Robert Cardillo is a Distinguished Fellow at

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private Jesuit research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic higher education, Ca ...

’s

Center for Security and Emerging Technology The Center for Security and Emerging Technology (CSET) is a think tank dedicated to policy analysis at the intersection of national and international security and emerging technologies, based at Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service. ...

. Prior to this appointment, he was the sixth Director of the

National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) is a combat support agency within the United States Department of Defense whose primary mission is collecting, analyzing, and distributing geospatial intelligence (GEOINT) to support national se ...

and was sworn in October 3, 2014. He was previously selected by

Director of National Intelligence The director of national intelligence (DNI) is a Cabinet of the United States#Current Cabinet and Cabinet-rank officials, cabinet-level Federal government of the United States, United States government intelligence and security official. The p ...

James Clapper James Robert Clapper Jr. (born March 14, 1941) is a retired lieutenant general in the United States Air Force and former Director of National Intelligence. Clapper has held several key positions within the United States Intelligence Community. ...

to serve as the first Deputy Director of National Intelligence for Intelligence Integration in September 2010. Clapper said in a statement that the position would "elevate information sharing and collaboration" between those who collect intelligence and those who analyze it. Cardillo previously served as deputy director of the

Defense Intelligence Agency The Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) is an intelligence agency and combat support agency of the United States Department of Defense (DoD) specializing in military intelligence. A component of the Department of Defense and the United States In ...

(DIA). Prior to that, he served as the deputy director for Analysis, DIA, and Director, Analysis and Production,

(NGA).

Early life and education

Cardillo earned a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

in Government from

Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...

in 1983 and a

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA or AM) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Those admitted to the degree have ...

in National Security Studies from

in 1988. He is an alumnus of the

Council for Excellence in Government The Council for Excellence in Government was a public/private partnership organization initiated in the 1980s designed to improve the effectiveness of federal, state, and local government in the United States. The organization ceased to operate in ...

, the Joint Chiefs of Staff Capstone Course, and

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

's Program for Senior Managers in Government. Cardillo is the recipient of the Presidential Rank of Distinguished Executive, Presidential Rank of Meritorious Executive, Vice President's Hammer Award, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Joint Meritorious Civilian Service Award, DIA's Analyst of the Year, Director DIA's Intelligence Award, and the NGA's Distinguished Civilian Service Award.

Intelligence career

Cardillo began his career with the DIA in 1983 as an

imagery Imagery is visual symbolism, or figurative language that evokes a mental image or other kinds of sense impressions, especially in a literary work, but also in other activities such as. Imagery in literature can also be instrumental in conveying ...

analyst. In May 2000 he was selected to join the Defense Intelligence

Senior Executive Service The Senior Executive Service (SES) is a position classification in the United States federal civil service equivalent to general officer or flag officer rank in the U.S. Armed Forces. It was created in 1979 when the Civil Service Reform Act of ...

. Throughout his career, he has served in a variety of leadership positions within the Intelligence Community. He led NGA's Analysis and Production Directorate and Source Operations and Management Directorate from 2002 to 2006 and also led NGA's Congressional Affairs, Public Affairs, and Corporate Relations sections. From 2006 to 2010, Cardillo served as deputy director of the

as a whole and deputy director for analysis, leading DIA's Directorate for Analysis. In summer 2009, he served as the Acting J2, a first for a civilian, in support of the Chairman of the

Joint Chiefs of Staff The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) is the body of the most senior uniformed leaders within the United States Department of Defense, which advises the president of the United States, the secretary of defense, the Homeland Security Council and ...

. From 2010 to 2014, Cardillo served as the inaugural Deputy Director of National Intelligence for Intelligence Integration

Director of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency

Cardillo became the sixth NGA director in October 2014 and served until his retirement in February 2019.

Controversy

In 2015, Cardillo invited American men's

college basketball College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...

coach

Bobby Knight Robert Montgomery Knight (October 25, 1940 – November 1, 2023) was an American men's college basketball coach. Nicknamed "the General", he won 902 NCAA Division I men's basketball games, a record at the time of his retirement and sixth all- ...

, a friend of his from their time at the

United States Military Academy The United States Military Academy (USMA), commonly known as West Point, is a United States service academies, United States service academy in West Point, New York that educates cadets for service as Officer_(armed_forces)#United_States, comm ...

West Point, New York West Point is the oldest continuously occupied military post in the United States. Located on the Hudson River in New York (state), New York, General George Washington stationed his headquarters in West Point in the summer and fall of 1779 durin ...

, to deliver an address to the NGA workforce on leadership. Knight visited the agency, and was then accused by four female NGA employees of inappropriate behavior and physical contact. The result was a

Federal Bureau of Investigation The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and Federal law enforcement in the United States, its principal federal law enforcement ag ...

(FBI) and (CID) United States Army Criminal Investigation Division (CID) investigation into the matter. The FBI and CID did not bring charges and Federal authorities closed the cases. The incident was a concern that affected agency employee engagement and morale.

After NGA

In May 2019, Cardillo was named a Distinguished Geospatial Fellow at

Saint Louis University Saint Louis University (SLU) is a private university, private Society of Jesus, Jesuit research university in St. Louis, Missouri, United States. Founded in 1818 by Louis William Valentine DuBourg, it is the oldest university west of the Missi ...

in which he will advise on strategy for geospatial growth in St. Louis. His role includes advising the growth of GeoSLU, Saint Louis University's geospatial research, training, and innovation initiative, and advising the

Cortex Innovation Community Cortex Innovation Community, Cortex Innovation District, or Cortex is an innovation district in the Midtown neighborhood of St. Louis, Missouri. A 200-acre hub for technology and biological science research, development, and commercialization, ...

on geospatial strategy, innovation, and commercialization. In March 2021, Cardillo was elected as chairman of the Board of the United States Geospatial Intelligence Foundation USGIF. In April 2021, Cardillo joined Planet Federal as chairman of the board and Chief Strategist. Planet Federal is a division of Earth imaging company

Planet Labs Planet Labs PBC (formerly Planet Labs, Inc. and Cosmogia, Inc.) is a publicly traded American Earth imaging company based in San Francisco, California. Their goal is to image the entirety of the Earth daily to monitor changes and pinpoint tren ...

dealing with federal contracts; it has ties to the Intelligence Community and is a satellite imagery vendor to the community through NGA and NRO. He joined the board of directors of Synthetaic in May 2023. As of 2024, Cardillo serves on the advisory board of the National Security Space Association.

Personal life

A runner who has completed five Marine Corps Marathons, Cardillo resides in

Alexandria, Virginia Alexandria is an independent city (United States), independent city in Northern Virginia, United States. It lies on the western bank of the Potomac River approximately south of Washington, D.C., D.C. The city's population of 159,467 at the 2020 ...

. As of 2014, he had a wife, three children, and two grandchildren.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cardillo, Robert Cornell University alumni Deputy directors of the Defense Intelligence Agency Directors of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency Walsh School of Foreign Service alumni Living people Obama administration personnel First Trump administration personnel People from Alexandria, Virginia Year of birth missing (living people)