The NRO was founded during the Cold War on Sept. 6, 1961, to spy on the Soviet Union, China and other enemies in the U.S. battle against communism. Today it operates satellites to spot roadside bombs in Afghanistan, helping combat arguably the enemy’s deadliest weapon in America’s latest war. The NRO still spies on Russia and China.
Carlson, a former Air Force general, was blisteringly blunt about the NRO’s recent mistakes; namely, how it ran up a multibillion-dollar bill trying to develop the failed “Future Imagery Architecture’’ satellite program. FIA, as it was known, was supposed to create a new generation of smaller, cheaper optical and radar satellites.
Instead, the Boeing program never took off, literally. Carlson called it “a colossal failure,’’ but, without going into details, he said the program was now “back on track.’’
FIA happened before Carlson’s watch, but the lesson stuck. U.S. intelligence officials say he is equally blunt with contractors he now manages. Where they used to be allowed to lag on delivering new technology, Carlson threatened to cancel contracts and walk away, said one U.S. intelligence official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence matters.
When Carlson first delivered some of his missives, “jaws dropped,’’ the official said. And behavior changed.
Even a couple of years ago, more than 30 percent of all NRO contracts were performing poorly, Carlson said, but now all are “on contract and on price.’’
Carlson is already war-gaming what he’ll cut if Congress slashes his annual budget, saying he’ll sacrifice operations and maintenance to keep the same number of staff on board, and protect the forward-looking science and technology research that works on next-generation satellite equipment and the futuristic equipment the satellites carry.
“We were going to protect our people, the core people of our mission,’’ Carlson said.
And the agency’s learned to make do, he said.
