SUPRA ET ULTRA
MAINTAINING GLOBAL
The National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) is a joint Department of Defense (DoD)-Intelligence 

Community (IC) organization responsible for developing, launching, and operating America’s signals, 

imagery, and communications satellites. Using NRO data, the National Security Agency, National 

Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, and other NRO mission partners produce intelligence products for the 

President, Congress, national policymakers, warfighters, and civil users. 

MAINTAINING GLOBAL VIGILANCE 

Every day NRO systems provide critical, life-saving national security data to policymakers and warfighters 

worldwide to:

Monitor the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction;

Track international terrorists, drug traffickers, and criminal organizations;

Develop highly accurate military targeting data and battle damage assessments;

Support international peacekeeping and humanitarian relief operations; and

Assess the impact of natural disasters.

IN PEACE AND WAR 

The NRO continues to develop innovative overhead intelligence systems for national security.

It supports national and tactical customers with economical, enhanced collection and processing 

capabilities. Based on core values that include personal integrity and accountability, mission 

excellence, and teamwork built on respect and diversity, the NRO is defining the phrase “assured 

access to space.” 

OUR VISION 

Supra Et Ultra 

OUR MISSION

Innovative Overhead 

Intelligence Systems for 

National Security

OUR CORE VALUES 

Personal Integrity and 

Accountability

Mission Excellence

Teamwork Built on 

Respect and Diversity

VIGILANCE

NATIONAL RECONNAISSANCE OFFICE SUPRA ET ULTRA
INNOVATIVE OVERHEAD 
OUR CUSTOMERS 

MILITARY SUPPORT 

The NRO collaborates with other defense and Intelligence Community organizations to provide global 

communications, indications and warnings, and near real-time imagery and signals intelligence support 

to warfighter operations around the world. The NRO’s mission partners are increasingly fusing data 

derived from NRO systems to enhance the value of intelligence for U.S. and allied forces in harm’s way.

CIVIL SUPPORT 

Civilian agencies use NRO overhead systems to assess and predict climate change, assess crop 

production, map habitats of endangered species, track oil spills, study wetlands, and assess 

devastation from hurricanes, floods, earthquakes, and other natural disasters. The development 

of high-definition television, wide-bandwidth communications, high-resolution pixel arrays, and highspeed data switching flourished from emerging NRO technologies. 

INTELLIGENCE SYSTEMS FOR 

NATIONAL SECURITY

NATIONAL RECONNAISSANCE OFFICE SUPRA ET ULTRA
SIGNALS, IMAGERY,
OUR WORKFORCE

The NRO’s workforce consists of personnel from the Department of Defense (DoD), Intelligence 

Community, and private industry. The government civilian and military population includes personnel 

from the NRO DoD cadre, Central Intelligence Agency, U.S. Air Force, and U.S. Navy. The NRO’s 

advanced reconnaissance systems require a highly talented cadre of scientists, aerospace engineers, 

communications specialists, computer scientists, and acquisition managers. By collaborating and 

understanding customer needs and requirements, the NRO workforce is meeting complex intelligence 

collection challenges and is poised to fulfill future challenges to achieve its mission. Individuals 

who are interested in belonging to the team that designs, launches, and operates the nation’s most 

unique and innovative overhead reconnaissance systems may apply for NRO government civilian 

assignments through their organization or agency, or by visiting www.usajobs.gov, www.cia.gov, or 

www.icjointduty.gov. Additionally, U.S. Air Force military personnel may send a resume to 

FSS-CareerDevelopment@nro.mil. U.S. Navy military personnel who are interested in working at the 

NRO may request information by emailing navy-admin@nro.mil. 

OUR LOCATIONS

The NRO headquarters is located in Chantilly, Virginia. The NRO maintains ground stations at Buckley 

Air Force Base, Colorado; Fort Belvoir, Virginia; and White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico, to support 

worldwide defense operations and multi-agency collection, analysis, and intelligence reporting. The 

NRO has a presence at the Joint Defence Facility Pine Gap, Australia, and the Royal Air Force Base 

Menwith Hill, United Kingdom, to coordinate with allies on national security issues. NRO has operating 

locations in Vandenberg AFB, California; Cape Canaveral AFS, Florida; and Schriever AFB, Colorado.

COMMUNICATIONS 

SATELLITES

Buckley Air 

Force Base, 

Colorado

White Sands 

Missile Range, 

New Mexico

Vandenberg

Air Force Base,

California

Schriever

Air Force Base,

Colorado

NRO Headquarters

Fort Belvoir, 

Virginia

Los Angeles, 

California

Cape Canaveral

Air Force Station, 

Florida

Royal Air Force Base 

Menwith Hill, 

United Kingdom

Joint Defence 

Facility Pine Gap, 

Australia

NATIONAL RECONNAISSANCE OFFICE SUPRA ET ULTRA
NRO HISTORY
FOUNDING THE NRO

In the 1950s, President Dwight D. Eisenhower approved reconnaissance systems that included 

high-altitude balloons, airplanes, and satellites to collect strategic intelligence on the Soviet Union, 

China, and other potential threats to the United States. On August 31, 1960, Secretary of the Air 

Force Dudley C. Sharp established the Office of Missile and Satellite Systems to direct the Air 

Force satellite reconnaissance program. On September 6, 1961, the Central Intelligence Agency 

and Department of Defense officially signed the first NRO charter which established management 

arrangements for the National Reconnaissance Program. These provisions consolidated many of 

America’s national space and aerial reconnaissance projects under a covert, highly-compartmented 

National Reconnaissance Office. Decades later, on September 18, 1992, the U.S. government 

declassified the “fact of” the NRO.

