Press Release

Defense Intelligence Agency Dedicates 9/11 Memorial Honoring Fallen Employees

Washington D.C. - September 11, 2009

In a ceremony held at the Defense Intelligence Analysis Center today on Bolling Air Force Base, past and present leaders from the Defense Intelligence Agency dedicated a memorial to seven DIA employees who lost their lives in the attack on the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001

Speakers at the ceremony included current DIA Director, U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Ronald L. Burgess; and retired U.S. Navy Vice Adm. Thomas R. Wilson, who served as DIA director from July 1999 to July 2002. Families of the seven DIA employees attended the dedication ceremony, along with current DIA employees.

“The memorial will stand as a permanent part of this agency in the same way our lost colleagues will remain in our hearts and memories,” said Burgess. “More than others, this day reminds us of the dangers and threats we face and the importance of our mission in providing the military intelligence required to defend this nation.”

An artist with Classic Glass of Alexandria, Va., Jacob Robison designed the memorial. Constructed of eight stainless steel frames encapsulating glass, the memorial symbolizes an unfurled American flag. Seven of the memorial’s frames rotate 360 degrees, each representing the life of one of the seven individuals honored. The eighth frame is stationary and displays an excerpt of an essay titled “In Troubled Times” by James Henry Leigh Hunt:

“Whenever evil befalls us, we ought to ask ourselves, after the first suffering, how can we turn it into good. So shall we take occasion, from one bitter root, to raise perhaps many flowers.”

A polished piece of limestone taken from the Pentagon debris is mounted at the base of the structure. The names of the seven DIA victims are inscribed on the stone, along with the memorial’s title, “United in Memory – Committed to Freedom.”

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.