Executive Summary

Changes in The National Security Environment

The Commission found that NRO reconnaissance satellites have had a crucially important role during the past four decades in providing American Presidents a decisive advantage in preserving the national security interests of the United States. These satellites, which can penetrate hostile and denied areas with no risk to life and rapidly deliver uniquely valuable information, have allowed a succession of Presidents to make informed decisions based on critical intelligence and to respond appropriately to major crises, threats and challenges to U.S. interests. Without them, America's history and the world's could have been dramatically different.

For 40 years, the NRO has pioneered technical marvels in support of space reconnaissance. Quite literally, the NRO's achievements in space have provided the nation its "eyes and ears" for: monitoring the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and compliance with arms control agreements; tracking international terrorists, narcotics traffickers and others who threaten American lives and interests around the world; providing operational intelligence and situational awareness to our armed forces in situations ranging from combat to peacekeeping; and helping to anticipate and cope with disasters, ranging from wildfires in the American West to volcanic eruptions in the Pacific to humanitarian crises in the Balkans.

In many ways, the risks to the security of the United States from potentially catastrophic acts of terrorism and weapons of mass destruction and mass disruption are more complex today than those the United States confronted during the Cold War. The number of extended U.S. military commitments and other U.S. interests around the globe that require continuing support is stressing the capacity of NRO reconnaissance systems and the Intelligence Community to detect critical indications and warnings of potentially threatening events. Further, the NRO does more than just build satellites. Integrating all-source intelligence requires it to produce new technologies. Together, these and other evolving conditions place an enormous premium on maintaining a strong space reconnaissance capability.NRO capabilities have been available for the past 40 years because President Dwight Eisenhower and his successors clearly understood the significance of space reconnaissance to our national security. They had the tenacity and determination to endure the many risks and failures inherent in space technology, and they personally directed and sustained the investment needed for its development. The United States is far more secure today because of this prior investment, commitment and level of personal attention.