The Defense Intelligence Agency Headquarters (DIA HQ) is the main operating center of the

Defense Intelligence Agency The Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) is an intelligence agency and combat support agency of the United States Department of Defense (DoD) specializing in military intelligence. A component of the Department of Defense and the United States In ...

. It is located on the premises of

Joint Base Anacostia–Bolling Joint Base Anacostia–Bolling (JBAB) is a 905-acre (366 ha) military installation, located in Southwest (Washington, D.C.), Southwest Washington, D.C., established on 1 October 2010 in accordance with congressional legislation implementin ...

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

Overview

DIA Headquarters (sometimes called the Defense Intelligence Analysis Center or DIAC) opened in 1983 and became operational in 1984. and designed by

SmithGroupJJR SmithGroup is an international architectural, engineering and planning firm. Established in 1853 by architect Sheldon Smith, SmithGroup is the longest continually operating architecture and engineering firm in the United States that is not a w ...

to consolidate DIA activities in the Washington, D.C., area. In 2005, the agency opened the Headquarters Expansion, also designed by SmithGroupJJR, which allowed for more DIA personnel to serve under one roof than ever before. It simultaneously housed the

Office of the Director of National Intelligence The director of national intelligence (DNI) is a cabinet-level United States government intelligence and security official. The position is required by the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 to serve as executive head o ...

from 2005 until 2008, when the DNI's own facility was opened at Liberty Crossing in

McLean, Virginia McLean ( ) is an Unincorporated area#United States, unincorporated community and census-designated place in Fairfax County, Virginia, United States. The population of the community was 50,773 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is ...

. Under DIA HQ is also the headquarters of the co-located

United States Strategic Command The United States Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM) is one of the eleven unified combatant commands in the United States Department of Defense. Headquartered at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska, USSTRATCOM is responsible for Strategic_nuclear_weap ...

Joint Functional Component Command for Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance The Joint Functional Component Command for Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (JFCC ISR) was a subordinate command of the United States Strategic Command, one of the nine Unified Combatant Commands under the United States Department of ...

(JFCC-ISR). DIA HQ also includes the

DIA Memorial Wall The Defense Intelligence Agency Memorial Wall, commonly known as the Patriots Memorial, is a memorial at DIA Headquarters in Washington, D.C., dedicated to those agency employees who lost their lives in the line of their intelligence work whos ...

, which commemorates 21 Defense Intelligence Agency employees who have died in the service of the agency and of the United States. Additionally, the facility houses a memorial honoring seven employees who died in the

attacks of September 11, 2001 The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...

the Pentagon The Pentagon is the headquarters building of the United States Department of Defense, in Arlington County, Virginia, across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C. The building was constructed on an accelerated schedule during World War II. As ...

, the Torch Bearers Wall, which recognizes employees' exceptional contributions to the agency’s mission, and the DIA Museum, which chronicles the history of the agency along with associated historical artifacts. Currently, approximately 30% of DIA's workforce serves in the Headquarters and most of DIA's work is performed there. In addition to DIA Headquarters, agency employees may also be detailed to US embassies as part of the

Defense Attaché System The Defense Attaché System is an arm of the Defense Intelligence Agency tasked with representing the United States in defense and military related matters with foreign governments around the world. Defense Attache Offices (DAO) operate from U.S ...

, Ft. Detrick (

Frederick, MD Frederick is a city in, and the county seat of, Frederick County, Maryland, United States. Frederick's population was 78,171 people as of the 2020 census, making it the second-largest incorporated city in Maryland behind Baltimore. It is a part ...

) for NCMI,

Redstone Arsenal Redstone Arsenal is a United States Army base adjacent to Huntsville, Alabama in the Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge. A census-designated place in Madison County, Alabama, United States, it is part of the Huntsville-Decatur Combined Statistica ...

(

Huntsville, AL Huntsville is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Alabama. The population of the city is estimated to be 241,114 in 2024, making it the 100th-most populous city in the U.S. The Huntsville metropolitan area had an estimated 525,465 r ...

) for MSIC, military combatant command headquarters, and several other locations.

References

{{Defense Intelligence Agency Defense Intelligence Agency Intelligence agency headquarters in the United States Government buildings in Washington, D.C. Government buildings completed in 1983 1983 establishments in Washington, D.C.

Overview

See also

References