New DIA Campus Gets Green Light

The Intelligence Community Campus-Bethesda,a redevelopment project led by the Defense Intelligence Agency and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers,has received design approval by the National Capital Planning Commission.Work on the 300 million dollar facility,an airy office block concept,is expected to begin within a few months,with completion of the rectangular building in just over a year's time.
The DIA currently has facilities spread around the national capital region,as do its counterparts at the Central Intelligence Agency.Just who will be using the campus besides the DIA itself has not been disclosed,but the CIA is a possibility,along with perhaps the sprawling National Security Agency,the DIA's Department of Defense colleagues.
The Bethesda,Maryland complex is located on the former site of the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency,which was relocated to Fort Belvoir,Virgina,as part of the Base Realignment and Closure process in 2005.Neighbors in the affluent Palisades housing estate nearby were none too pleased with the parking garage for the ICC-B,fearing it would block their views of the Potomac River and lay waste a wooded area.The Planning Commission,however,is insisting that the DIA and Army Corps drastically scale the garage footprint back.The Army Corps said it didn't know if it could reach that goal,but it would try.
Some 3,000 intelligence staffers are to work at the sophisticated compound off Macarthur Boulevard,near the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park.The DIA is the principal provider of information on foreign military intentions and capabilities to combatant commanders,defense policy makers,and troops in the field,preventing strategic surprise and delivering a decision advantage to them in the interests of the national security of the United States.Its director is a three star military officer-currently Lieutenant General Ronald L. Burgess,Jr.,U.S. Army.
The DIA has a workforce of about 7,000 military and civilian personnel,who deploy worldwide alongside warfighters and interagency partners in support of military planning,operations and weapons acquisition.

DIA Honored With Joint Meritorious Unit Award

The Defense Intelligence Agency,a Pentagon organization that provides strategic military intelligence to warfighters and defense policy makers,received a Joint Meritorious Unit Award,or JMUA,from Defense Secretary Leon Panetta at a 13 October ceremony.The award,the eighth in the agency's history,was given for exceptional achievement during the period of August 1,2008 to July 31,2011.
The extraordinary dedication of agency personnel was directly responsible for the identification,pursuit and capture or death of key adversaries,as well as the provision of vital information essential to maintaining our national security,the award citation said.
Within the past year,the agency helped manage emerging threats related to North Korean aggression against South Korea;the Arab Spring;and the Libya crisis;as well,a DIA team supported humanitarian and disaster relief to Japan following the tsunami and nuclear disaster at Fukushima.Agency teams are frequently deployed with military and interagency partners to defend U.S. national security interests.
The award device,a streamer,was attached to the DIA flag by Mr.Panetta and DIA Director Lieutenant General Ronald Burgess,Jr.,U.S. Army.Looking on was James Clapper,Director of National Intelligence.
The DIA has more than 16,500 military and civilian personnel worldwide.The agency is celebrating its 50th anniversary.