National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency

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The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) is a combat support agency within the United States Department of Defense whose primary mission is collecting, analyzing, and distributing geospatial intelligence (GEOINT) to support national security. Founded in 1996 as the National Imagery and Mapping Agency (NIMA), it changed names in 2003. It is a member of the United States Intelligence Community.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

NGA headquarters, also known as NGA Campus East or NCE, is located at Fort Belvoir North Area in Springfield, Virginia. At Template:Convert, it is the third-largest government building in the Washington metropolitan area after the Pentagon and the Ronald Reagan Building.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The agency also operates NGA Campus West, or NCW, in St. Louis, Missouri, and support and liaison offices worldwide.

NGA also helps respond to natural and manmade disasters, helps with security planning for major events such as the Olympic Games,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> disseminates maritime safety information,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and gathers data on climate change.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

The eighth and current director of the agency is Vice Admiral Frank D. Whitworth III.<ref name="June 2022 Roster" />

HistoryEdit

U.S. mapping and charting efforts remained relatively unchanged until World War I, when aerial photography became a major contributor to battlefield intelligence. Using stereo viewers, photo-interpreters reviewed thousands of images. Many were of the same target at different angles and times, giving rise to modern imagery analysis and mapmaking.

Engineer Reproduction Plant (ERP)Edit

The Engineer Reproduction Plant was the Army Corps of Engineers's first attempt to centralize mapping production, printing, and distribution.Template:When It was located on the grounds of the Army War College in Washington, D.C. Previously, topographic mapping had primarily been a function of individual field engineer units using field surveying techniques or copying existing or captured products. In addition, ERP assumed the "supervision and maintenance" of the War Department Map Collection, effective April 1, 1939.

Army Map Service (AMS) / U.S. Army Topographic Command (USATC)Edit

With the advent of the Second World War aviation, field surveys began giving way to photogrammetry, photo interpretation, and geodesy. During wartime, compiling maps with minimal field work became increasingly possible. Out of this emerged AMS, which absorbed the existing ERP in May 1942. It was located at the Dalecarlia Site (including buildings now named for John C. Frémont and Charles H. Ruth) on MacArthur Blvd., just outside Washington, D.C., in Montgomery County, Maryland, and adjacent to the Dalecarlia Reservoir. AMS was designated as an Engineer field activity, effective July 1, 1942, by General Order 22, OCE, June 19, 1942. The Army Map Service also combined many of the Army's remaining geographic intelligence organizations and the Engineer Technical Intelligence Division. AMS was redesignated the U.S. Army Topographic Command (USATC) on September 1, 1968, and continued as an independent organization until 1972, when it was merged into the new Defense Mapping Agency (DMA) and redesignated as the DMA Topographic Center (DMATC) (see below).

Aeronautical Chart Plant (ACP)Edit

Template:Missing information After the war, the need for charts grew as airplane capacity and range improved. The Army Air Corps established its map unit, which was renamed ACP in 1943 and was located in St. Louis, Missouri. ACP was known as the U.S. Air Force Aeronautical Chart and Information Center (ACIC) from 1952 to 1972 (See DMAAC below).

National Photographic Interpretation Center (NPIC)Edit

File:NPIC seal.png
Seal of the National Photographic Interpretation Center (NPIC)

Shortly before leaving office in January 1961, President Dwight D. Eisenhower authorized the creation of the National Photographic Interpretation Center (NPIC), a joint project of the CIA and DIA. NPIC was a component of the CIA's Directorate of Science and Technology (DDS&T), and its primary function was imagery analysis.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> NPIC became part of the National Imagery and Mapping Agency (now NGA) in 1996.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Directors of NPIC
Director Tenure
Arthur C. Lundahl May 1953 – July 1973
John J. Hicks July 1973 – May 1978
Rutledge P. Hazzard June 1978 – February 1984
Robert M. Huffstutler February 1984 – January 1988
Frank J. Ruocco February 1988 – February 1991
Leo A. Hazlewood February 1991 – September 1993
Nancy E. Bone October 1993 – September 1996

Cuban Missile CrisisEdit

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}}Template:Missing information In 1962, NPIC analysts discovered that the Soviet Union was basing missiles in Cuba. Using images from U-2 overflights and film from canisters ejected from Corona satellites, They informed U.S. policymakers and influenced operations during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Their analysis garnered worldwide attention when the Kennedy Administration declassified and made public a portion of the images depicting the Soviet missiles on Cuban soil; Adlai Stevenson presented the images to the United Nations Security Council on October 25, 1962.<ref name="NGA history">NGA History Template:Webarchive, nga.mil</ref>

