Formatting necessary for an accurate reading of this text may be shown by tags (e.g., <DELETED> or <BOLD>) or may be missing from this TXT display. For complete and accurate display of this text, see the PDF.
[Page S766]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
TRIBUTE TO ROBERT CARDILLO
Mr. BLUNT. Mr. President, I take this opportunity to honor the work
and career of Mr. Robert Cardillo. On February 7, 2019, Robert Cardillo
will conclude nearly 36 years of service with the U.S. intelligence
community, ending as Director of the National Geospatial-Intelligence
Agency, or NGA.
In 1983, Robert began his career at the Defense Intelligence Agency,
or DIA, as an imagery analyst. He served in a multitude of positions
for DIA and NGA, to include Acting Director of Intelligence for the
Joint Staff, in which he supported the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of
Staff, which is the first time a civilian has ever held that position.
He was then selected by the Director of National Intelligence, the DNI,
to be the first ever Deputy Director for Intelligence Integration. In
that capacity, he was responsible for vastly improving intelligence
integration, the principal mission of the DNI as established under the
Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act. As a critical
additional duty, Robert also served as the primary briefer for the
President's daily brief at the White House.
From 2014 to 2019, Mr. Cardillo then led NGA as its Director. Under
his guidance and direction, NGA provided much lauded geospatial
intelligence support to U.S. and allied combat operations in Southwest
Asia and around the globe, assisting in the fight against militant
extremists. NGA also conveyed key indications and warning during crises
in Northeast Asia, the Middle East, North and Central Africa, Eastern
Europe, and elsewhere.
Highlighting the need to get unclassified data to the warfighter and
our allies, Director Cardillo pushed hard for unclassified geospatial
intelligence, or GEOINT, to exist in the open. He urged NGA to work in
tandem with commercial satellite imagery providers and other
unclassified industry partners. His support of innovation in artificial
intelligence, automation and augmentation, and his focus on activity-
based intelligence set NGA on a course to improve the speed and quality
of geospatial and imagery analysis. His attention to the ebola crisis
in West Africa and other humanitarian assistance and disaster response
initiatives showed the value of human geography to the world.
Director Cardillo was equally successful at forging new multinational
partnerships in Europe and Asia, and his outreach to industry,
academia, think tanks, and other international partners led to an
informal but increasingly thriving global GEOINT enterprise.
Mr. Cardillo was also the first NGA director to emphasize the
importance of the Arctic and Antarctica and the first to take on the
security, quality, and pedigree of imagery pixels and data, so that the
GEOINT enterprise can continue to serve as a safe foundational frame of
reference for the entire intelligence community.
Robert led NGA with integrity for more than 4 highly challenging and
demanding years, to include the selection of a future headquarters site
in St. Louis, MO. He laid the groundwork for a world-class building
that will be designed to endure well into the 22nd century and to serve
as the modern workplace that his workforce so richly deserves.
Director Cardillo will long be remembered as a relentless visionary
who restructured the future of his field to embrace public and private
partnerships, data science, and machine learning. His far-sighted
vision will continue to drive requirements and ensure that NGA shows
the way to a safer United States and a more secure world.
We thank him for his years of service to the intelligence community
and to this country.
____________________
