Press Release

In Defense of the Nation - DIA at Forty Years

New Book to Commemorate 40th Anniversary of DIA

Washington D.C. - October, 2001

The Defense Intelligence Agency recently commemorated its 40th anniversary. To honor the thousands of men and women, civilian and military, who have served at DIA, the Agency commissioned a publication, In Defense of the Nation-DIA at Forty Years, to highlight the contributions of its people to national security.

In Defense of the Nation-DIA at Forty Years, authored by Major General Charles F. Scanlon, United States Army (retired), tells a dynamic story of DIA from its beginnings as the Department of Defense's primary source of strategic defense analysis to its current position as a key member of the United States' Intelligence Community and the Defense Department's major producer of military-related foreign intelligence, supporting U.S. defense policymakers and America's soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines.

The book begins with DIA in crisis response with the 1998 Embassy bombings in Africa; then goes back in time to the Cuban Missile Crisis; reviews the Cold War; highlights DESERT STORM and the Balkans; traces terrorism against the United States; and concludes with the EP-3/China incident. Fast moving and replete with photographs, the book documents how the DIA workforce responded to these national security challenges that confronted the United States during the past 40 years. The achievements of the Agency and its often unsung heroes are cited in the words and reflections of Presidents, Secretaries of Defense, Chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Combatant Commanders, government officials, and intelligence professionals.

In Defense of the Nation-DIA at Forty Years is out of print at this time.
(GPO Stock # 008-000-00894-9; ISBN 0-16-067553-7)
U.S. Government Printing Office Bookstore

DIA is the nation’s premier all-source military intelligence organization.

It provides the nation’s most authoritative assessments of foreign military intentions and capabilities. The agency’s four core competencies -- human intelligence, all-source analysis, counterintelligence and technical intelligence -- enable military operations while also informing policy-makers at the defense and national levels.

DIA’s mission is unique and no other agency matches its military expertise across such a broad range of intelligence disciplines.