NRO taps Capitol Hill staffer Bill Adkins as principal deputy director

WASHINGTON — Bill Adkins, a longtime professional staff member of the House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, is joining the National Reconnaissance Office as principal deputy director, effective Jan. 12.

Adkins fills a post previously held by Troy Meink, who left the NRO in May 2025 when he became Secretary of the Air Force.

The principal deputy director oversees the agency’s day-to-day operations, including management of classified satellite programs, major acquisition efforts and partnerships with commercial space companies.

Adkins brings a “wealth of knowledge in space, intelligence, and defense earned through years of experience in government and industry,” the NRO said in a social media post.

The NRO designs, builds, launches, and operates the United States’ fleet of intelligence-gathering satellites, providing imagery, signals intelligence, and other data to military commanders, policymakers, and intelligence analysts. While the agency sits within the intelligence community, its work is closely coordinated with the U.S. Space Force, which is responsible for protecting national security space systems and integrating space-based capabilities into military operations.

That collaboration has intensified in recent years as both organizations have leaned more heavily on commercial services for launch, communications, imagery and data analytics. The Space Force and the NRO jointly shape requirements and acquisition strategies for many space systems

Adkins arrives at the NRO after years shaping defense spending and policy from Capitol Hill. On the defense appropriations subcommittee, he focused on national security space, missile defense and advanced technology issues. Within the defense space community, he is known as a close follower of acquisition policy and industrial base dynamics.

He has also been an outspoken critic of what he sees as a gap between the Pentagon’s rhetoric on commercial innovation and the funding actually directed toward it.

During a recent panel at the Baird Government & Defense conference, Adkins said the Defense Department and the intelligence community are not doing enough to leverage commercial capabilities.

“The Space Force has established its commercial space strategy. But the disappointing thing is that it really hasn’t been resourced,” Adkins said. “The budgets dedicated to commercial have really been paltry.”

“Commercial can’t solve all of the things that we need, but it definitely has an important role to play,” he added.

Adkins pointed to several areas where commercial services are already deeply embedded in national security space missions, including the National Security Space Launch program, satellite communications, and imagery procurement.

He also highlighted the NRO’s Electro-Optical Commercial Layer, or EOCL, which buys imagery and data from commercial remote sensing companies.

One area he flagged for additional government investment is space domain awareness, the ability to track and characterize objects in orbit.

“We’re woefully lacking in terms of the capability and coverage,” Adkins said, noting that a number of commercial companies are attempting to invest in the area but face uncertainty about sustained government demand.