Agency overview | |
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Formed | June 1956 | (as Technical Intelligence Division, renamed Missile Intelligence Office in 1962, renamed Missile Intelligence Agency in 1970, became Missile and Space Intelligence Center in 1985)
Type | Component of departmental agency (since 1992) |
Jurisdiction | Federal agency operating in US, but analyzing foreign military intelligence |
Headquarters | Richard C. Shelby Center for Missile Intelligence (Shelby Center), Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, U.S. 34°41′3″N86°39′15″W / 34.68417°N 86.65417°W |
Employees | Approx. 650 (2009) |
Annual budget | Classified |
Agency executive |
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Parent department | United States Department of Defense |
Parent agency | Defense Intelligence Agency (since 1992) |
Website |
The Missile and Space Intelligence Center (MSIC) is a component of the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency. MSIC is located at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama.
MSIC began as a part of Wernher von Braun's missile team, a component of the Army Ballistic Missile Agency in 1956. The missile agency's first iteration, known as the Technical Intelligence Division, consisted of only six people. [1] Renamed in 1962, the TID, now the Missile Intelligence Office (MIO) analyzed developments in the Soviet Union and played a key role in the Cuban Missile Crisis. [2] The Missile Intelligence Office was renamed the Missile Intelligence Agency in 1970; in 1985, it was reassigned to the Army Intelligence Agency and renamed to the Missile and Space Intelligence Center (MSIC). [2] MSIC's final organizational move came on January 1, 1992 when it became part of the Defense Intelligence Agency. [3]
In 2009, the Center employed 650 civilian and military personnel. [4] In 2014, it employed roughly the same amount at its headquarters in Redstone Arsenal. [5] Between 2014 and the present (2021), the Center employed approximately 350 civilians, 60 military personnel, and, indirectly, hundreds of defense contractors. [6]
MSIC's overall mission is to support field commanders, weapon system developers, and policy makers with scientific and technical all-source intelligence on surface-to-air missiles (SAM), short-range ballistic missiles (SRBM) with ranges less than 1,000 kilometers, anti-tank guided missiles (ATGM), missile defense systems, directed-energy weapons (DEW), selected space programs and systems, and relevant command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (C4ISR). It also provides analyses of those materials to the Department of Defense and other U.S. government organizations such as the FBI. [7] [6]
In 2011, a years-long MSIC dispute with the Air Force's NASIC over which agency held authority over ballistic missile intelligence analysis was settled in favor of MSIC, which became lead integrator of the Defense Intelligence Ballistic Missile Analysis Committee (DIBMAC). [8]
MSIC is a component of the is part of the Defense Intelligence Agency's Directorate for Analysis; [9] the DIA itself is a part of the Department of Defense and Intelligence Community. [10] The Center is led by a Director, currently Kimberly "Kim" King, [11] who replaced Mark Clark after his 2019 retirement. [6]
MSIC's Foreign Military Exploitation team is responsible for dismantling, researching, and testing foreign missile systems. [5]
MSIC also possesses laboratories dedicated to materials, microelectronics, missile guidance and control systems, radio frequency hardware, and electro-optical and infrared hardware; there is also a Signal Analysis Lab. [12] [13] It also possesses an anechoic chamber and oversees the Joint Research Analysis and Assessment Center (JRAAC), [12] a state-of-the-art simulation integration facility supporting multi-fidelity scientific and technical analysis of integrated weapons systems in complex environments to determine their capabilities, vulnerabilities, and limitations. JRAAC integrates over 80 weapons systems models, including radars, missiles, command and control (C2) systems, and C4ISR (Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance). [14]
MSIC employs engineering analysts, support professionals, and support assistants at the 38,000 acre Richard. C Shelby Center for Missile Intelligence [15] in Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama. The building includes various laboratories, high-performance computing operations, and test areas making up a vast engineering complex [16] capable of hosting physical and simulated missile tests. [15]
The Ballistic Missile Defense Organization (BMDO) was an agency of the United States Department of Defense that began on 20 May 1974 with the responsibility for all U.S. ballistic missile defense efforts. It was renamed the Missile Defense Agency in 2002.
The Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) is an intelligence agency and combat support agency of the United States Department of Defense, specializing in defense and military intelligence.
Redstone Arsenal (RSA) is a United States Army post and a census-designated place (CDP) adjacent to Huntsville in Madison County, Alabama, United States and is part of the Huntsville-Decatur Combined Statistical Area. The Arsenal is a garrison for various tenants across the Department of Defense, Department of Justice, and NASA. RSA has benefited from decisions by the Defense Base Realignment and Closure Commission. The Redstone Arsenal CDP had a residential population of 837 as of the 2020 census. The base contains a government and contractor workforce that averages 36,000 to 40,000 personnel daily.
The MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) is a tactical ballistic missile manufactured by the US defense company Lockheed Martin. It has a range of up to 190 miles (300 km), with solid propellant, and is 13 feet (4.0 m) high and 24 inches (610 mm) in diameter. The ATACMS can be fired from the tracked M270 Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS), and the wheeled M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS).
The Army Ballistic Missile Agency (ABMA) was formed to develop the U.S. Army's first large ballistic missile. The agency was established at Redstone Arsenal on 1 February 1956, and commanded by Major General John B. Medaris with Wernher von Braun as technical director.
