Cardillo to replace Letitia Long as head of NGA

Letitia Long is stepping down as director of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, the Defense Department announced first thing Monday.

Long, who has served as NGA director for the past four years, will be replaced by Robert Cardillo. Cardillo previously served as deputy director of national intelligence where he oversaw the integration of intelligence collection and analysis.

Long took over at NGA in August 2010, overseeing a shift from providing static mapping to geospatial intelligence that provides analysts with real-time information that includes "time and place" context. Under Long's watch, the agency has also begun to leverage virtual and cloud environments as well as social media to create an emerging "human geography" capability.

Also under Long, NGA launched a "Map of the World" capability that integrates data from all U.S. intelligence assets.

Cardillo previously served as director of analysis and production at NGA and was deputy director for analysis at the Defense Intelligence Agency. He joined DIA in 1983 as an imagery analyst.

DOD said Cardillo will formally succeed Long in October. Long is retiring after more than 35 years in government service.