When Lt. Gen. Michele Bredenkamp takes the stage for the closing keynote at the GEOINT Symposium on Wednesday, it will mark her first public appearance as the director of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) - a role she slipped into with all the fanfare of a library book return during the government shutdown in November. Now, the industry gets to learn what she actually plans to do with the job.
“I have personally observed how [geospatial intelligence], delivered by NGA professionals, provided clarity, understanding and increased decision advantage for commanders and policymakers,” Bredenkamp said on Nov. 5 during a change-of-directorship ceremony at NGA headquarters. “GEOINT is indispensable today and will continue to be an essential dominant intelligence function.” She is the ninth director to helm the agency since its founding in 2003, replacing U.S. Navy Vice Adm. Frank Whitworth, who had been in charge since June 2022.
Bredenkamp most recently served as Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard’s adviser for military affairs at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, where she oversaw intelligence integration across the Defense Department and the intelligence community. She began her 30-year military career in frontline tactical roles before moving into intelligence leadership, including stints as director of intelligence for U.S. Forces Korea, service on the Joint Staff at the Pentagon, and as head of U.S. Army Intelligence and Security Command. With ongoing wars and conflicts around the world, she has had to hit the ground running - because, as Jerry Laurienti, NGA account manager at Leidos, put it: “For a new director of NGA, the world doesn’t stop. So, what Gen. Bredenkamp has been focused on [from day one] is mission in a tumultuous world, with multiple battle spaces and combat support that can’t stop and has to evolve fast.”
Industry observers are cautiously optimistic. Luke Fischer, co-founder and CEO of SkyFi, applauded the appointment, citing her military depth: “The GEOINT community has had directors with policy depth, with technical depth, with managerial depth. Operational depth at this level is rarer, and it changes what an agency optimizes for.” Susanne Hake, executive vice president and general manager of Vantor’s U.S. government business, echoed that sentiment: “NGA is a combat support agency and Lt. Gen. Bredenkamp has held several senior command positions directly responsible for making sure warfighters had the actionable intelligence necessary to be mission effective … Her field assignments give her a tremendous amount of operational experience across all the various ‘INTs.’ She knows what works and what more is needed for the U.S. to maintain its intelligence superiority.”
But not everyone is ready to hand out participation trophies. Brian Monheiser, vice president of strategic programs at visual data integration firm Larx, noted that the real test is whether Bredenkamp can effectively convey the needs of NGA’s customers to its partners. “You can build a hammer that’s looking for a nail, but we all know that’s not going to work,” he said. “What we need from [NGA and the new director] is … an understanding of where they’re at and what they’re doing, and why the things we’re building either are or aren’t a fit for that.” Laurienti added that industry is particularly keen to hear her thoughts on artificial intelligence: “NGA … is leading the charge for intelligence community adoption, but [AI is] moving faster than we’ve ever seen a technological aspect of intelligence move. A lot of industry partners want to see what the key pieces are that NGA will put in place to get ahead and stay ahead.”
Fischer hopes Bredenkamp will be a director willing to break some institutional habits by integrating commercial providers more directly into operational GEOINT workflows. “Lt. Gen. Bredenkamp inherited an agency with enormous talent and serious institutional weight,” he said. “The question is whether she uses that weight to preserve what NGA has always done well, or to accelerate the enterprise toward the speed and scale the next conflict will demand. Her background suggests the latter.”