Statement for the Record 

Ms. Betty Sapp 

Principal Deputy Director, National Reconnaissance Office 

Before the House Armed Services Committee 

Subcommittee on Strategic Forces 

15 March 2011 

NOT FOR PUBLICATION UNTIL RELEASED BY THE 

HOUSE ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE 

STRATEGIC FORCES SUBCOMMITTEE 

UNITED STATES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
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INTRODUCTION 

Chairman Turner, Ranking Member Sanchez, and distinguished 

Members of the Committee, I am pleased to appear before you 

today on behalf of General Bruce Carlson (USAF, Ret.), the 

Director, National Reconnaissance Office (DNRO), to discuss the 

NRO fiscal year (FY) 2012 National Defense Authorization Budget 

Request for National Security Space Activities. It is an honor 

for me to appear alongside our mission partners from the 

Department of Defense (DoD), Ambassador Greg Schulte, Deputy 

Assistant Secretary of Defense for Space Policy; the Honorable 

Erin Conaton, Under Secretary of the Air Force; and General 

William Shelton, Commander, Air Force Space Command. The NRO’s 

close relationship and continuing partnership with our mission 

partners are vital to maintaining our Nation’s superiority in 

space. 

The unclassified nature of today’s hearing precludes me 

from discussing many details of NRO programs, as well as sharing 

some of our greatest successes. However, I welcome the 

opportunity to meet in another setting to fully discuss with you 

the breadth and depth of NRO capabilities, partnerships, and 

value of the NRO contributions to our National Security. 

DNRO Priorities. Since taking the helm at the NRO two 

years ago, Director Carlson has communicated his priorities for 

the NRO in a very straight-forward manner: to execute programs 
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on time and on budget; to improve our research and technology 

(R&T) investment; and to continue to invest in the foundation of 

our organization---to recruit, train, and retain the best 

people. 

State of the NRO. I would like to begin with a few words 

about the state of the NRO today. We are nearly through the 

most aggressive launch campaign in over 25 years, and we are 

executing that campaign with a smaller launch support staff and 

more complex systems. We have successfully launched five 

satellites into orbit in the last six months, with one more 

launch planned next month. Our ability to sustain this tempo is 

due to the diligent efforts of our program teams who have 

successfully acquired and delivered these complex systems. It 

required very close coordination with the Air Force to manage 

the launch manifest priorities and, of course, to conduct launch 

operations. These successful launches have been a very 

important and visible remainder of the space reconnaissance 

mission NRO started 50 years ago, and continues with such great 

success today. We are committed to smart acquisition 

investments and practices to ensure the continued coverage and 

availability of our vital National Security systems and we work 

tirelessly to deliver these systems on time and within budget. 

The NRO remains committed to using the most capable and 

efficient launch vehicles consistent with a need for strong 
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mission assurance. The health of the launch industrial base and 

enhancing assured access to space is essential to the success of 

our programs and their launch platforms. The NRO is committed 

to improving the launch industry, as demonstrated by the joint 

NRO/Air Force development of a new EELV acquisition strategy 

aimed at sustaining the launch industrial base while stabilizing 

launch costs. In addition to EELV, the NRO looks at other 

launch providers, such as Space Exploration Corporation (SpaceX) 

and Orbital Science, to evaluate their feasibility as launch 

providers. In fact, on 12 December 2010 and 6 February 2011 we 

used their Falcon-9 and Minotaur-1 to launch Cubesats and the 

Rapid Pathfinder vehicle respectively. We are dedicated to 

working with the Air Force and commercial space providers to 

ensure our Nation’s launch and space industrial infrastructure 

remains strong enough to meet our mission requirements. 

From launching and operating the most technically-capable 

systems to continued operations of legacy satellites the NRO 

remains the premier space reconnaissance organization in the 

world. The unique composition of our workforce is one of our 

greatest strengths. As you know, we draw our personnel from 

across the DoD and Intelligence Community (IC), allowing us 

access to the best and brightest from across the space 

acquisition community and to many acquisition lessons learned. 

The talented people of the NRO allow our significant and 
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continued mission success, and enable our ability to provide the 

very best information from the warfighter to the policymaker. 

Because space systems operate in an unforgiving environment 

where we succeed or fail, with little middle ground, the NRO 

continuously strives to improve and learn from all our 

experiences. Director Carlson and I are both confident that by 

continuing to leverage current successes and community workforce 

strengths, the NRO will continue to provide the Nation with the 

space reconnaissance capabilities it requires. 

For the 2nd year in a row, the NRO received a Sustained 

Clean Audit on our Financial Statements. This positive outcome 

was the result of continued hard work across the NRO workforce 

and the culmination of a diligently planned and executed effort 

to continue our achievement in effective financial management. 

NRO’s internal processes for proper funds management and 

accurate financial reports have been validated, and we are 

successfully positioned to continue to sustain this clean audit 

into the future. 

EVOLUTIONARY ACQUISITION 

Maintaining a healthy space industrial base, coupled with 

delivering programs on cost and schedule, is a matter of 

critical importance to our national security. Evolutionary 

acquisition practices, used successfully for decades by the NRO, 

can help us sustain our industrial base in the future. We can 
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also leverage and extend our acquisition success by

institutionalizing proven best practices. A careful look at 

many of our past successful programs reveal common threads such 

as leveraging proven designs and platforms, and introducing 

payload enhancements incrementally into the proven platform. 

