antimedia | If you’re one of the countless Americans who was distraught to learn
of the revelations made by former National Security Agency (NSA)
contractor Edward Snowden, the mere idea that there might be yet another
agency out there — perhaps just as powerful and much more intrusive —
should give you goosebumps.
Foreign Policy reports
that the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, or NGA, is an obscure
spy agency former President Barack Obama had a hard time wrapping his
mind around back in 2009. But as the president grew fond of drone
warfare, finding a way to launch wars without having to go through Congress
for the proper authorization, the NGA also became more relevant. Now,
President Donald Trump is expected to further explore the
multibillion-dollar surveillance network.
Like the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the National Security
Agency (NSA), the NGA is an intelligence agency, but it also serves as a
combat support institution that functions under the U.S. Department of
Defense (DOD).
With headquarters bigger than the CIA’s, the building cost $1.4
billion to be completed in 2011. In 2016, the NGA bought an extra 99
acres in St. Louis, building additional structures that cost taxpayers
an extra $1.75 billion.
Enjoying the extra budget Obama threw at them, the NGA became one of
the most obscure intelligence agencies precisely because it relies on
the work of drones.
As a body of government that has only one task — to analyze images
and videos captured by drones in the Middle East — the NGA is mighty
powerful. So why haven’t we heard of it before?
