Leadership of the National Reconnaissance Office

The director of the National Reconnaissance Office (DNRO) of the United States is responsible to the secretary of defense (through the under secretary of defense for intelligence) and the director of national intelligence (DNI) for all national space and assigned airborne reconnaissance activities. The DNRO provides top-level management direction to the NRO in response to secretary of defense and director of national intelligence requirements.

Chronological list of National Reconnaissance Office directors

This is a list of directors of the NRO, and the terms in office.

Name	Term of Office	Presidential Administration(s)	Significant events
Dr. Richard M. Bissell, Jr.	September 1961 – February 1962^[1]	Kennedy	Co-director with Dr. Charyk
Dr. Joseph V. Charyk	September 6, 1961 – March 1, 1963	Kennedy	First NRO co-director
Dr. Brockway McMillan	March 1, 1963 – October 1, 1965	Kennedy/Johnson
Dr. Alexander H. Flax	October 1, 1965 – March 17, 1969	Johnson
Dr. John L. McLucas	March 17, 1969 – December 20, 1973	Nixon
Mr. James W. Plummer	December 21, 1973 – June 28, 1976	Nixon/Ford
Mr. Thomas C. Reed	August 9, 1976 – April 7, 1977	Ford/Carter
Dr. Hans Mark	August 3, 1977 – October 7, 1979	Carter
Dr. Robert J. Hermann	October 8, 1979 – August 2, 1981	Carter/Reagan
Mr. Edward (Pete) C. Aldridge, Jr.	August 3, 1981 – December 16, 1988	Reagan
Mr. Martin C. Faga	September 28, 1989 – March 5, 1993	Bush/Clinton	Declassification of NRO
Mr. Jeffrey K. Harris	May 19, 1994 – February 26, 1996	Clinton	Declassification of CORONA/ARGON/LANYARD
Mr. Keith R. Hall	March 28, 1997 – December 13, 2001	Clinton/Bush	September 11, 2001 attacks
Mr. Peter B. Teets	December 2001 – March 2005	Bush
Dr. Donald M. Kerr	July 2005 – October 5, 2007	Bush
Mr. Scott F. Large	October 19, 2007 – April 18, 2009^[2]	Bush/Obama
General Bruce Carlson, USAF (Ret.)	June 12, 2009 – July 20, 2012^[3]	Obama
Ms. Betty J. Sapp	July 20, 2012 – April 4, 2019	Obama/Trump	First woman NRO Director
Dr. Christopher Scolese	August 5, 2019 – July 10, 2026	Trump/Biden/Trump	First presidentially-appointed and Senate-confirmed NRO Director^[4]
Roger Mason	August 17, 2026 – Present	Donald Trump

List of Deputy Directors of National Reconnaissance Office

No.	Deputy Director^[5]	Term
Portrait	Name	Took office	Left office	Term length
1		Major General John T. Sheridan	31 July 2006	16 May 2008	1 year, 290 days
2		Major General Ellen M. Pawlikowski (born 1956)	June 2008	January 2010	~1 year, 214 days
3		Major General Susan K. Mashiko	January 2010	June 2013	~3 years, 151 days
4		Major General Anthony J. Cotton	June 2013	6 November 2015	~2 years, 144 days
5		Major General Stephen Denker	18 November 2015	1 June 2018	2 years, 195 days
6		Brigadier General Mark Baird (1965–2023)	25 June 2018	December 2018	~173 days
–		Vacant	December 2018	8 July 2019	~205 days
7		Major General Michael Guetlein (born 1967)	8 July 2019^[6]	9 August 2021	2 years, 32 days
8		Major General Donna D. Shipton (born c. 1970)	9 August 2021^[7]	19 August 2022	1 year, 10 days
9		Major General Christopher Povak (born 1970)	9 September 2022^[8]	Incumbent	4 years, 0 days

References

↑ "NRO Directors". Archived from the original on November 2, 2021. Retrieved April 26, 2019.
↑ "DefenseLink News Release: DoD Names New NRO Director". www.defenselink.mil. Archived from the original on October 25, 2007.
↑ "DefenseLink News Release: Director of National Reconnaissance Office Named". www.defenselink.mil. Archived from the original on June 17, 2009.
↑ "Dr. Christopher Scolese" (PDF). nro.gov. NRO. Retrieved June 11, 2021.
↑ "Leaders Of The NRO Volume III 2002-2022" (PDF). www.nro.gov.
↑ "New NRO Deputy Director assumes command". National Reconnaissance Office.
↑ "NRO welcomes new deputy director, Maj. Gen. Donna Shipton". National Reconnaissance Office.
↑ "NRO welcomes new deputy director and Space Force Element commander" (PDF). www.nro.gov. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 10, 2022.

https://www.nro.gov/About-NRO/leadership/leadership-povak/

[1] "NRO Directors". Archived from the original on November 2, 2021. Retrieved April 26, 2019.

