The NRO is the 

best in the world 

at providing overhead intelligence, 

surveillance, and reconnaissance 

to more than 500,000 government 

users—including every member of 

the Intelligence Community, two 

dozen domestic agencies, our 

nation’s military, lawmakers, and 

decision makers.

ABOVE AND BEYOND
OUR MISSION

NRO develops and operates the world’s most capable and 

innovative overhead reconnaissance systems to collect 

intelligence for U.S. national security, and to support 

disaster relief and humanitarian efforts.

OUR PEOPLE

NRO consists of ~3,000 personnel, jointly staffed by its 

own cadre workforce, members of the armed services, 

DoD civilians, Intelligence Community officers, and 

independent contractors. The NRO is led by 

Dr. Chris Scolese, the organization’s 

first Senate-confirmed director.

OUR HISTORY

The NRO—one of 18 Intelligence Community 

members—was established in September 

1961 as a classified agency in the Department 

of Defense. The existence of the NRO and its 

mission were declassified in September 1992.

The first publicly acknowledged NRO satellite 

launch took place at Vandenberg Space 

Force Base in December 1996 on a Titan IV 

rocket. Today, NRO continues to launch from 

Vandenberg as well as Cape Canaveral Space 

Force Station, NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility, 

and the Mahia Peninsula in New Zealand.

NRO has declassified several programs and 

more information is available at www.NRO.gov. 

OUR LOCATIONS

Headquartered in Chantilly, Va., NRO

 maintains ground stations at Buckley

 Space Force Base, Colo.; 

Fort Belvoir, Va.; White Sands Missile

 Range, N.M.; as well as a presence in 

Australia and the United Kingdom. 

NRO has launch offices at Cape Canaveral 

Space Force Station, Fla., and

 Vandenberg Space Force Base, Calif.

OUR AUTHORITIES

The NRO director reports to both the director 

of national intelligence and the secretary 

of defense, and operates under both Title 

10 and Title 50 authorities. NRO receives 

taskings for its assets from functional 

managers (e.g. director NSA is the functional 

manager for Signals Intelligence, director 

NGA is the functional manager for Geospatial 

Intelligence). Functional managers—not 

the NRO—are responsible for setting and 

prioritizing collection requirements 

for NRO assets.
www.NRO.gov

PUBLICAFFAIRS@NRO.MIL

703.808.1198

 @NATRECONOFC

 @NATIONALRECONNAISSANCEOFFICE

NATIONALRECONNAISSANCEOFFICE

• NRO successfully launched five 

missions to orbit in 2022 and will 

continue to deliver new capabilities 

with a busy launch year in 2023.

• NRO harnesses the latest technological 

advances from commercial partners 

including the award of contracts 

focusing on commercial radar, electro 

optical, radio frequency, and soon 

hyperspectral imagery. 

• NRO received an unmatched 14th 

clean financial audit in 2022, and 

remains committed to earning the 

public’s trust as responsible stewards 

of taxpayer dollars for years to come.

DID YOU KNOW?

EMPLOYMENT/BUSINESS 

OPPORTUNITIES

NRO/OPA [10026] ID 13.22

Diversity of thought and experience 

has been integral to the NRO since 

its founding in 1961. 

We continue to strive to be a model 

for diversity, equity, inclusion, 

and accessibility not only for our 

workforce, but also for those who 

do business with us.

To learn more about NRO employment 

opportunities, please visit 

www.nro.gov/careers

For information on starting a business 

relationship with the NRO, please visit 

the Acquisition Research Center at 

https://acq.westfields.net