GEOINT

The Future of Geospatial Intelligence

The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency may be the most massive intelligence organization you’ve never heard of.  While rarely making headlines, NGA is the lead federal agency providing geospatial intelligence (think maps and imagery) to both the Department of Defense and the U.S. Intelligence Community.  NGA played a significant role in the raid against Osama bin laden, but it also provides GEOINT on other, perhaps less obvious, national security threats like the spread of Ebola.   It’s the U.S. Government’s ‘Eye in the Sky’ for lack of a better phrase, employing 14,500 employees and contractors with the sole mission of providing decision makers with the most up-to-date imagery and analysis possible, and they partner heavily with the private sector to do it.