Defense Secretary Robert Gates has named the current principal deputy director of the National Reconnaissance Office, Scott Large, to become the new NRO director. He would replace Donald Kerr who recently received Senate confirmation to become the second in command to the Director of National Intelligence. Prior to becoming the NRO principal deputy in April 2007, Large had served in the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency and the Central Intelligence Agency.
The Air Force is leaning toward a less-sophisticated autonomous aircraft in the second increment of the Collaborative Combat Aircraft, the services chief futurist said. He also suggested that the next increment of CCA may be air-launched, a la the "Rapid Dragon" experiments conducted by the service in recent years.