NOTABLE RECONNAISSANCE SYSTEMS

GRAB AND POPPY

On August 24, 1959, President Eisenhower authorized the Naval Research Laboratory to develop the 

GRAB (Galactic Radiation and Background) experimental satellite to collect Soviet air-defense radar 

emissions. Ten months later, GRAB-1, America’s first signals intelligence satellite, launched from Cape 

Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida. GRAB operated from 1960-1962; its successor, POPPY, operated 

from 1962-1977.

CORONA 

On August 18, 1960, the United States launched the first CORONA imagery intelligence satellite that 

successfully returned a photo from space. A cooperative venture between the CIA and U.S. Air Force, 

CORONA photographed “denied territories” and returned the exposed film to earth in capsules, which 

Air Force planes recovered in mid-air over the Pacific Ocean. The CORONA program flew 145 missions 

and produced more than 800,000 images. When the program ended in 1972, it boasted a significant 

list of firsts in space history:

First man-made object retrieved from space

First photograph taken from space

First recovery of an intelligence payload from orbit

AND HERITAGE

First mid-air recovery of an object from space

First mapping of the Earth from space

First use of multiple reentry vehicles

NATIONAL RECONNAISSANCE OFFICE SUPRA ET ULTRA
NRO HISTORY

TRANSPARENCY

The NRO is committed to providing suitable transparency to enrich the public’s understanding of its 

mission, consistent with maintaining national security. In addition to responsiveness for information 

submitted under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), the Privacy Act, and Executive Order (EO) 

13526, the NRO engages in the review of information for potential declassification and public release 

on a discretionary basis. In 2015, the NRO reviewed and released a large collection of documents 

associated with the 1960’s-era Manned Orbiting Laboratory and its formerly covert intelligence 

collection component, codenamed DORIAN. With the initiation of three discretionary programs, the 

NRO released documents of significant public interest with historical context; information related 

to the operations and activities of the NRO; and documents previously released under FOIA or 

EO 13526. Through these discretionary efforts, the NRO released thousands of pages of material. 

The NRO is collaborating with the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the Intelligence 

Community to more proactively make information available to the public, while protecting intelligence 

sources and methods. 
NOTABLE RECONNAISSANCE SYSTEMS

GAMBIT

Developed in the 1960s, the GAMBIT and HEXAGON film-return satellites provided imagery of Soviet 

and Chinese nuclear installations, missile sites, and other activities in “denied territories.” Between 

July 1963 and June 1967, the NRO carried out 38 missions of the first-generation GAMBIT system with 

a KH-7 camera system. Each GAMBIT-1 mission lasted just under seven days, on average, carrying 

about 3,000 linear feet of film, with resolution improving from four to two feet. Between July 1966 

and April 1984, the NRO carried out 54 missions of the second-generation GAMBIT-3 system with its 

improved KH-8 camera system. The GAMBIT-3 missions averaged 31 days on orbit, and carried more 

than 12,000 linear feet of film with better than a two-foot resolution.

HEXAGON

Between June 1971 and April 1986, the NRO launched the HEXAGON search satellite 20 times, with 

its KH-9 camera system to replace the CORONA system. HEXAGON carried nearly 60 linear miles of 

film, with missions averaging about four months and resolution better than two feet. Twelve HEXAGON 

missions included a mapping camera that obtained imagery with resolution between 30- and 20-feet 

for use by the U.S. Geological Survey and Defense Mapping Agency for mapping and digital terrain 

elevation data.

QUILL

In addition to film-return systems, in 1964 the NRO successfully launched a radar imagery experimental 

satellite known as QUILL. The QUILL satellite demonstrated radar imagery could be obtained from 

space and further established the NRO’s reputation for innovative and successful intelligence 

collection from space.

ADVANCED RECONNAISSANCE: KENNEN (KH-11)

On December 19, 1976, the NRO launched the KENNEN (KH-11) near real-time electro-optical satellite, 

which transmitted its images to Earth via a relay satellite. As demand for satellite reconnaissance grew, 

the NRO developed increasingly sophisticated technology to collect signals and imagery intelligence 

from space. These systems contributed to the verification of arms control treaties, global transparency, 

and the end of the Cold War.

AND HERITAGE

NATIONAL RECONNAISSANCE OFFICE SUPRA ET ULTRA
N AT I O N A L R E C O N N A I S S A N C E O F F I C E 

14675 LEE ROAD CHANTILLY, VA 20151-1715 703-808-1198

WWW.NRO.GOV

FIND US ON

NRO EMPLOYMENT/BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES

To learn more about NRO employment opportunities, please visit www.nro.gov, www.usajobs.gov, www.

cia.gov, or www.icjointduty.gov. For information on starting a business relationship with the NRO, visit 

the Acquisition Research Center’s unclassified website at https://acq.westfields.net. Those with NMIS, 

CWAN, Intelink, or JWICS accounts can access https://arc.nro.ic.gov.

NRO | MSC

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