An employee of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) in St. Louis has been assigned to work in state government through a federal program that allows senior executives to work on short term assignments outside the intelligence agency. The state assignment is part of a growing relationship between NGA, the state, and St. Louis area leaders that is focused on making St. Louis a global geospatial hub over the next decade.

The NGA employee, Jason Long, will work through the end of the year in the Missouri Office of Administration (OA) to help state government better understand how geospatial intelligence systems (GIS) can be used for analysis, reporting, and state policy formation.

The assignment of senior executives from defense agencies like the NGA to other federal agencies is a common practice that allows executives to gain experience. However, Mr. Long’s assignment will be the first between NGA and a state government. Mr. Long will continue to be a federal employee while on assignment to the state, but will work under the supervision of OA. During the assignment, the loaned executive will be working exclusively on state matters.

Mr. Long began his career in aviation as an airline pilot and has since spent a decade at NGA building airfield models, justifying and defending classified program budgets, leading NGA’s 24/7 operations center, and managing logistics for NGA on site in Bagram, Afghanistan.

NGA is a combat support agency of the US Department of Defense, with its headquarters in Springfield, Virginia and its major support operation in St. Louis. The agency’s primary mission is collecting, analyzing, and distributing geospatial intelligence in support of national security.

The construction of a new $1.7 billion dollar campus in the City of St. Louis was announced in November of 2019 to replace its current antiquated facility. The new facility is anticipated to bring over 1,000 new jobs to the area once completed.