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 awarded a $13.08 billion contract to the Sierra Nevada Corporation on April 26 for its Survivable Airborne Operations Center aircraft, the successor to the service’s E-4B “Doomsday” plane. Like the E-4B, officially called the National Airborne Operations Center, the SAOC will be meant to withstand a nuclear attack and keep…