ABOUT DIA

Our diverse workforce is skilled in military history and doctrine, economics, physics, chemistry, world history, political science, bio-sciences and computer sciences. We travel the world, meeting and working closely with professionals from foreign countries.

At DIA, we provide military intelligence to warfighters, defense policymakers and force planners in the Department of Defense and Intelligence Community, in support of U.S. military planning and operations and weapon systems acquisition. We plan, manage and execute intelligence operations during peacetime, crisis and war.

MISSION

Provide intelligence on foreign militaries

to prevent and decisively win wars

VISION

Illuminate opportunities to enable the U.S.

to outpace our strategic competitors

VALUES

DIA has a strong legacy centered on our ability to confront and overcome challenges while maintaining our core values. Embedded in these values are the leadership principles that guide us. These principles are the driving force that keep our workforce grounded, and are represented throughout the DIA enterprise.

Values graphic with text and circles, each section highlighting the Values of D-I-A.

LEADERSHIP

The Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) is a three-star military officer that rotates between Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines approximately every three years and is the principal adviser to the Secretary of Defense and to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on matters of military intelligence. The DIA Director also chairs the Military Intelligence Board, which coordinates activities of the defense intelligence community. DIA has a Deputy Director and a Command Senior Enlisted Leader.

Lieutenant General Scott Berrier, USA
Director

Suzanne White
Deputy Director

John Kirchhofer
Chief of Staff

Major General Michelle McGuinness
Deputy Director for Commonwealth Integration

Major General Chad Parker
Mobilization Assistant to the Director

Greg Ryckman
Deputy Director for Global Integration

CSM Corey Perry
Command Senior Enlisted Advisor

Lieutenant General Scott Berrier, USA

Director

Lt. Gen. Scott Berrier serves as the 22nd director of the Defense Intelligence Agency. Prior to joining DIA, Berrier served in the Department of the Army as the 46th G-2. In that role, he was the principal military intelligence and counterintelligence adviser to the secretary and chief of staff of the Army, and the Army’s Intelligence Community representative.

He is a career intelligence officer, having served as the “2” at every level from battalion to combatant command. The depth of his leadership experience ranges from company commander to commanding general and senior mission commander. His Army, Joint Service and Special Operations assignments include service throughout the United States, the Republic of Korea, Iraq and Afghanistan.

Berrier earned a bachelor’s degree in history from the University of Wisconsin – Stevens Point, a master’s degree in general studies from Central Michigan University, and a master’s degree in strategic studies from the U.S. Army War College.

His awards and decorations include the Distinguished Service Medal (1OLC), Defense Superior Service Medal (2OLC), Legion of Merit (1OLC), and Bronze Star Medal (1OLC). Berrier also earned the Parachutist Badge, Air Assault Badge, and Ranger Tab.

Suzanne White

Deputy Director

Suzanne White became the deputy director of DIA in October 2018. In this capacity, she assists the director in executing DIA’s mission and managing a workforce of more than 16,500 military and civilian employees worldwide.

Prior to her assignment as deputy director, White served as DIA's chief of staff. In this role, she exercised an exceptionally wide and complex range of responsibilities to ensure the timely satisfaction of the Agency’s current requirements while developing the plans, process improvements and strategies that prepare the Agency to meet future requirements.

Prior to this appointment, White was DIA’s chief financial officer, serving as the principal advisor on Intelligence Community financial and acquisition matters to the DIA director and deputy director, and overseeing DIA’s resource management, program development, manpower, budget execution, contracting and CFO Act compliance activities. In this capacity, she also managed the Intelligence Community’s General Defense Intelligence Program and Foreign Counterintelligence Program.

White served as the senior advisor for, and then director of, the Military Intelligence Program for the undersecretary of defense for intelligence from 2004 to 2009. A key architect of the MIP, she was responsible for executive oversight of the planning, programming, budgeting and execution process for the multi-billion dollar MIP, which funds intelligence activities across the military departments and several defense agencies.

Her earlier positions included manager of strategic planning with General Dynamics Corporation, as well as program examiner with the Office of Management and Budget, where she oversaw the CIA, GDIP and FCIP budgets, as well as the funding for Special Operations Command, the Defense Health Program, NATO, and various other DoD programs.

Ms. White began her career as an internal auditor with Banque Nationale de Paris. She received her bachelor's degree from Johns Hopkins University and her master's degree from Tufts University. She and her husband reside in Washington, D.C., with their three children.