[2] "DefenseLink News Release: DoD Names New NRO Director". www.defenselink.mil. Archived from the original on October 25, 2007.

[3] "DefenseLink News Release: Director of National Reconnaissance Office Named". www.defenselink.mil. Archived from the original on June 17, 2009.

[4] "Dr. Christopher Scolese" (PDF). nro.gov. NRO. Retrieved June 11, 2021.

[5] "Leaders Of The NRO Volume III 2002-2022" (PDF). www.nro.gov.

[6] "New NRO Deputy Director assumes command". National Reconnaissance Office.

[7] "NRO welcomes new deputy director, Maj. Gen. Donna Shipton". National Reconnaissance Office.

[8] "NRO welcomes new deputy director and Space Force Element commander" (PDF). www.nro.gov. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 10, 2022.

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v t e National Reconnaissance Office
Current programs	Sentient (intelligence analysis system) (2009-unknown) SpaceX Starshield (2022-present) Silentbarker (2023-) Blackjack (2024-) Future Ground Architecture
Facilities & commands	Headquarters, Chantilly, VA National Reconnaissance Operations Center (NROC) RAF Menwith Hill Pine Gap Casa Grande Photogrammetric Test Range 222d Command and Control Squadron Aerospace Data Facilities Colorado, Buckley Space Force Base East, Virginia, Fort Belvoir Southwest, New Mexico, White Sands Missile Range
Technology & Science	Byeman Control System Dijkstra's algorithm Phased array radar Synthetic-aperture radar Tip and cue
Satellite lines & projects	Key Hole (1959-unknown) Discoverer 1 (1959) Corona (1959-1972) Samos (1960-1962) KH-5 Argon (1961-1964) Upward (1961-1972) Poppy (1962-1967) Samos-F (1962-1971) Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (1962-2014) Lanyard (1963) Zirconic (1963-) Gambit (1963-1967) Quill (1964) Gambit 3 (1966-1984) Canyon (1968-1977) Aquacade (1970-1978) Jumpseat (1971-1983) Hexagon (1971-1986) KENNEN (1976-unknown) Satellite Data System (1976-2017) Naval Ocean Surveillance System (1976-2025) Vortex (1978-1989) Magnum (1985-1989) Lacrosse (1988-2005) Prowler (1990) Misty (1990-2012) Trumpet (1994-1997) Mercury (1994-1998) SLDCOM (1994-unknown) Orion (1995-) FORTE (1997) Discoverer II (1998-2000) STEX (1998) Enhanced Imaging System (1999) Future Imagery Architecture (1999-2018) Zuma (2018)
People	Christopher Scolese (Director) Betty J. Sapp Brian Patrick Regan William Kampiles Leadership of the National Reconnaissance Office
History	Chronology of the National Reconnaissance Office List of NRO launches USA-193 USA-225 USA-234 USA-276 2012 National Reconnaissance Office space telescope donation to NASA Multiple Mirror Telescope 6594th Test Group
Past programs	Manned Orbiting Laboratory NEMESIS (High Altitude) RAVEN (High Altitude) SIGINT High Altitude Replenishment Program (SHARP)
Founders	William O. Baker Merton E. Davies Sidney Drell Richard L. Garwin Amrom Harry Katz James R. Killian Edwin H. Land Frank W. Lehan William J. Perry Edward M. Purcell

v t e List of National Reconnaissance Office Leadership
DNRO	Charyk McMillan Flax McLucas Plummer Reed Mark Hermann Aldridge Faga Harris Hall Teets Kerr Large Carlson Sapp Scolese	National Reconnaissance Office
PDDNRO	Keifer Reber Naka Singel Cook Haas Hill Hall Kier Fitzgerald Large Haller Sapp Calvelli Meink
DDNRO	Sheridan Pawlikowski Mashiko Cotton Denker Baird Guetlein Shipton Povak
Program A	Greer Martin King Allen Bradburn Kulpa Jacobson Lindsay
Program B	Scoville Ledford Sheldon Duckett Dirks Hineman Caballero
Program C	Lowrance Taylor Fluckey Harlfinger Geiger Darcy Yowell Patterson Brooks Betterton Sprague
Program D	Geary Saunders Hartley Bailey

Chronological list of National Reconnaissance Office directors

List of Deputy Directors of National Reconnaissance Office

See also

References