire US news community, made up the largest share at $ 1.5 billion. The long-time head of the NRO was the Air Force Colonel and later Brigadier General Ralph Steakly. In the meantime, the NRO has been spun off from the AIA and has become independent.

According to the company, the workforce is around 3,000 employees.

In the wake of the publications by Edward Snowden , a financial requirement of $ 10.3 billion for the year 2013 became known.

  • Geodetic Optical Photographic Satellite System (1966 study)

  • NGO headquarters in Chantilly, Virginia, 2013

  • NGO mission patch from 2000 with the slogan: We own the Night

  • NGO mission patch from 2013 with the slogan: Nothing is beyond our reach

Satellites

The satellites of the NROs ( reconnaissance satellites ) are only given the designation NROL ( National Reconnaisance Office Launch ) and a start number. Usually there is no further information about the satellites.

US intelligence budget 2013

According to a Washington Post report , the combined budget of all US intelligence services is currently $ 52.6 billion. The five largest authorities whose budgets Swiss Post has divided into the four categories of maintenance , data collection , data processing and utilization and data analysis are listed below .

Name of the authority / program Budget
administration
and maintenance
(Management and support) 		Budget
data

collection 		Budget
data processing
and recycling
(Data processing and exploitation) 		Budget
data

analysis
Total budget
Seal of the Central Intelligence Agency, svg Central Intelligence Agency 01.8 11.500 0.387 1.100 14.787
Seal of the US National Security Agency, svg National Security Agency 05.2 02.500 1.600 1.500 10.800
NRO.svg National Reconnaissance Program 01.8 06.000 2.500 - 10.300
US-NationalGeospatialIntelligenceAgency-2008Seal.svg National Geospatial Intelligence Program 02.0 00.537 1.400 0.973 04.910
Seal of the US Defense Intelligence Agency, svg General Defense Intelligence Program 01.7 01.300 0.228 1.200 04,428
total 12.5 21,837 6.115 4,773 45.225

Figures in billions of US dollars

Comparable organizations in Germany

Web links

Commons : National Reconnaissance Office  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files
  • Home. In: nro.gov. June 1, 2012, accessed November 17, 2018 .
  • NROL launches on Gunter's Space Page (English)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c NGO - Leadership. (No longer available online.) In: www.nro.gov. NGO, archived from the original on May 19, 2011 ; Retrieved April 12, 2011 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.nro.gov
  2. ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original from March 13, 2018 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.nro.gov
  3. ↑ Marchetti, Victor; Marks, John D. (1974): The CIA and the Cult of Intelligence. Stud. ISBN 0-394-48239-5
  4. ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original from March 13, 2018 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.nro.gov
  5. ^ Snowden revelation about the budget of the US secret services diepresse.com
  6. ↑ a b The Black Budget. Covert action. Surveillance. Counterintelligence. The US "black budget" spans over a dozen agencies that make up the National Intelligence Program. The Washington Post, August 30, 2013, accessed September 7, 2013 .
  7. ↑ William Graham: Delta IV dodges upper level winds and launches with NROL-27 satellite at nasaspaceflight.com (English).
  8. ↑ William Graham: ULA Atlas V launches with NROL-34 payload at nasaspaceflight.com (English).
  9. ↑ ULA Atlas V marks 50th EELV launch by lofting NROL-38 uphill
  10. ^ Atlas V launches on classified Flight to orbit NROL-36 Payload ( Memento from February 12, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
  11. ↑ Florian Rötzer: New spy satellite put into orbit at heise.de .
  12. ^ William Graham: Atlas V launches NROL-39 from Vandenberg at nasaspaceflight.com (English).
  13. ^ William Graham: Atlas V launches NROL-35 out of Vandenberg. In: NASA Spaceflight.com. NASA, December 12, 2014; archived from the original on December 14, 2014 ; accessed on December 16, 2014 .


Coordinates: 38 ° 52 ′ 55 ″  N , 77 ° 27 ′ 1 ″  W.