John Kirchhofer

Chief of Staff

John Kirchhofer became the chief of staff for DIA in June 2021. As DIA’s third ranking officer, he exercises an exceptionally wide and complex range of responsibilities to guide and direct strategies, operations, policy, and communications for the enterprise.

Prior to this appointment, Kirchhofer was DIA’s director for Mission Services. In this capacity, he led Agency efforts in providing critical support for the Agency’s intelligence operations, specifically in the areas of logistics, facilities, deployments, security, human resources and medical services. He simultaneously served as the Office Management and Infrastructure Career Field manager within DIA’s talent management system. Before this assignment, Kirchhofer was the director of the Academy for Defense Intelligence, and responsible for the professional development of the DIA workforce.

Kirchhofer began his career as a Department of the Army civilian with assignments at the U.S. Army Intelligence and Security Command, 902d Military Intelligence Group, and Army G-2. He served as a planner, programmer, reports officer, information security specialist and collection manager.

In 2003, he joined the Counterintelligence Field Activity, which merged with DIA in 2008. In April 2010, Kirchhofer was appointed to the Defense Intelligence Senior Level as the chief of enterprise strategies, Office of Counterintelligence and HUMINT Enterprise Management. In that capacity, he oversaw strategic planning, performance, lessons learned and functional management.

Kirchhofer was assigned as deputy of the Information Review Task Force in 2010, which was established by the secretary of defense in response to one of the largest compromises of military intelligence in history. He received a National Intelligence Exceptional Achievement medal for his efforts.

He was appointed to the Defense Intelligence Senior Executive Service in 2012 with duty as deputy chief, DIA Office of Counterintelligence, overseeing analysis, operations and strategies focused on detection and neutralization of foreign intelligence threats.

From 2013 to 2016, Kirchhofer served as the deputy and then chief financial officer for DIA, charged with managing the General Defense Intelligence Program and the DIA Military Intelligence Program, and overseeing all Agency and combatant command J2 acquisition and financial matters. During this period, he led the Agency through the first independent audit of its financial statement.

Kirchhofer earned a bachelor's degree in international relations and European studies from George Mason University, and a master's degree in international affairs from the George Washington University.

Major General Michelle McGuinness

Deputy Director for Commonwealth Integration

Major General Michelle McGuinness serves as the Deputy Director for Commonwealth Integration (DDCI) at the Defense Intelligence Agency. As DDCI, Michelle ensures DIA and the broader U.S. IC is best positioned to cooperate, collaborate, and integrate with key international partners and facilitate critical intelligence relationships. The role is the practical embodiment of the major partner integration lines of effort expressed in the 2022 U.S. National Defense Strategy, the 2021 Defense Intelligence Strategy, and the 2021 Interim National Security Strategy.

Michelle has served in a range of tactical, operational, and strategic assignments in both Command and Staff appointments. Beginning her career in 1994 at the Australian Defence Force Academy (ADFA), Michelle graduated into the Australian Intelligence Corps and spent her formative years at the tactical level leading and managing intelligence operations in human intelligence, interrogation, and exploitation disciplines.

Since 2005, she has served in several key intelligence roles focusing on partner engagement and interoperability, including within the U.S., as a liaison officer for DIO in Washington, DC, and as an integrated intelligence officer within the Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization (JIEDDO). She went on to serve in the Australian Army Headquarters in support of service-level engagement programs for several nations. For her service within the U.S., she has twice been awarded the U.S. Army Meritorious Service Medal.

With experience in junior officer education and training, in 2014, she returned to ADFA as the Chief Instructor and Commanding Officer. In 2016, Michelle served as the Assistant Military Attaché at the Embassy of Australia in Washington, DC. For her service in these appointments, she was awarded the Conspicuous Service Cross.

Michelle’s senior officer appointments include Chief of Staff to the Chief of the Defence Force and Director General, Counterproliferation and Terrorism at the Australian Defence Intelligence Organisation (DIO), where she led interagency intelligence efforts supporting whole-of-government counterproliferation missions.

Michelle’s deployments include Timor-Leste and the Solomon Islands and her service at the JIEDDO in 2006 was in direct support of operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. She holds a Bachelor of Arts (Politics and Bahasa Indonesian) and a Master of Arts (Strategy and Policy) from the University of New South Wales and a Master of International Public Policy with Distinction from Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies. She is a graduate of the Harvard Business School Advanced Management Program and the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Michelle is married with two amazing school-aged children and enjoys travelling as a family, exploring food and the outdoors, and being active in her local community.