In addition, committing to “block buys” or multi-vehicle 

procurements is much more efficient than single vehicle buys and 

can result in savings. 

We will continue to implement evolutionary acquisition 

techniques using proven best practices to control costs and 

achieve reliable and consistent acquisition results. We will 

use “block buys” or multi-vehicle purchases for production 

stability,, coupled with investments in new capabilities, to 

sustain factory and satellite constellation health and to 

improve efficiency. The evolutionary acquisition practices 

could help stabilize our industrial base and allow us to acquire 

satellites more efficiently. 

NRO SUPPORT TO THE NATIONAL SPACE POLICY

The NRO continues to support the Intelligence Community and 

the Department of Defense in the formulation of national level 

policies and strategies including the 2010 National Space Policy 

and the 2011 National Security Space Strategy. Our policy and 

strategy experts were instrumental in developing and negotiating 

key principles, objectives, and approaches that furthered U.S. 
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National Security interests and balanced IC and DOD space 

activities. These cornerstone documents will help posture the 

Nation for the congested, contested, and competitive space 

environment while enhancing the strategic National Security 

advantages space capabilities provide. As we collectively move 

forward with the implementation of these important policies and 

strategies, the NRO will continue to work with the Interagency 

and our IC and DOD partners to develop and apply advanced space 

capabilities; guide cooperative ventures; assure critical 

national security space-enabled missions; pursue integrated 

space and cross-domain solutions; and enhance our space 

industrial base. 

NRO CONTRIBUTIONS: CRITICAL TO THE FIGHT 

Lastly, I would like to highlight the real bottom line for 

the NRO---our support to the warfighter. Almost a decade after 

the attacks of September 11th, NRO systems and people continue to 

make significant contributions each and every day to ongoing 

operations around the globe. The NRO currently has over 55 

personnel deployed around the globe in direct support of the 

warfighter, and we continue to rapidly adapt to the needs and 

changing pace of our deployed forces. 

For example, several months ago in the U.S. Central Command 

(CENTCOM) Area of Operations, operators were made aware of an 

impending ambush on unidentified coalition troops but were not 
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able to pinpoint the location of the attack. The NRO used a 

Communications Intelligence (COMINT) system called COMINT 

External Geo-Fusion System (CEGS) to assist. The NRO’s CEGS 

capability is used to rapidly tip warfighters to threats and 

enable quick reaction, to provide tailored intelligence 

collection, and to enhance force protection. On this day CEGS 

was able to rapidly provide a geo-location which allowed 

reinforcements to arrive at the scene prior to the ambush and 

call in Close Air Support, which resulted in neutralizing 20 

insurgents. CEGS and its NRO operators were credited with saving 

coalition lives that day. This is the type of success the NRO 

strives for each and every day. We are committed to the fight 

from 22,000 miles above to the men and women we have on the 

ground supporting our regional commanders. 

 The NRO also continues to focus on expanding access to NRO 

products and services, improving the content of NRO

informational products, and reducing the amount of time it takes 

to get relevant data to the warfighter. The NRO is

concentrating on developing new capabilities for warfighters, 

operators, and intelligence analysts. We are focused on support 

to Counter-Improvised Explosive Device (C-IED) efforts, CounterUnmanned Aerial System (C-UAS) efforts, and communications 

infrastructure and technology solutions designed to support 

“find, fix, and finish” operations. A prime example of this is 
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the NRO project “RED DOT.” This system went operational in Iraq 

after it was rapidly developed, tested, and fielded in just over 

a year. Now RED DOT is scheduled for deployment to Afghanistan 

this summer. RED DOT leverages reduced processing timelines 

that the NRO has been aggressively pursuing, and more 

efficiently moves time-sensitive intelligence data to the 

commanders on the ground, by semi-automatically passing 

indications and warnings data from national systems down to 

tactical vehicles at the unclassified level. This results in 

increased force protection and serves as a pathfinder for 

delivering other national systems data down to the soldier in 

harm’s way. 

 In addition to rapidly developing and deploying 

capabilities in support of the warfighter, the NRO is also 

proactively involved with pre-deployment training and education 

initiatives throughout DoD and the IC. NRO personnel describe 

our system capabilities as part of the core curriculum at the 

Army’s Intelligence Center of Excellence at Fort Huachuca, 

Arizona; and our Mobile Training Teams have provided both the 

Army’s I Corps and III Corps with relevant training on National 

Intelligence capabilities available to the unit in theater. We 

recognize we can’t be everywhere, but we can train our soldiers 

about the unique capabilities they can draw upon in a time of 

crisis. 
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CONCLUSION 

Thank you for your support and I encourage you to take time 

to come out to the NRO for detailed discussions we could not 

have today. 

The NRO vision is to maintain “Vigilance From Above.”. We 

remain focused on our mission to provide “Innovative Overhead 

Intelligence Systems for National Security,” and the people of 

the NRO embody our core values of Integrity and Accountability, 

Teamwork Built on Respect and Diversity, and Mission Excellence. 

Driven by our extraordinary people, the NRO will continue on the 

path of delivering acquisition and operations excellence, as 

well as the unparalleled innovation that is the hallmark of our 

history and the foundation of our future. 

Mr. Chairman and members of the Committee, thank you for 

the opportunity to appear before you today. I thank you for 

your continued support of the NRO, and I stand ready to answer 

your questions.