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)
U.S. Southern Command recently announced its first lethal strike on a suspected narco-trafficking vessel in two months, and the first under a newly formed permanent counter-cartel task force. The U.S. is also reportedly planning to transfer MQ-9 drones to Colombia to bolster its counter-cartel efforts.