Major General Chad Parker

Mobilization Assistant to the Director

Major General Chad J. Parker is the Military and Mobilization Assistant to the Director Defense Intelligence Agency. He is the Director’s principal advisor on all military force issues to include Active and Reserve Component forces, assisting with integrating intelligence activities supporting DIA. He is the focal point and coordinator of military support with national-level organizations, the Services, Unified Commands, and Combat Support Agencies.

He previously served as the principal Intelligence Officer (J2) for National Guard Bureau providing intelligence to the Chief, NGB and the 54 States, Territories, and the District of Columbia. Prior to being at NGB, he was the Mobilization Assistant to the J2, USSTRATCOM from 2016-2019.

MG Parker was commissioned in 1989 through the Reserve Officer Training Corps program at Tarleton State University on Active Duty as a Military Intelligence Officer. In 2001 he joined the Alaska National Guard and later deployed in 2006 to Afghanistan and 2015 to Kosovo. Before his deployment to Kosovo, he was the Commander of 297th Battlefield Surveillance Brigade.

Greg Ryckman, USA

Deputy Director for Global Integration

Mr. Ryckman was appointed as the Deputy Director for Global Integration (DDGI) in April 2021. In this role, he is responsible for directing, coordinating, and prioritizing Agency mission portfolios, to include analysis, collection, operations, and partner integration, ensuring DIA can deliver timely intelligence in support of global strategic competition. He directly leads the DIA Integrated Intelligence Centers and provides mission oversight of the Directorates for Analysis, Operations, and Science & Technology.

Prior to becoming the DDGI, Mr. Ryckman served as the Director for Analysis, which included authorities as the Functional Manager for all-source analysis for the Defense Intelligence Enterprise and the Analysis Career Field Manager, responsible for overseeing the career development of DIA intelligence analysts. He has also served as Vice Director of Intelligence at United States Central Command. In that role, he provided leadership and oversight to the full spectrum of intelligence operations, analysis, operations, collections, and research in support of USCENTCOM. He also served as the Director of Intelligence representative to the national intelligence agencies and other policy-level organizations for intelligence resource requirements and future architectures, coordinating with offices in DoD, the Intelligence Community, the Services, and other Unified Commands, national labs, industry, and academia.

Mr. Ryckman’s previous senior assignments focused on South Asia, to include: Defense Intelligence Officer for South Asia and Senior Defense Intelligence Analyst for Afghanistan. In these roles, he directed collection and analysis, managed production, mentored analysts, and served as primary advisor on Afghanistan and Pakistan related issues. He deployed to Afghanistan as the Senior Intelligence Advisor to two consecutive ISAF Commanders.

He entered the Army in 1988 as an Armor Officer and became a Foreign Area Officer with a South Asia focus in 1995. His military assignments included Armor Platoon Leader during Operation DESERT STORM, as part of First Infantry Division. He is a graduate of the Pakistan Army Command and Staff College.

His formal education includes a Bachelor of Arts degree from Northern State University and a Master of Arts degree in Asian Studies from the University of Texas at Austin. He has a Bachelor of Science (Honors) in War Studies from the University of Baluchistan, Quetta, Pakistan.

Mr. Ryckman’s military and civilian awards include the Bronze Star Medal, Defense Meritorious Service Medal, Meritorious Service Medal, Department of the Air Force Award for Meritorious Civilian Service, Joint Meritorious Civilian Service Award, Knowlton Award, and two DIA Director’s Awards.

CSM Corey Perry, USA

Command Senior Enlisted Advisor

Command Sergeant Major Perry is the 19th Command Senior Enlisted Leader for DIA, in which he is the principal advisor to the Director on all military matters. His responsibilities include providing the Director with the enlisted perspective on strategic vision, goals, objectives, theater security cooperation, and enlisted professional development.

Additionally, he is responsible for mentoring the Senior Enlisted Leaders throughout DIA, as well as coordinating with Combatant Commands, Combat Support Agencies, and military personnel on matters pertaining to the Agency’s mission, vision, core values, Director’s intent, enlisted utilization, and implementation of Agency policy.

