Committee assesses DIA roles, missions

The House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI) recently assessed the Defense Intelligence Agency’s (DIA) roles and missions completed last year, determining the agency faces challenges in several key areas.

In 2017, the Committee initiated a study of the DIA as part of oversight over the organization’s authorities, management systems and delivery of intelligence to warfighters and strategic decision makers. The analysis was established based on earlier reviews conducted by the Office of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), and the Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence.

The Committee maintains the DIA has challenges within the realm of support to planning and targeting, analysis and defense collection management. The issues result in part from the DIA’s command and control structure and a steady accumulation of responsibilities.

“For more than a year, HPSCI staff conducted a rigorous review of the DIA, including travel, briefings and a deep dive into the roles and mission of the Agency,”
Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-CA) said. “This type of oversight is exactly what the American people expect of Congress – thoughtful, serious, bipartisan, and focused on where Congress can make a real difference by bringing an outsider’s perspective.”

Committee recommendations include the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) and Secretary of Defense should assess specific roles and functions for transfer, elimination, or consolidation and create a framework for assigning future missions; the Secretary of Defense should administratively separate the Joint Staff J2 from DIA to clarify the relationships, responsibilities, and command and control for the Defense Intelligence Enterprise’s functional management; and the Secretary of Defense should transfer all of DIA’s Department of Defense Enterprise management responsibilities to the Joint Staff Director for Intelligence.