NRO

The US agency responsible for designing and operating reconnaissance satellites.

Description based on the Crypto Museum's crypto glossary.¹

According to the NRO, the agency was established in September 1961 as a classified agency in the Department of Defense; its existence and mission were not declassified until September 1992. The NRO builds and operates space-based reconnaissance systems and also supports disaster relief and humanitarian efforts.²

The NRO is one of the 18 members of the US Intelligence Community; its director reports to both the Director of National Intelligence and the Secretary of Defense. The NRO supplies the data, but collection priorities are set by the “functional managers” – the NSA for signals intelligence (SIGINT) and the NGA for geospatial intelligence (GEOINT).²