Acting Director of National Intelligence (ADNI) Joseph Maguire joined local, state and federal officials for the November 26 groundbreaking ceremony of the new National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) West Headquarters in the northern section of St. Louis, MO. The nearly 300 people in attendance included past, current, and undoubtedly some future NGA employees, as well as business and community leaders and higher learning institutions with geospatial foci.

Four years ago, houses still dotted the streets near Cass and Jefferson avenues, the remnants of a neighborhood that had seen residents leave and investment dwindle for decades. On Tuesday, top federal intelligence and military officials gathered here, now a cleared 97-acre site, and promised to pour $1.7 billion into a new campus for the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, hopeful that the 3,000-plus NGA jobs will draw even more private investment to the near north side.

Catherine Marsh will serve as the director of the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity, a research organization within the Office of the Director of National Intelligence charged with developing new tools to solve the intelligence communities most difficult problems, the office announced Nov. 22. 

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) welcomes Dr. Catherine Marsh as the director of the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA). She succeeds Dr. Stacey Dixon, who now serves as deputy director of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency.

What a pleasure to be here amongst so many old friends to share some thoughts on Counterterrorism in an Era of Competing priorities.

We are almost two decades removed from 9/11, and fortunately, we have been successful in preventing major attacks against the homeland. This success raises the important question of how counterterrorism should stack up against competing priorities, an increasingly relevant issue.