Established in 1979, the NIPB now operates under the National Intelligence Council (NIC) and is chaired by an associate director of central intelligence. In addition to advising the director of national intelligence (DNI) on all production matters, it oversees several intelligence community (IC) programs that focus on minimizing unnecessary duplication of effort and maximizing efforts to meet consumer needs. The NIPB consists of the heads of the intelligence community’s analytic and production organizations or other appropriate designees. It is the senior intelligence community advisory forum for achieving consensus on analysis and production issues.
NATIONAL MILITARY AUTHORITY. See DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE; INTELLIGENCE REFORM AND TERRORISM PREVENTION ACT.
NATIONAL PHOTOGRAPHIC INTERPRETATION CENTER (NPIC). The NPIC was a joint Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and Department of Defense (DOD) unit that analyzed photographic and imagery intelligence (IMINT) and produced reports and other products for national-level customers, including the military. First established in 1953 as the Photographic Intelligence Division within the CIA, the unit merged in 1958 with a statistical analysis group to form the Photographic Interpretation Center (PIC). The National Security Council (NSC) transformed the PIC into the NPIC in 1961 by requiring it to serve all national-level customers, including those outside the CIA. The CIA’s Office of Imagery Analysis continued to serve CIA’s needs and often duplicated and competed with the NPIC. The National Imagery and Mapping Agency (NIMA) absorbed the NPIC in 1996. Imagery interpretation is now within the jurisdiction of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA).
World History