Click to View the full Biography of CSM Corey Perry

EXPLORE PAST DIA DIRECTORS

DIA Strategic Approach

DIA fulfills a unique role at the intersection of the Department of Defense and the Intelligence Community. Warfighters, policymakers and acquisition leaders rely on us for foundational intelligence on foreign militaries and the operating environment that only we provide. Today, our role is more vital than ever as the re-emergence of strategic competition challenges U.S. prosperity, security and the democratic world order we have fought to sustain since World War II. Our competitors have studied and learned from the American way of war. They are building asymmetric capabilities that seek to diminish our long-standing military dominance in all warfighting domains — land, maritime, air, space and cyber. The 2018 National Defense Strategy seeks to expand our competitive space with a more lethal and innovative defense enterprise coupled with a robust network of allies and partners — challenging DIA to change at a remarkable pace.

VIEW THE DIA STRATEGY

Organization

Headquarters
Staff Elements
Directorates
Intelligence Centers

Headquarters

• Director: Lt. Gen. Scott Berrier, USA
• Deputy Director: Suzanne White
• J2 Directorate for Intelligence
• Joint Functional Component Command - Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance

Staff Elements

• Chief of Staff
• Chief Financial Officer
• General Counsel
• Inspector General
• Command Senior Enlisted Leader
• Equal Opportunity & Diversity Office
• Executive Secretariat
• Strategic Planning, Policy, & Performance Management Office
• Office of Corporate Communications

Directorates

• Directorate for Analysis
• Directorate for Operations
• Directorate for Science & Technology
• Directorate for Mission Services

Intelligence Centers

• Americas and Transregional Threats Center
• Asia Pacific Regional Center
• Europe/Eurasia Regional Center
• Middle East/Africa Regional Center

DIA THROUGH THE YEARS

1960s: Early Years

DIA’s activation plan was drafted by the Agency’s director designate, Lt. Gen. Joseph Carroll.
DIA occupied “A” and “B” Buildings at Arlington Hall Station from the early 1960s until the Agency moved to Bolling Air Force Base in 1984.
DIA validated and approved many U-2 missions from the 1960s through the 1990s. During the Cuban Missile Crisis, photo interpreters discovered Soviet medium-range ballistic missiles in Cuba after U-2s flew over the island. The missiles were capable of hitting a significant portion of the United States.
DIA’s Defense Intelligence School was chartered in 1962.
In 1963, DIA established the Production Center at Arlington Hall Station. Under the leadership of Brig. Gen. Herron Maples, the Production Center allowed DIA to consolidate and integrate several production elements from the military services.
On Feb. 6, 1963, DIA’s John Hughes, special assistant to Carroll, conducted a televised briefing on the removal of the Soviet missiles from Cuba.
During the Vietnam War, DIA supported strategic bombing missions by providing target lists to the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who then selected targets for individual missions.

1970s: Years of Transition

In November 1970, U.S. forces conducted a raid on the Son Tay prison camp in Vietnam to rescue American POWs. DIA provided intelligence support to this operation.
On May 26, 1972, President Richard Nixon and Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev signed the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty and an interim agreement on the limitation of offensive arms in Moscow. The agreements created new intelligence requirements, resulting in increased production pressures for DIA’s analysts.
DIA was involved in Operation BABYLIFT — an effort to evacuate Vietnamese orphans from Saigon via aircraft. Tragically, five DIA employees were killed during the operation when the first flight crashed on takeoff on April 4, 1975.
Shortly after the fall of Saigon in 1975, the Khmer Rouge of Cambodia seized the U.S. container vessel SS Mayaguez. The ship and its crew were taken to an island off the coast of Cambodia. DIA coordinated intelligence efforts to locate the ship, and President Gerald Ford ordered a contingent of U.S. Marines to retrieve the vessel.
The Cobra Dane radar on Shemya Island became operational in 1977, and played a key role in evaluating Soviet ballistic missile capabilities throughout the 1970s and 1980s.

