U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) filed a public comment with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Monday in support of Scott Air Force in Illinois taking over host responsibilities for a division of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency.
The agency is currently situated in a 100-year-old location in St. Louis, Missouri that the government has decided would be too costly to renovate.
“I write to express my strong support for St. Clair County as the new home for the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency’s (NGA) West Facilities Modernization, also known as NGA West,” Durbin said. “Locating it in close proximity to Scott Air Force Base best supports NGA’s mission and organizational efficiency while also providing tremendous certainty and value to the taxpayer.”
Durbin has also leveraged his clout as the ranking member of the Senate Defense Appropriations Subcommittee to lobby NGA Director Robert Cardillo and Director of National Intelligence James Clapper on behalf of Illinois' bid, which would include adding 200 county-owned acres to the current base footprint. Scott is the only finalist owned by a public entity.
The NGA is an intelligence agency that collects, classifies and analyzes human activity around the world. It also provides mapping resources for the U.S. intelligence operation.
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