The Evolution of the National Reconnaissance Office: Out From Deep Black Space and into the Defense Bureaucracy

Abstract

The National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) was created on August 25, 1960, after months of debate among White House, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the Air Force and the Defense Department officials. Its mandate was to design, acquire and manage photoreconnaissance systems. For about three decades the agency was concealed from public view, and notably, it was also shielded from much scrutiny from within the Department of Defense and the Intelligence Community Decades later, the agency is no longer shrouded in absolute security, and the nature of its internal politics and changes in its relations with the Department of Defense, the military Services, national policymakers and the U S Congress are becoming apparent.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Dec 18, 1995
Accession Number
ADA441343

Entities

People

  • Laurie S. Kelly

Organizations

  • National War College

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Space

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Force
  • Arms Control
  • Artificial Satellites
  • Department Of Defense
  • Governments
  • Military Operations
  • National Politics
  • National Security
  • Organizational Structure
  • Personal Information Managers
  • Reconnaissance
  • Reconnaissance Satellites
  • Security
  • Space Systems
  • Spacecraft
  • Threats
  • United States

Fields of Study

  • Political science

Readers

  • Defense Acquisition Program Management
  • Educational Psychology
  • Geospatial Intelligence and Artificial Intelligence Analytics

Technology Areas

  • Space