Intelligence Space Program

Conclusions: Fixing the NRO

There is no clear consensus on what needs to be done to “fix” the NRO, nor a consensus that it needs fixing at all. In 2000, several high-level studies were conducted that concerned aspects of the NRO. Some of the suggestions— such as increasing the status and power of the NRO Director within the defense bureaucracy— seem relatively minor, but may help clarify the purpose of the organization. Others, such as returning the NRO to its early Cold War roots, when it was extremely isolated and had relatively little oversight, seem to contradict the reality of increasing demand for NRO services and the completely different strategic environment of the post-Cold War world.

Former Guggenheim Fellow at the National Air and Space Museum.