The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) is a combat support agency within the

United States Department of Defense The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD or DOD) is an executive branch department of the federal government charged with coordinating and supervising all agencies and functions of the government directly related to national sec ...

whose primary mission is collecting, analyzing, and distributing

geospatial intelligence In the United States, geospatial intelligence (GEOINT) is intelligence about the human activity on earth derived from the exploitation and analysis of imagery, signals, or signatures with geospatial information. GEOINT describes, assesses, and v ...

(GEOINT) in support of

national security National security, or national defence, is the security and defence of a sovereign state, including its citizens, economy, and institutions, which is regarded as a duty of government. Originally conceived as protection against military att ...

. Initially known as the National Imagery and Mapping Agency (NIMA) from 1996 to 2003, it is a member of the

United States Intelligence Community United may refer to: Places * United, Pennsylvania, an unincorporated community * United, West Virginia, an unincorporated community Arts and entertainment Films * ''United'' (2003 film), a Norwegian film * ''United'' (2011 film), a BBC Two f ...

. NGA headquarters, also known as NGA Campus East or NCE, is located at Fort Belvoir North Area in Springfield, Virginia. The agency also operates major facilities in the St. Louis, Missouri area (referred to as NGA Campus West or NCW), as well as support and liaison offices worldwide. The NGA headquarters, at , is the third-largest government building in the

Washington metropolitan area The Washington metropolitan area, also commonly referred to as the National Capital Region, is the metropolitan area centered on Washington, D.C. The metropolitan area includes all of Washington, D.C. and parts of the states of Maryland, Virgi ...

after

The Pentagon The Pentagon is the headquarters building of the United States Department of Defense. It was constructed on an accelerated schedule during World War II. As a symbol of the U.S. military, the phrase ''The Pentagon'' is often used as a metony ...

and the Ronald Reagan Building. In addition to using GEOINT for U.S. military and intelligence efforts, NGA provides assistance during natural and man-made disasters, aids in security planning for major events such as the

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a multi ...

, disseminates maritime safety information, and gathers data on

climate change In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to ...

. The eighth and current director of the agency is Vice Admiral Frank D. Whitworth III.

History

U.S. mapping and charting efforts remained relatively unchanged until

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

, when

aerial photography Aerial photography (or airborne imagery) is the taking of photographs from an aircraft or other airborne platforms. When taking motion pictures, it is also known as aerial videography. Platforms for aerial photography include fixed-wing airc ...

became a major contributor to battlefield intelligence. Using stereo viewers, photo-interpreters reviewed thousands of images. Many of these were of the same target at different angles and times, giving rise to what became modern imagery analysis and mapmaking.

Engineer Reproduction Plant (ERP)

The Engineer Reproduction Plant was the Army Corps of Engineers's first attempt to centralize mapping production, printing, and distribution. It was located on the grounds of the Army War College in Washington, D.C. Previously, topographic mapping had largely 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)

With the advent of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

aviation, field surveys began giving way to

photogrammetry Photogrammetry is the science and technology of obtaining reliable information about physical objects and the environment through the process of recording, measuring and interpreting photographic images and patterns of electromagnetic radiant ima ...

photo interpretation Aerial photographic and satellite image interpretation, or just image interpretation when in context, is the act of examining photographic images, particularly airborne and spaceborne, for the purpose of identifying objects and judging their s ...

, and

geodesy Geodesy ( ) is the Earth science of accurately measuring and understanding Earth's figure (geometric shape and size), orientation in space, and gravity. The field also incorporates studies of how these properties change over time and equival ...

. During wartime, it became increasingly possible to compile maps with minimal field work. 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 John Charles Frémont or Fremont (January 21, 1813July 13, 1890) was an American explorer, military officer, and politician. He was a U.S. Senator from California and was the first Republican nominee for president of the United States in 1856 ...

and

Charles H. Ruth Charles H. Ruth (1889–1949) was considered the founding father of the Army Map Service. Ruth was first commanding officer of the Army Engineer Reproduction Plant (ERP). Prior to 1917 the Army Corps of Engineers compiled and drafted maps. ...

