Inside the secretive intelligence agency that keeps track of the world’s ICBMs

WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio (AP) — When North Korea launches a ballistic missile over the Pacific, the United States top leaders turn to the National Air and Space Intelligence Center based at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.

Analysis by NASIC keeps the White House, Congress and the Pentagon aware of air, space and cyber threats and determine what dangers a missile from the rogue country has for the U.S. and its allies.

“It is no exaggeration to say that the assessments NASIC generates can make the difference between war and peace,” said Loren B. Thompson, a senior defense analyst with the Virginia-based Lexington Institute.

NASIC last week opened a $29.5 million building expansion in a remote part of Wright-Patterson. The Air Force allowed the media to be at the opening, but revealed very little about the work that will be going on at the expansion.

The secretive agency with a MiG-29 jet fighter outside its headquarters assesses the intercontinental ballistic missile threat capabilities of China, Russia, Iran and North Korea, among others, and disassembles foreign technology to find out the secrets an adversary has flying in air or space.

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Featured image courtesy of U.S. Air Force