1980s: DIA Comes of Age

In 1981, DIA issued the first in a series of unclassified publications on the strengths and capabilities of Soviet military forces. “Soviet Military Power” was a lavish production that included dozens of color photographs and paintings depicting Soviet hardware. It was republished in 1983, and subsequently updated every year until 1991.
In April 1983, terrorists bombed the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, killing 63 people, including 17 Americans. Later that year, terrorists bombed the U.S. Marine Corps barracks in Beirut, killing 241 American troops. As terrorist attacks increased in frequency in the mid-1980s, DIA established its first all-source fusion cell for terrorism analysis.
In October 1983, President Ronald Reagan ordered U.S. troops to Grenada for Operation URGENT FURY. DIA provided the bulk of the intelligence work in support of the operation. This marked the first time since the 1970 raid of the Son Tay prison camp that DIA supplied operational and tactical intelligence to combat forces.
The new Defense Intelligence Analysis Center opened in 1984. The new building allowed the Agency to benefit from the consolidation and centralization of personnel and missions formerly scattered in a number of locations across the National Capital Region.
In 1986, DIA supported Operation EL DORADO CANYON, which saw the U.S. military launch a series of air strikes against Libya in response to Libyan-sponsored terrorist attacks in Berlin. DIA aided planning for the operation by providing target lists and identifying Libyan air defenses.
In October 1986, DIA received its first Joint Meritorious Unit Award for providing “unparalleled intelligence support encompassing the broadest range of intelligence analysis, technical services, photographic processing and reconnaissance imagery to meet the real time requirements of national decision makers.” DIA’s support to counterterrorism operations was singled out for special acknowledgement.
The Goldwater-Nichols Defense Reorganization Act of 1986 designated DIA as a “combat support agency,” a major milestone in the Agency’s history that resulted in an expansion of DIA’s missions.
In November 1989, following several weeks of unrest, the East German government announced that it would permit visits to West Germany and West Berlin. Exuberant crowds of East and West Germans began to dismantle the Berlin Wall. The fall of the Berlin Wall was soon followed by the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War — ushering in a new and challenging era for DIA.

1990s: New Missions, New Adversaries

In the early stages of Operation DESERT STORM, DIA provided U.S. Central Command with much of the operational intelligence that allowed coalition air power to destroy Iraqi air bases, radar and air defense sites. In 1991, DIA received a Joint Meritorious Unit Award in recognition of its support to Operations DESERT SHIELD and DESERT STORM.
In July 1991, President George H.W. Bush and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev signed the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty in Moscow. At the time, DIA analysts had predicted Gorbachev’s imminent fall from power. Within months, the Soviet Union ceased to exist.
In 1992, the Missile and Space Intelligence Center, located in Huntsville, Alabama, became a field production element of DIA. MSIC personnel provide intelligence on short-range missile technologies found in surface-to-air missiles, anti-tank guided missiles, and short-range ballistic missiles.
The Armed Forces Medical Intelligence Center, today known as the National Center for Medical Intelligence, became a field production element of DIA in 1992. NCMI’s mission includes monitoring foreign environmental health and infectious disease risks, foreign biotechnology development, and other issues that could potentially impact U.S. military operations and the health of U.S. troops.
From 1992 to 1993, DIA supported Operation RESTORE HOPE — the U.S. effort to capture Somali warlords who were preventing Somalis from receiving international assistance.
DIA deployed a National Intelligence Support Team to Bosnia from 1995 to 1996 to assist U.S. and NATO efforts to stop the genocidal war raging there. The NIST brought sophisticated and secure communications equipment to the combatant commands to support rapid turnaround intelligence requirements from the field.
In 1996, terrorists bombed the Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia, killing 19 U.S. troops. Following this attack, DIA created the Office for Counterterrorism Analysis.

2000s: Years of Transition

On September 11, 2001, a group of foreign terrorists flew two commercial airliners into the World Trade Center in New York City, and a third into the Pentagon. A fourth hijacked aircraft crashed in a field in western Pennsylvania. The attacks claimed approximately 3,000 lives, including seven DIA employees.
In response to the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the U.S. launched Operation ENDURING FREEDOM on October 7, 2001, to destroy terrorist camps and topple the Taliban regime in Afghanistan. Hundreds of DIA personnel eventually deployed to Afghanistan to provide analytic support, assist with document exploitation, support prisoner interrogations and provide direct support to military operations.
The U.S. launched Operation IRAQI FREEDOM in March 2003, in response to the perceived threat posed by Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein’s pursuit of weapons of mass destruction. Many deployed DIA analysts worked at the Perfume Palace in support of the effort.
Starting in the months after Operation IRAQI FREEDOM, DIA supported and participated in the efforts of the Iraq Survey Group, a 1,400-member international team formed to locate evidence of weapons of mass destruction developed under Hussein.
The Defense Intelligence Analysis Center expansion was completed in summer 2005. The first group to occupy the new facility included 66 employees from the Directorate for MASINT and Technical Collection.
In 2010, the new Joint Use Intelligence Analysis Facility opened in Rivanna Station in Charlottesville, Virginia.
In 2011, the Russell-Knox Building opened at Quantico Marine Corps Base. This building houses elements of five military investigative agencies, including DIA’s Counterintelligence and HUMINT center.

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