) 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 The Army Map Service (AMS) was the military cartographic agency of the United States Department of Defense from 1941 to 1968, subordinated to the United States Army Corps of Engineers. On September 1, 1968, the AMS was redesignated the U.S. Army ...

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)

After the war, as airplane capacity and range improved, the need for charts grew. 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)

Shortly before leaving office in January 1961,

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

Dwight D. Eisenhower authorized the creation of the National Photographic Interpretation Center (NPIC), a joint project of the

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...

and DIA. NPIC was a component of the CIA's Directorate of Science and Technology (DDS&T) and its primary function was imagery analysis. NPIC became part of the National Imagery and Mapping Agency (now NGA) in 1996. ;Directors of NPIC

Cuban Missile Crisis

NPIC first identified the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

's basing of missiles in

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribb ...

in 1962. By exploiting images from U-2 overflights and film from canisters ejected by orbiting Corona satellites,NGA History
, nga.mil NPIC analysts developed the information necessary to inform U.S. policymakers and influence operations during the

Cuban Missile Crisis The Cuban Missile Crisis, also known as the October Crisis (of 1962) ( es, Crisis de Octubre) in Cuba, the Caribbean Crisis () in Russia, or the Missile Scare, was a 35-day (16 October – 20 November 1962) confrontation between the United S ...

. 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 The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN) and is charged with ensuring international peace and security, recommending the admission of new UN members to the General Assembly, ...

on October 25, 1962.

Defense Mapping Agency (DMA)

The Defense Mapping Agency was created on January 1, 1972, to consolidate all 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. 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. DMA was first headquartered at the

United States Naval Observatory United States Naval Observatory (USNO) is a scientific and military facility that produces geopositioning, navigation and timekeeping data for the United States Navy and the United States Department of Defense. Established in 1830 as the Depo ...

in Washington, D.C, then at

Falls Church, Virginia Falls Church is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 14,658. Falls Church is included in the Washington metropolitan area. Taking its name from The Falls Church, an 18th-century Ch ...

. Its mostly civilian workforce was concentrated at production sites in

Bethesda, Maryland Bethesda () is an unincorporated, census-designated place in southern Montgomery County, Maryland. It is located just northwest of Washington, D.C. It takes its name from a local church, the Bethesda Meeting House (1820, rebuilt 1849), which ...

, Northern Virginia, and St. Louis, Missouri. DMA was formed from the Mapping, Charting, and Geodesy Division,

Defense Intelligence Agency The Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) is an intelligence agency and combat support agency of the United States Department of Defense, specializing in defense and military intelligence. A component of the Department of Defense (DoD) and the ...

(DIA), and from various mapping-related organizations of the military services. * 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 Bay St. Louis is a city in and the county seat of Hancock County, Mississippi, in the United States. Located on the Gulf Coast on the west side of the Bay of St. Louis, it is part of the Gulfport–Biloxi Metropolitan Statistical Area. As o ...

, 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 Suitland is an unincorporated community and census designated place (CDP) in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States, approximately one mile (1.6 km) southeast of Washington, D.C. As of the 2020 census, its population was 25,839. Pr ...

, but later relocated to Brookmont (Bethesda), Maryland. * DMA Topographic Center (DMATC) DMATC was located in Brookmont (Bethesda), Maryland. It was responsible for creating topographic maps worldwide for DoD. DMATC's location in Bethesda, Maryland is the former site of NGA's headquarters. * DMA Hydrographic/Topographic Center (DMAHTC) DMA DMAHTC DUI

DMAHC and DMATC eventually merged to form DMAHTC, with offices in Brookmont (Bethesda), Maryland. * 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, Missouri.