The PGM-11 Redstone was the first large American ballistic missile. A short-range ballistic missile (SRBM), it was in active service with the United States Army in West Germany from June 1958 to June 1964 as part of NATO's Cold War defense of Western Europe. It was the first US missile to carry a live nuclear warhead, in the 1958 Pacific Ocean weapons test, Hardtack Teak.
The United States Space Command is a unified combatant command of the United States Department of Defense, responsible for military operations in outer space, specifically all operations 100 kilometers and greater above mean sea level. U.S. Space Command is responsible for the operational employment of space forces that are provided by the uniformed services of the Department of Defense.
The United States Army Space and Missile Defense Command (USASMDC) is an Army Service Component Command (ASCC) of the United States Army. The command was established in 1997. The current USASMDC commander is Lieutenant General Daniel L. Karbler with Senior Enlisted Advisor Command Sergeant Major John W. Foley.
The United States Army Aviation and Missile Command (AMCOM) develops, acquires, fields and sustains aviation, missile and unmanned aerial vehicles. AMCOM is primarily responsible for lifecycle management of army missile, helicopter, unmanned ground vehicle and unmanned aerial vehicle weapon system. The central part of AMCOM's mission involves ensuring readiness through acquisition and sustainment support for aviation systems, missile systems, and test, measurement, and diagnostic equipment (TMDE) throughout their life cycle. The command is headquartered at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama, has a 2019 "budget of more $3.7 billion, and a global workforce of more than 15,000 military and civilian employees".
The United States Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM) is one of the eleven unified combatant commands in the United States Department of Defense. Headquartered at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska, USSTRATCOM is responsible for strategic nuclear deterrence, global strike, and operating the Defense Department's Global Information Grid. It also provides a host of capabilities to support the other combatant commands, including integrated missile defense; and global command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (C4ISR). This command exists to give "national leadership a unified resource for greater understanding of specific threats around the world and the means to respond to those threats rapidly".
The U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Aviation & Missile Center (AvMC), formerly known as the U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Research, Development and Engineering Center (AMRDEC), a part of the U.S. Army Research, Development, and Engineering Command (RDECOM) — now DEVCOM, is primarily a civilian organization tasked to provide research, development and engineering technology and services to support U.S. Army aviation and missile platforms. AvMC conducts research, promotes development, engineering and simulation laboratories and facilities used to develop and improve aviation and missile components, subsystems and systems.
The Defense Intelligence Agency Headquarters is the main operating center of the Defense Intelligence Agency. It is located on the premises of Joint Base Anacostia–Bolling in Washington, D.C.
The Redstone Test Stand or Interim Test Stand was used to develop and test fire the Redstone missile, Jupiter-C sounding rocket, Juno I launch vehicle and Mercury-Redstone launch vehicle. It was declared an Alabama Historic Civil Engineering Landmark in 1979 and a National Historic Landmark in 1985. It is located at NASA's George C. Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) in Huntsville, Alabama on the Redstone Arsenal, designated Building 4665. The Redstone missile was the first missile to detonate a nuclear weapon. Jupiter-C launched to test components for the Jupiter missile. Juno I put the first American satellite Explorer 1 into orbit. Mercury Redstone carried the first American astronaut Alan Shepard into space. The Redstone earned the name "Old Reliable" because of this facility and the improvements it made possible.
Patrick M. Hughes is a retired United States Army officer who served as the 12th Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA). Previously, he was Director of Intelligence for the US Joint Chiefs of Staff from 1994 to 1996 and the Director of Intelligence at United States Central Command from 1992 to 1994. He was the Commanding General, United States Army Intelligence Agency, and the Assistant Deputy Chief of Staff for Intelligence, U.S. Army from 1990 until 1992. He joined the United States Department of Homeland Security in 2003 as the Assistant Secretary for Information Analysis (Intelligence), and departed from DHS and Government service in March 2005.
Carl Ernest Duckett was the founder of the Central Intelligence Agency's science and technology operations.
Malcolm Ross O'Neill was the United States Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics, and Technology, having been sworn into office by United States Under Secretary of the Army Joseph W. Westphal on March 10, 2010, and resigned June 3, 2011.
William Ames "Bill" Davis Jr. was an engineer and distinguished leader in Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) for the United States Army at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama. Davis was an inaugural member of the United States Senior Executive Service (SES) and recipient of numerous accolades and awards from the army, including the Meritorious Civilian Service Award (1980) and the Department of the Army Decoration for Exceptional Civilian Service (1982).
Rutledge Parker "Hap" Hazzard was director of Science and Technology division of Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) from 1973 to 1978. He became director of the National Photographic Interpretation Center (NPIC) in 1978. After serving six years as director of NPIC from June 1978 to February 1984, Hazzard returned to the CIA's National Intelligence Office. He retired from public service in 1985.
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Juanita M. Christensen is an American government official and electronics engineer. She is the deputy chief of staff for logistics (G4) of facilities and environmental at the United States Army Materiel Command. From November 2017 until January 2021, Christensen was director of the United States Army Aviation and Missile Center. In February 2015, she became the first African-American woman from Redstone Arsenal to join the Senior Executive Service.