Defense Mapping Agency (DMA)Edit

The Defense Mapping Agency was created on January 1, 1972, to consolidate U.S. military mapping activities. DMA's "birth certificate", DoD Directive 5105.40, resulted from a formerly classified Presidential directive, "Organization and Management of the U.S. Foreign Intelligence Community" (November 5, 1971), which directed the consolidation of mapping functions previously dispersed among the military services.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> DMA became operational on July 1, 1972, pursuant to General Order 3, DMA (June 16, 1972). On October 1, 1996, DMA was folded into the National Imagery and Mapping Agency – which later became NGA.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

DMA was first headquartered at the United States Naval Observatory in Washington, D.C., then at Falls Church, Virginia. Its mostly civilian workforce was concentrated at production sites in Bethesda, Maryland; Northern Virginia; and St. Louis, Missouri. DMA was formed from the Mapping, Charting, and Geodesy Division, Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), and various mapping-related organizations of the military services.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

DMA included the following centers:

DMA Hydrographic Center (DMAHC)
DMAHC was formed in 1972 when the Navy's Hydrographic Office split its two components: The charting component was attached to DMAHC, and the survey component moved to the Naval Oceanographic Office, Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, on the grounds of what is now the Stennis Space Center. DMAHC was responsible for creating terrestrial maps of coastal areas worldwide and hydrographic charts for DoD. DMAHC was initially located in Suitland, Maryland, but later moved to Brookmont (Bethesda), Maryland.
DMA Topographic Center (DMATC)
Located in the NGA's former headquarters in Brookmont, DMATC created topographic maps for DoD.
DMA Hydrographic/Topographic Center (DMAHTC) File:DMA DMAHTC DUI.png
DMAHC and DMATC eventually merged to form DMAHTC, with offices in Brookmont.
DMA Aerospace Center (DMAAC)
DMAAC originated with the U.S. Air Force's Aeronautical Chart and Information Center (ACIC) and was located in St. Louis.

National Imagery and Mapping Agency (NIMA)Edit

Template:Multiple image NIMA was established on October 1, 1996, by the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1997.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The creation of NIMA followed more than a year of study, debate, and planning by the defense, intelligence, and policy-making communities (as well as the Congress) and continuing consultations with customer organizations. The creation of NIMA centralized responsibility for imagery and mapping.

NIMA combined the DMA, the Central Imagery Office (CIO), and the Defense Dissemination Program Office (DDPO) in their entirety, as well as the mission and functions of the NPIC. Also merged into NIMA were the imagery exploitation, dissemination, and processing elements of the Defense Intelligence Agency, National Reconnaissance Office, and the Defense Airborne Reconnaissance Office.

NIMA's creation was clouded by the natural reluctance of cultures to merge and the fear that their respective missions—mapping in support of defense activities versus intelligence production, principally in support of national policymakers—would be subordinated, each to the other.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

NGAEdit

File:Old National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency Headquarters.png
NGA's old headquarters in Brookmont, Maryland prior to 2012. It had been the headquarters of NGA and its predecessor agencies since 1945. After the move to its current headquarters, this facility was renovated and became Intelligence Community Campus-Bethesda.

With the enactment of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2004 on November 24, 2003,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> NIMA was renamed NGA to reflect better its primary mission in the area of GEOINT.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

2005 BRAC and effects on NGAEdit

As a part of the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) process, all major Washington, D.C.–area NGA facilities, including those in Bethesda; Reston, Virginia; and Washington, D.C., were consolidated at a new facility at the former Engineer Proving Ground site near Fort Belvoir. This new facility, later known as NCE, houses several thousand people. NGA facilities in St. Louis were not affected by the 2005 BRAC process.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

As of March 2009, the new center's cost was expected to be $2.4 billion. The center's campus is about Template:Convert and was completed in September 2011.<ref>Davenport, Christian, "Projects' Costs Are Rising", The Washington Post, March 31, 2009, p. B4</ref>

Next NGA St. LouisEdit

NGA is currently constructing a new facility in St. Louis, Missouri, Next NGA St. Louis, at a cost of $1.7 billion. The facility is expected to hold 3,000 employees and open by 2025.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> St. Louis' city legislature is currently reconsidering legislation to surround Next NGA St. Louis with a protection zone that would bar certain businesses, such as gas stations, hazardous material companies, and foreign government-supported enterprises, from building around the site for security purposes.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

OrganizationEdit

Agency structureEdit

Executive leadersEdit

A director heads NGA, currently Navy Vice Adm. Frank D. Whitworth; the director is followed in precedence by the deputy director and chief of staff, currently Brett Markham.<ref name=Markham>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The holders of these three offices comprise NGA's executive leadership team.