National Imagery and Mapping Agency (NIMA)

NIMA was established on October 1, 1996, by the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1997. 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, and the mission and functions of the NPIC. Also merged into NIMA were the imagery exploitation, dissemination, and processing elements of the

, National Reconnaissance Office, and the

Defense Airborne Reconnaissance Office The Defense Airborne Reconnaissance Office was an office within the United States Department of Defense, responsible to the Under Secretary of Defense. It was established on November 6, 1993. The office was created to provide increased support from ...

. 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.

NGA

Old National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency Headquarters

With the enactment of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2004 on November 24, 2003, NIMA was renamed NGA to better reflect its primary mission in the area of

GEOINT In the United States, geospatial intelligence (GEOINT) is intelligence about the human activity on earth derived from the exploitation and analysis of imagery, signals, or signatures with geospatial information. GEOINT describes, assesses, and vis ...

2005 BRAC and Impact on NGA

As a part of the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) process, all major Washington, D.C.–area NGA facilities, including those in Bethesda, Maryland;

Reston, Virginia Reston is a census-designated place in Fairfax County, Virginia and a principal city of the Washington metropolitan area. As of the 2020 U.S. Census, Reston's population was 63,226. Founded in 1964, Reston was influenced by the Garden City move ...

; and Washington, D.C., would be consolidated at a new facility at the Fort Belvoir proving grounds. This new facility, later known as NCE, houses several thousand people and is situated on the former Engineer Proving Ground site near Fort Belvoir. NGA facilities in St. Louis were not affected by the 2005 BRAC process. The cost of the new center, as of March 2009, was expected to be $2.4 billion. The center's campus is approximately and was completed in September 2011.

Next NGA West

NGA is currently constructing a new facility in St. Louis, Missouri, Next NGA West, at a cost of $1.7 billion. The facility is expected to hold 3,000 employees and open by 2025. St. Louis' city legislature is currently reconsidering legislation to surround Next NGA West with a protection zone that would bar certain businesses, such as gas stations,

hazardous material Dangerous goods, abbreviated DG, are substances that when transported are a risk to health, safety, property or the environment. Certain dangerous goods that pose risks even when not being transported are known as hazardous materials ( syllabi ...

companies, and foreign government-supported enterprises, from building around the site for security purposes.

Organization

Agency Structure

Executive Leadership Team

NGA is headed by a director, currently Navy Vice Adm. Frank D. Whitworth; the director is followed in precedence by the deputy director and chief of staff, currently Brett Markham. The holders of these three offices comprise NGA's executive leadership team.

Chief of Staff

While NGA's director and deputy director oversee the agency as a whole, the Chief of Staff is tasked with overseeing NGA's executive support staff, administrative services, logistics, personnel security, human resources, employee training and development, corporate communications, and congressional engagement.

Directorates and directorate leaders

NGA is split into various directorates led by directors (D/XX) and associate deputy directors (ADD/XX) with "XX" standing in for each direcorate's two-letter designation. 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) and led by a director, currently Director of Analysis Susan "Sue" Kalweit * Source Operations & Management Directorate (S or "Source" Directorate), led by the Director of the Source Operations & Management Directorate or Director of Source Operations * Enterprise Operations Directorate (E or "Enterprise" Directorate), led by the Director of the Enterprise Operations Directorate * IT Services Directorate * Plans and Programs Directorate * Research Directorate * Security and Installation Operations Directorate (SI) * Human Development Directorate (HD) * Financial Management Directorate (FM) * Unnamed "NGA contracting directorate" * Acquisitions Directorate * Unnamed "A Directorate" (possibly Acquisitions or Analysis) * Unnamed "P Directorate" (possibly Plans and Programs or former Analysis and Production Directorate (see below)) An Analysis and Production Directorate (P or "Production" Directorate) existed in 2011, although NGA presently has a Directorate for Analysis which may be a replacement or separated portion of the Analysis and Production Directorate. The deputy associate director of operations directly oversees NGA Operations Center (itself led by a director and deputy director) the Office of NGA Defense, the Office of Expeditionary Operations, and NGA leadership at the three National Reconnaissance Office Aerospace Data facilities.

