National Reconnaissance Office NRO

The National Reconnaissance Office was created in secret on September 6, 1961, to manage the satellite reconnaissance programs that the CIA and the Air Force had begun after the Soviet Union shot down a U-2 spy plane in 1960. Its first satellite program, Corona, returned film canisters from orbit by parachute. The NRO's very existence was classified until September 1992, and Corona imagery was declassified in 1995.

The NRO does not analyze intelligence itself. It builds and operates the satellites that collect imagery and signals and delivers the data to other agencies, chiefly the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency for imagery and the National Security Agency for signals. It is both a Defense Department agency and a member of the intelligence community, jointly overseen by the Secretary of Defense and the Director of National Intelligence, and its budget, among the largest in the intelligence community, is classified.

Headquartered in Chantilly, Virginia, the NRO has shifted in recent years from a small number of large, expensive satellites toward large constellations of smaller satellites, many built with commercial partners, to provide more frequent coverage and greater resilience against attack. It works closely with the Space Force, which launches and protects many of its systems, as competition in space with China and Russia intensifies.