Chief of StaffEdit

While NGA's director and deputy director oversee the agency, the Chief of Staff oversees NGA's executive support staff, administrative services, logistics, personnel security, human resources, employee training and development, corporate communications, and congressional engagement.<ref name=Markham/>

Directorates and directorate leadersEdit

NGA is split into various directorates led by directors (D/XX) and associate deputy directors (ADD/XX), with "XX" standing in for each directorate's two-letter designation.<ref name=Markham/> Known directorates and leadership figures include but are not limited to the:

  • Analysis Directorate, containing the Director of Analytic Operations (D/AO) and Associate Deputy Director for Operational Engagement (ADD/AE)<ref name=Markham/> and led by a director,<ref name=Path14.2/><ref name="OIG26">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref> currently Director of Analysis Susan "Sue" Kalweit<ref name=Path15.1/><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

  • Source Operations & Management Directorate (S or "Source" Directorate),<ref name=Report>Template:Cite report</ref> led by the Director of the Source Operations & Management Directorate<ref name=Appoint/> or Director of Source Operations<ref name=Richardson/>
  • Enterprise Operations Directorate (E or "Enterprise" Directorate), led by the Director of the Enterprise Operations Directorate<ref name=Report/>
  • IT Services Directorate<ref name=Path14.3/>
  • Plans and Programs Directorate<ref name=Path14.2/>
  • Research Directorate<ref name=Dixon>Template:Cite press release</ref>
  • Security and Installation Operations Directorate<ref name=OIG26/> (SI)<ref name=Media>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

  • Human Development Directorate (HD)<ref name=Relationships>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

  • Financial Management Directorate (FM)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

  • Unnamed "NGA contracting directorate"<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

  • Acquisitions Directorate<ref name=Records/>
  • Unnamed "A Directorate" (possibly Acquisitions or Analysis)<ref name=Records/>
  • Unnamed "P Directorate" (possibly Plans and Programs or former Analysis and Production Directorate (see below))<ref name=Records/>

An Analysis and Production Directorate (P or "Production" Directorate) existed in 2011,<ref name=Report/> although NGA presently has a Directorate for Analysis, which may be a replacement or separated portion of the Analysis and Production Directorate.<ref name=Path14.2/>

The deputy associate director of operations directly oversees the NGA Operations Center (itself led by a director and deputy director)<ref name=Markham/> the Office of NGA Defense, the Office of Expeditionary Operations, and NGA leadership at the three National Reconnaissance Office Aerospace Data facilities.<ref name=Appoint>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Other internal groups and leadersEdit

NGA contains NGA Support Teams (NST), which work with directorates, are detailed internationally, deploy with warfighters, or liaise with service branches.<ref name=Markham/><ref name=Path15.1/><ref name=Path14.4/> Multiple NGA Command NSTs also exist.<ref name=Custom/> NGA's western operations, such as constructing the Next NGA St. Louis campus in St. Louis, Missouri, is headed by the NGA St. Louis executive (who can concurrently serve in other leadership roles).<ref name=Appoint/> There is also an NGA Equality Executive.<ref name=Richardson/> Other organizations present in NGA, which may or may not be components of directorates, include:

  • NGA Operations Center<ref name=Markham/>
  • Office of Expeditionary Operations<ref name=Appoint/>
  • Office of NGA Defense (OND)<ref name=Path14.4/>
  • Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO), led by NGA's chief information officer
  • Office of the Inspector General (OIG), led by NGA's Inspector General (currently Cardell Richardson, Sr.)<ref name=Richardson>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

  • Records Service Office<ref name=Report/>
  • National Geospatial-Intelligence Committee (GEOCOM), containing subcommittees
  • National Geospatial-Intelligence College (NGC), led by a director
  • GEOINT Enterprise Office, led by a director and organized into branches
  • Office of Geomatics<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

