However, Kerr noted that he had visited the Pentagon every day during the previous week. “The whole point of my taking this job and being at Westfields is that the senior leader of the NRO is in fact at residence at the NRO, and it was felt that it was too physically separated to be run essentially by remote control from the Pentagon, too large an entity with too much programs to not have somebody who sees that essentially as a full-time job,” Kerr said. Kerr indicated that he was not necessarily opposed to a similar arrangement, but noted that the intention behind establishing an official solely responsible for running the NRO was to maintain a constant presence at the agency’s Chantilly, Va., headquarters. Keith Hall, the last NRO director prior to the combination of that position with undersecretary of the Air Force, had also held the title of assistant secretary of the Air Force for space. One possible way of ensuring cooperation between the Air Force and the NRO could be to give the NRO director a position within the Air Force as well, Kerr said during the Sept. Terry Everett (R-Ala.), chairman of the House Armed Services strategic forces subcommittee, have expressed concern that splitting the positions would make it more difficult for troops in the field to gain access to classified data.Įverett, who sits on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence as well, said during an interview in July that he also was worried that the split could result in costly duplicative satellite development. John Jumper, who retired as chief of staff of the Air Force Sept. Rumsfeld announced July 22 that the positions would once again be separated. The Pentagon combined the positions of undersecretary of the Air Force and director of the NRO in 2001 based on recommendations from an expert panel headed by Donald Rumsfeld prior to his nomination to serve again as U.S.
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