Christopher Scolese, director of the National Reconnaissance Office and a 2023 Wash100 Award winner, has highlighted the agency’s commitment to safeguarding and strengthening both the U.S. and the world.
Speaking before the House Armed Services Committee’s Strategic Forces Subcommittee, Scolese said the NRO is working to boost data delivery speeds and outperform competitors using three guiding objectives, the NRO announced on Wednesday.
“For more than 60 years, the NRO has developed tools and techniques to bring the farthest
reaches of the planet into our grasp – seeing, hearing and sensing what you can only get from the vantage point of space,” said Scolese.
“We are using that vantage point to help find the answers to some of the nation’s most important national security questions, providing our warfighters, policymakers and decision makers the intelligence they need, when they need it,” he added.
According to the director, the agency’s efforts primarily focus on the creation of a resilient and proliferated constellation for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance support, leveraging emerging technologies to upgrade ground and space architectures and fostering collaboration with fellow U.S. agencies, industry and international partners.
The hearing on national security space programs for fiscal year 2023 also included testimony from Frank Calvelli, assistant secretary of the air force for space acquisitions and integration; Tonya Wilkerson, deputy director of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency; and John Plumb, assistant secretary of defense for space policy.
