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THE
Lieutenant General Vincent R. Stewart
DEFENSE INTELLIGENCE AGENCY MUSEUM

Initiated in 2016 under the leadership of Lieutenant General Vincent Stewart, and in close collaboration with Smithsonian Exhibits and Emmy Award-winning Interface Media Group, the museum was completed in 2020. Exceeding 10,000 square feet, the museum’s 44 exhibits, dozens of artifacts, eight interactive displays, six missiles, mannequins and many videos convey six decades of DIA history, including its 87 chartered missions, and honor its workforce. With compelling storytelling, visitors will learn of DIA’s global presence and how it shapes world history. Additionally, the museum’s Heritage Gallery takes visitors back to the founding of American military intelligence with George Washington, speaks to the successes of DIA’s predecessors — the Bureau of Military Information and the Office of Strategic Services — and shows how DIA formed from the bomber and missile gap controversies of the 1950s. With a better understanding of why DIA exists and the range of missions it fulfills, visitors will appreciate the agency’s vital role in supporting national security.

“In Remembrance of DIA's 20th Director, Lieutenant General Vincent R. Stewart.”

The museum is designed around several themes, each addressing key areas in the Department of Defense and the intelligence community where the agency plays an important role. These include: Exposing the Truth, Supporting Operations, Bringing Them Home, Enabling Diplomacy and Staying Ahead Through Technology and Innovation. The museum also has three galleries: the Patriots Gallery, honoring DIA’s patriots who died in the line of duty; the Heritage Gallery, which addresses DIA’s origins; and the Lower Lobby Gallery, featuring the Torch Bearers Hall of Fame and other exhibits. Finally, the museum has the Heritage Theater, where guests can watch an array of videos about DIA.

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Image of two wax men in a lab setting.
Image of Torchbearers Plague with standing flags.
Image of an old artifact.

Lower Lobby
Gallery

The Lower Lobby showcases seminal historic events and people who have made outsized contributions to DIA and the Nation. This area hosts two permanent and two rotating exhibits.

Image of a display showing a golden assault rifle.
Image of a memorial setting.
Image of a museum/memorial layout with flags hanging above.
Image of a museum section that focuses on the Revolutionary War.

Heritage
Gallery

Long before the establishment of DIA, the nation relied on defense intelligence for its creation, in defense of its sovereignty and to protect its citizens. DIA continues this long legacy of support. The gallery takes visitors through 250 years of defense intelligence and relates key moments in agency history.

Image of a missile inside of a building from a high viewpoint.
“They run the risks; they bear the tensions; they serve in silence. They cannot fully be thanked in public, but I want them to know that their job is vital and that the American people, and their president, are profoundly grateful for what they do.”
- Ronald Reagan, December 1981