Other internal groups and leaders

NGA contains NGA Support Teams (NST), which work with directorates, are detailed internationally, deploy with warfighters, or liaise with service branches. Multiple NGA Command NSTs also exist. NGA's western operations, such as the construction of Next NGA West campus in St. Louis, Missouri, are headed by the NGA west executive (who can concurrently serve in other leadership roles). There is also an NGA Equality Executive. Other organizations present in NGA, which may or may not be components of directorates, include: * NGA Operations Center * Office of Expeditionary Operations * Office of NGA Defense (OND) * 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 An inspector general is an investigative official in a civil or military organization. The plural of the term is "inspectors general". Australia The Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security (Australia) (IGIS) is an independent statutory of ...

(currently Cardell Richardson, Sr.) * Records Service Office * 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 Geomatics is defined in the ISO/TC 211 series of standards as the "discipline concerned with the collection, distribution, storage, analysis, processing, presentation of geographic data or geographic information". Under another definition, it ...

* Aeronautical Navigation Office * Office of Corporate Assessment and Program Evaluation (CAPE) * Office of Corporate Communications, led by a director * Office of Strategic Operations-Performance * NGA Cyber Security Operations Cell (CSOC), led by a director and organized into teams * NGA Police * NGA History Department * Office of Maritime Safety ** Bathymetry branch, led by a chief * Office of Contract Services * Office of Future Warfare Systems (MRF) * Office of Diversity Management and Equal Employment Opportunity, led by a director * Custom Media Team (XCMS), containing the Tailored Media support team and CMGS (Custom Media Generation System) team * GPS Division * Historical Imagery Division/Historical Imagery team * Volunteered Geographic Information (VGI) Team, community led by NGA containing screened non-NGA users/institutions * Office of Ventures and Innovation * 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 Silicon Valley is a region in Northern California that serves as a global center for high technology and innovation. Located in the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area, it corresponds roughly to the geographical areas San Mateo Cou ...

* Office of Congressional and Intergovernmental Affairs * Personnel Security Division, led by a chief * Meteorological Operations Center * Office of General Counsel (OGC) * Records and Declassification Program Office * FOIA/ Privacy Act Program Office Additionally, military Service GEOINT Offices (SGOs) liaise with NGA, but belong to their respective military service branches and represent their geospatial intelligence needs. The

Canadian Armed Forces } The Canadian Armed Forces (CAF; french: Forces armées canadiennes, ''FAC'') are the unified military forces of Canada, including sea, land, and air elements referred to as the Royal Canadian Navy, Canadian Army, and Royal Canadian Air Force. ...

deploys a liaison team to NGA; that team's operations officer also acts as NGA's

Commonwealth A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. Historically, it has been synonymous with "republic". The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the ...

liaison. NGA is a member of the National System for Geospatial Intelligence (NSG) and the larger Allied System for Geospatial Intelligence (ASG), which includes close allies

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by to ...

, the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

, and

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island coun ...

. The U.S. and those four nations also form the

Five Eyes The Five Eyes (FVEY) is an intelligence alliance comprising Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States. These countries are parties to the multilateral UKUSA Agreement, a treaty for joint cooperation in sig ...

intelligence alliance.

Employees

NGA employs professionals in aeronautical analysis,

cartography Cartography (; from grc, χάρτης , "papyrus, sheet of paper, map"; and , "write") is the study and practice of making and using maps. Combining science, aesthetics and technique, cartography builds on the premise that reality (or an i ...

geospatial analysis Spatial analysis or spatial statistics includes any of the formal techniques which studies entities using their topological, geometric, or geographic properties. Spatial analysis includes a variety of techniques, many still in their early dev ...

, imagery analysis, marine analysis, the physical sciences, geodesy, computer and telecommunication engineering, and

, as well as those in the national security and law enforcement fields.

