Defense Secretary Robert Gates has appointed Letitia Long to serve as the next director of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, replacing Navy Vice Adm. Robert Murrett who has been at the agency’s helm since July 2006. Gates made the announcement on Monday. Long, currently NGA’s deputy director, will assume the leadership position later this year. She will be the first woman to lead a major intelligence agency, Gates said, citing her more than 30 years of engineering and intelligence experience. NGA provides imagery and map-based intelligence products for national security purposes. It is presently headquartered in Bethesda, Md., but is relocating to Ft. Belvoir, Va. (AFPS report by Donna Miles)
President Joe Biden is nominating Air Force Lt. Gen. Gregory M. Guillot to add a fourth star and succeed Gen. Glen D. VanHerck as the head of U.S. Northern Command and North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD)—one of several high-level nominations the Pentagon announced May 31.