Historical Dictionary of United States Intelligence

DEFENSE ATTACHE ́S.As military officers posted to U.S. embassies

abroad, defense attachés have the responsibility of collecting and re-

porting intelligence on foreign military developments. Defense at-

tachés are generally known as “open spies” and are an integral part

of the Defense HUMINT Service(DH), which consolidates military

espionageactivities. Defense attachés also represent the Depart-

ment of Defense(DOD) and the military services abroad, administer

military assistance programs and foreign military sales, and advise

U.S. ambassadors on military and political-military issues.

DEFENSE HUMINT SERVICE (DH). Established on 2 November

1993 within the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), the Defense

HUMINT Service consolidates the human intelligence (HUMINT)

activities of the military services under one umbrella organization.As

such, it engages in espionageand other clandestine activities in sup-

port of military missions. The Defense HUMINTService is now re-

ferred to by the designation DH, to differentiate it from the Depart-

ment of Homeland Security (DHS), which was established in 2002.

The DH is funded out of a consolidated HUMINTbudget within the

General Defense Intelligence Program (GDIP), which is part of the

National Foreign Intelligence Program (NFIP) under the nominal

control of the director of national intelligence(DNI). The DH is now

under the joint purview of the deputy secretary of defense and assis-

tant secretary of defense for command, control, communications,

computers, and intelligence. The George W. BushWhite House be-

gan considering a plan in late 2004 to give the DH greater espionage

responsibilities, possibly at the expense of the Central Intelligence

Agency(CIA).

DEFENSE INTELLIGENCE AGENCY (DIA). Established in 1961 by

Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara, DIAis an all-source intelli-

gence agency supporting the Joint Chiefs of Staff(JCS). As a member

of the intelligence community (IC), its mission is to provide strategic

military intelligence affecting national defense. Its defense intelligence

officers (DIOs) act in a similar capacity within the Department of De-

fense(DOD) as the national intelligence officers (NIOs) do within the

National Intelligence Council (NIC). DIOs formulate, design, prepare,

draft, and coordinate defense estimative products. They also represent

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