NRO was initiated in 1960 and developed as a common office for United States Air Force and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to manage satellite reconnaissance.
According to Jeffrey T. Richelson, "[m]ost often the Under Secretary of the Air Force served as a Director of the NRO".
When the USS Halibut returned half a year later with 22,000 photos of the Soviet submarine, the CIA realized the significance of underwater reconnaissance.
[further explanation needed] Captain James Bradley was able to conduct his own special project operations.
[8] NURO operations were conducted primarily in Soviet home waters using specially equipped nuclear-powered attack submarines or "special project submarines", but this intelligence gathering was, according to Ola Tunander, just a part of NURO's activity.
He refers to a high-ranking CIA officer saying that NURO in the 1980s also ran operations in the waters of friendly countries, such as those of Scandinavia, penetrating into the archipelagos and naval bases of Sweden.