The NRO would be actually the operator. NGA takes care of exploiting the data
Ah shoot, you're right, I totally forgot.
It does make me wonder what the NGA does with a ~5 billion dollar budget then, in my head most it was allocated to new sats. Other than buy approximately 10 3080s I mean ;)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Geospatial-Intelligen...
Like you mentioned, they do use their capabilities for some things other than just GEOINT:
>In addition to using GEOINT for U.S. military and intelligence efforts, NGA provides assistance during natural and man-made disasters, aids in security planning for major events such as the Olympic Games,[9] disseminates maritime safety information,[10] and gathers data on climate change.[11]