CHANTILLY, Va. –
Rep. Brad Wenstrup and Rep. Chris Stewart visited NRO’s headquarters at Westfields April 22 to discuss NRO’s support to the warfighter. Both are members of House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI).
Wenstrup is the House Representative for Ohio’s second district and is a Colonel in the U.S. Army Reserve. Prior to his career in Congress, Rep. Wenstrup owned a medical practice in Cincinnati. He serves as the Ranking Member on the HPSCI’s Defense Intelligence and Warfighter Support Subcommittee and he is also a member of the House Armed Services Committee.
Stewart is the House Representative for Utah’s second district. Prior to joining Congress, Rep. Stewart served 14 years as an Air Force pilot and holds three world speed records, including the world’s record for fastest non-stop flight around the world. He currently serves on the Counterterrorism, Counterintelligence, and Counterproliferation Subcommittee as well as the Appropriations Committee.
Several briefers met with Rep. Wenstrup and Rep. Stewart in Westfield’s Innovation Collaboration Center. Discussions included five highlights from our workforce. SIGINT highlighted intelligence gathering missions and discussed how SIGINT is used for receiving timely notifications and identifications of threat systems to warfighters. GEOINT provided an overview of the HYDRA experimental research demonstration mission and its plan to directly support the warfighter. Personnel from the Mission Operations Directorate discussed current and future plans for direct support to the warfighter. Lastly, the Ground Enterprise Directorate demonstrated the capabilities of THRESHER, a global situation awareness system.
The representatives were also briefed on the NRO’s larger national intelligence mission and customer base, as well as how the NRO has worked through the COVID-19 pandemic. This included highlights of the 12th consecutive clean financial audit and the six successful launches in 2020, allowing for 12 new payload deliveries.