  • Aeronautical Navigation Office
  • Office of Corporate Assessment and Program Evaluation (CAPE)
  • Office of Corporate Communications, led by a director<ref name=Path15.1>Template:Cite magazine</ref>
  • Office of Strategic Operations-Performance
  • NGA Cyber Security Operations Cell (CSOC), led by a director and organized into teams
  • NGA Police<ref name=Path14.4>Template:Cite magazine</ref>
  • NGA History Department
  • Office of Maritime Safety
    • Bathymetry branch, led by a chief<ref name=Path15.1/>
  • Office of Contract Services<ref name=Path14.3>Template:Cite magazine</ref>
  • Office of Future Warfare Systems (MRF)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

  • Office of Diversity Management and Equal Employment Opportunity, led by a director<ref name=Richardson/>
  • Custom Media Team (XCMS), containing the Tailored Media support team and CMGS (Custom Media Generation System) team<ref name=Custom>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

  • GPS Division<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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  • Historical Imagery Division/Historical Imagery team<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

  • Volunteered Geographic Information (VGI) Team, community-led by NGA containing screened non-NGA users/institutions<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

  • Office of Ventures and Innovation<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
  • NGA Research, led by a director
  • Enterprise Innovation Office (EIO)
  • Office of Strategic Operations
  • Office of Geography
  • NGA Outpost Valley (NOV), office of NGA in Silicon Valley<ref name=Path14.2>Template:Cite magazine</ref>
  • Office of Congressional and Intergovernmental Affairs<ref name=Dixon/>
  • Personnel Security Division, led by a chief<ref name=OIG26/>
  • Meteorological Operations Center<ref name=Blizzard>Template:Cite news</ref>
  • Office of General Counsel (OGC)<ref name=Relationships/>
  • Records and Declassification Program Office<ref name=Records>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

  • FOIA/Privacy Act Program Office<ref name=Records/><ref name=Relationships/>

Additionally, military Service GEOINT Offices (SGOs) liaise with NGA but belong to their respective military service branches and represent their geospatial intelligence needs.<ref name=Path14.4/> The Canadian Armed Forces deploys a liaison team to NGA; that team's operations officer also acts as NGA's Commonwealth liaison.<ref name=Path15.1/>

NGA is a member of the National System for Geospatial Intelligence (NSG) and the more extensive Allied System for Geospatial Intelligence (ASG), which includes close allies Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand.<ref name=Path15.1/> The U.S. and those four nations also form the Five Eyes intelligence alliance.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

EmployeesEdit

NGA employs professionals in aeronautical analysis, cartography, geospatial analysis, imagery analysis, marine analysis, the physical sciences, geodesy, computer and telecommunication engineering, and photogrammetry, as well as those in the national security and law enforcement fields.

List of NIMA / NGA directorsEdit

This table lists all directors of the NIMA and NGA and their terms of office. The agency transitioned from NIMA to NGA during Lieutenant General King's directorship.

Template:Officeholder tableTemplate:Officeholder tableTemplate:Officeholder tableTemplate:Officeholder tableTemplate:Officeholder tableTemplate:Officeholder tableTemplate:Officeholder tableTemplate:Officeholder table
Template:Abbr Director Term
Portrait Name Took office Left office Term length
  • † - Although General Clapper preferred the use of his military rank, he was, in fact, a member of the Defense Intelligence Senior Executive Service (DISES) during his term as Director of NGA, as he had retired from active duty as the director of Defense Intelligence Agency in 1995. Clapper was the first civilian to head NIMA / NGA.

Civilian, Department of Defense, and intelligence community activitiesEdit

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|CitationClass=web }}</ref> NGA open sources software packages under their GitHub organizational account.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

ControversiesEdit

NIMA / NGA has been involved in several controversies.

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  • From 2013 to 2018, NGA designated the latitude and longitude coordinates of a private residence as a default location for Pretoria, South Africa, causing the digital-mapping website MaxMind to set it as the location of over one million IP addresses, which in turn caused people searching for missing phones and other electronics (as well as other people trying to track down IP addresses in Pretoria and police officers attempting to track criminals) to show up at the residence. The issue was eventually resolved following a private investigation and a request to both NGA and MaxMind that the default location be changed.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

GalleryEdit

See alsoEdit

ReferencesEdit

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Further readingEdit

External linksEdit

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