National Reconnaissance Office

National Reconnaissance Office is a United States intelligence agency that designs, builds, launches, and operates space-based reconnaissance systems for the Department of Defense and the U.S. Intelligence Community.^[1] It was founded on 1960-08-25 and publicly declassified on 1992-09-18, with headquarters in Chantilly, Virginia.^[2] NRO's active operational satellite systems are classified, so its public buyer relevance is as the U.S. institutional operator and acquisition authority for national reconnaissance capabilities rather than as a source of open mission specifications.^[1] The agency provides imagery intelligence to NGA, signals intelligence to NSA, and measurement and signature intelligence to DIA.^[2] Its publicly described history includes declassified programs such as Corona, Argon, and Lanyard, while current operational systems remain classified.^[2]