List of NIMA / NGA Directors

This table lists all Directors of the NIMA and NGA and their term of office. The agency transitioned from NIMA to NGA during Lieutenant General King's directorship. *† - Although General Clapper preferred the use of his military rank, he was in fact a member of the Defense Intelligence

Senior Executive Service The Senior Executive Service (SES) is a position classification in the civil service of the United States federal government equivalent to general officer or flag officer rank in the U.S. Armed Forces. It was created in 1979 when the Civil Service ...

(DISES) during his term as Director of NGA, as he had retired from active duty as the director of

in 1995. Clapper was the first civilian to head NIMA / NGA.

Civilian, Department of Defense, and Intelligence Community activities

* Osama bin Laden compound raid: NGA was integral in helping the Department of Defense and the U.S. Intelligence Community pinpoint the compound in

Abbotabad Abbottabad (; Urdu, Punjabi language(HINDKO dialect) آباد, translit=aibṭabād, ) is the capital city of Abbottabad District in the Hazara region of eastern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. It is the 40th largest city in Pakistan and fourt ...

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

where Osama bin Laden hid for several years and to plan the raid that killed him. * 9/11 aftermath: After the

September 11, 2001 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commer ...

, NIMA partnered with the U.S. Geological Survey to survey the World Trade Center site and determine the extent of the destruction. * Keyhole investment: NGA contributed approximately 25% of In-Q-Tel's funding of Keyhole Inc, whose Earth-viewing software became

Google Earth Google Earth is a computer program that renders a 3D computer graphics, 3D representation of Earth based primarily on satellite imagery. The program maps the Earth by superimposition, superimposing satellite images, aerial photography, and geog ...

. * Hurricane Katrina: NGA supported

Hurricane Katrina Hurricane Katrina was a destructive Category 5 Atlantic hurricane that caused over 1,800 fatalities and $125 billion in damage in late August 2005, especially in the city of New Orleans and the surrounding areas. It was at the time the cost ...

relief efforts by "providing geospatial information about the affected areas based on imagery from commercial and U.S. government satellites, and from airborne platforms, to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and other government agencies.Geospatial Intelligence Aids Hurricane Recovery Efforts
, nga.mil NGA's Earth website is a central source of these efforts. * Microsoft partnership:

Microsoft Corp. Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washin ...

and NGA have signed a

letter of understanding A Letter of Understanding (LOU) is a formal text that sums up the terms of an undertakings of a contract which may have been negotiated up to this point only in spoken form or otherwise informally. It reviews the terms of an agreement for a serv ...

to advance the design and delivery of geospatial information applications to customers.Microsoft and NGA Announce Strategic Alliance
, microsoft.com NGA will continue to use the Microsoft Virtual Earth platform (as it did for Katrina relief) to provide geospatial support for humanitarian, peacekeeping, and national-security efforts. Virtual Earth is a set of online mapping and search services that deliver imagery through an API. * Google and GeoEye: In 2008 NGA partnered with

Google Google LLC () is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company focusing on Search Engine, search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, software, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, ar ...

and GeoEye. Google would be allowed to use GeoEye spy satellite imagery with reduced resolution for

. * Open source software on GitHub: April 2014 NGA became the first intelligence agency to open-source software on

GitHub GitHub, Inc. () is an Internet hosting service for software development and version control using Git. It provides the distributed version control of Git plus access control, bug tracking, software feature requests, task management, cont ...

.NGA releases open source code on GitHub
, FierceGovernmentIT, April 07, 2014 NGA Director Letitia Long talks about NGA's GitHub initiative and the first offering, GeoQ, at the GEOINT Symposium. Her comments start at 40 minutes and 40 seconds from her GEOINT 2014 conference speech. NGA open sources software packages under their GitHub organizational account. * After the 2019 creation of the

United States Space Force The United States Space Force (USSF) is the space service branch of the U.S. Armed Forces, one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and the world's only independent space force. Along with its sister branch, the U.S. Air Force, the Space ...

, NGA began working with the USSF "to provide geospatial intelligence to support and identify future needs of the service," establishing a new support team (NST) embedded at USSF headquarters.

