CHANTILLY, Va. –
On Wednesday, April 6, NRO Director Dr. Chris Scolese, gave his Statement for the Record (SFR) at the House Armed Services Committee (HASC) Subcommittee on Strategic Forces hearing on “Fiscal Year 2023 National Security Space Programs” along with four other witnesses. In his opening remarks, Dr. Scolese informed the subcommittee about NRO’s priorities and how America’s space reconnaissance dominance has gone from peaceful and unchallenged to competitive, with the potential to become conflicted.
“[The future] depends on our ability to innovate and to continue to attract highly motivated and capable people,” –Dr. Chris Scolese, Director, National Reconnaissance Office.
In his message to HASC Strategic Forces Chairman Jim Cooper, Ranking Member Doug Lamborn, and other members of the subcommittee, Dr. Scolese shared the steps that NRO is taking to deliver intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) data to warfighters and policymakers.
Dr. Scolese also highlighted the NRO’s priorities of growing and leading and empowered, engaged, and inclusive workforce; innovating faster to stay ahead of competitors; delivering responsive and agile space-based ISR; bolstering resiliency to execute the mission in a challenging environment; and cultivating mission-enhancing partnerships.
“We must broaden and deepen our partnerships, working with new partners in government and the [intelligence community] as well as in academia and industry,” –Dr. Chris Scolese, Director, National Reconnaissance Office.
Other witnesses at the hearing included Assistant Secretary of Defense for Space Policy, Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Policy, the Honorable Dr. John Plumb; Commander, U.S. Space System Command, Lt. Gen. Michael Guetlein; Deputy Director, National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, Tonya Wilkerson; and Director of Contracting and National Security Acquisitions, Government Accountability Office, Jon Ludwigson.
Click here to see the priorities for the NRO’s mission to maintain its national security advantage in an evolving space domain.