Historical Dictionary of United States Intelligence

NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE PRODUCTION BOARD (NIPB).

Established in 1979, the NIPB now operates under the National In-

telligence Council (NIC) and is chaired by an associate director of

central intelligence. In addition to advising the director of national

intelligence (DNI) on all production matters, it oversees several in-

telligence community (IC) programs that focus on minimizing un-

necessary duplication of effort and maximizing efforts to meet con-

sumer needs. The NIPB consists of the heads of the intelligence

community’s analytic and production organizations or other appro-

priate designees. It is the senior intelligence community advisory fo-

rum for achieving consensus on analysis and production issues.

NATIONAL MILITARY AUTHORITY. See DEPARTMENT OF

DEFENSE; INTELLIGENCE REFORM AND TERRORISM PRE-

VENTION ACT.

NATIONAL PHOTOGRAPHIC INTERPRETATION CENTER

(NPIC).The NPIC was a joint Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and

Department of Defense(DOD) unit that analyzed photographic and

imagery intelligence(IMINT) and produced reports and other products

for national-level customers, including the military. First established in

1953 as the Photographic Intelligence Division within the CIA, the unit

merged in 1958 with a statistical analysis group to form the Photo-

graphic Interpretation Center (PIC). The National Security Council

(NSC) transformed the PIC into the NPIC in 1961 by requiring it to

serve all national-level customers, including those outside the CIA. The

CIA’s Office of Imagery Analysis continued to serve CIA’s needs and

often duplicated and competed with the NPIC. The National Imagery

and Mapping Agency (NIMA) absorbed the NPIC in 1996. Imagery

interpretation is now within the jurisdiction of the National Geospatial-

Intelligence Agency (NGA).

NATIONAL RECONNAISSANCE OFFICE (NRO).The NRO is

the manager of America’s airborne and space reconnaissance pro-

grams. The NRO now contracts for, builds, controls, and uses the

hardware that goes into airborne and space reconnaissance. It also

constructs and uses sensors for the exploitation of intelligence in-

formation from emissions of factories, nuclear power plants, nu-

clear explosions, and the like, and from foreign military equipment

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