Controversies

NIMA / NGA has been involved in several controversies. * India tested a nuclear weapon in 1998 that reportedly took the United States by surprise. Due to budget cuts in defense spending after the end of the Cold War (see Peace dividend), the Intelligence Community was forced to reevaluate the allocation of its limited resources."Secretive map agency opens its doors"
, CNN.com, December 13, 2002 * In 1999, NIMA reportedly provided NATO war-planners with incorrect maps which did not reflect that the Chinese Embassy in

Belgrade Belgrade ( , ;, ; names in other languages) is the capital and largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and the crossroads of the Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. Nearly 1,166,763 mi ...

had moved locations, which some have argued was the cause of the accidental NATO bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade. The

Central Intelligence Agency The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...

countered this criticism by saying this overstates the importance of the map itself in the analytic process. Maps of urban areas will be out-of-date the day after they are published, but what is important is having accurate databases. * On Jan. 17, 2013, USS ''Guardian'', a

mine countermeasures ship A mine countermeasures vessel or MCMV is a type of naval ship designed for the location of and destruction of naval mines which combines the role of a minesweeper and minehunter A minehunter is a naval vessel that seeks, detects, and destro ...

, was grounded on the

Tubbataha Reef The Tubbataha Natural Park, also known as the Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park ( fil, Bahurang Tubbataha), is a protected area of the Philippines located in the middle of the Sulu Sea. The marine and bird sanctuary consists of two huge atolls (name ...

in the southern Philippines. While it was determined that the NGA had provided an inaccurate chart that was off by as much as , the Navy primarily faulted the ship's crew, specifically the commanding officer, the executive officer and two junior officers that were standing watch at the time of the grounding, as they had failed to adhere to prudent, safe, and sound navigation principles. The crew relied solely on the inaccurate Digital Nautical Chart (DNC) during the planning and execution of the navigation plan and failed to appropriately

cross-reference The term cross-reference (abbreviation: xref) can refer to either: * An instance within a document which refers to related information elsewhere in the same document. In both printed and online dictionaries cross-references are important because ...

additional charts and utilize visual cues. *From 2013 to 2018, NGA designated the latitude and longitude coordinates of a private residence as a default location for

Pretoria Pretoria () is South Africa's administrative capital, serving as the seat of the executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to South Africa. Pretoria straddles the Apies River and extends eastward into the foothi ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring coun ...

, causing the digital-mapping website MaxMind to set it as the location of over one million

IP address An Internet Protocol address (IP address) is a numerical label such as that is connected to a computer network that uses the Internet Protocol for communication.. Updated by . An IP address serves two main functions: network interface ident ...

es, 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.

Credit union

In 2011, upon consolidating most Washington DC metro area NGA employees to NCE, the Belvoir Federal Credit Union (BFCU) became the on-site credit union serving NCE-based personnel. In 2016, BFCU merged with

Pentagon Federal Credit Union Pentagon Federal Credit Union, widely known by its abbreviated name PenFed, is a United States federal credit union headquartered in McLean, Virginia, chartered and regulated under the authority of the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) ...

Gallery

File:NGA New HQ.jpg, NGA Headquarters File:NGA New HQ - atrium.jpg, NGA headquarters' atrium

References

External links

* * *
GEOnet Names Server
(GNS) - Database of foreign geographic feature names. Worldwide coverage excluding the United States and Antarctica, containing approximately 3.93 million features with 5.45 million names, and their coordinates
Center for Geospatial Intelligence
: University of Missouri - Columbia research center focused on GeoINT
JP 2-03, Geospatial Intelligence Support to Joint Operations, 31 October 2012

Commission Report on the National Imagery and Mapping Agency

''GeoIntelligence''
A trade publication covering the uses of spatial technologies for national defense and homeland security by organizations such as NGA *

Agency Provides More Than Just Maps
* The

Center for Intelligence and Security Studies The University of Mississippi's Center for Intelligence and Security Studies (or CISS), located on the University of Mississippi campus in Oxford, Mississippi, was created in 2008 and is housed in the university's School of Applied Sciences. CISS ...

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