Mission DIA: The Defense Intelligence Agency Museum
The history gallery explores how military intelligence changed the course of wars. The examples include the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, and D-Day.
Left: The Bureau of Military Intelligence was one of the historical precursors to the DIA. Here, historical objects, large-scale graphics, narrative text, and biographies of spies tell the story of Civil War spying.
Right: Objects salvaged from the USS Monitor connect visitors with the narrative of the spy story about the ship.
The Revolutionary War section focuses on George Washington’s role as spymaster. A large graphic with text to the left side helps urge visitors into a “gallery within a gallery.”
The “George Washington Letters” are a highlight of the gallery. These letters between George Washington and those in his intelligence network are on loan from the Library of Congress. Letters will rotate periodically to meet conservation requirements.
A timeline outlining major events in the agency’s history is divided into Operational History and Institutional History. This shows both the changes to the agency and the historical events it was a part of.
The 9/11 attacks are explored by looking closely at the day before and after as well.
After the historical examples of U.S. military intelligence the gallery transitions into the story of the creation of the DIA.
An innovative video presentation uses graphics and narrative treatments rooted in animation to explore historical examples of spycraft.
At the end of the timeline, there is a changing display highlighting DIA Today. DIA will update this section regularly.
The timeline is punctuated with objects that relate to DIA history.