The Defense Attaché System is an arm of the

Defense Intelligence Agency The Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) is an intelligence agency and combat support agency of the United States Department of Defense (DoD) specializing in military intelligence. A component of the Department of Defense and the United States In ...

tasked with representing the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

in defense and military related matters with foreign governments around the world. Defense Attache Offices (DAO) operate from U.S. embassies in more than a hundred locations globally. DAOs are composed of both civilian and military employees, most of whom receive specialized training at Joint Military Attache School before their appointment.Joint Military Attaché School (JMAS)
/ref>

History

In 1949 the

Department of Defense The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD, or DOD) is an executive department of the U.S. federal government charged with coordinating and supervising the six U.S. armed services: the Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, Space Force, ...

(DoD) established the need for each branch of the military to establish its own attache system in coordination with the

State Department The United States Department of State (DOS), or simply the State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs o ...

. From July 1951 to March 1952 the Secretary of Defense, at

Joint Chiefs of Staff The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) is the body of the most senior uniformed leaders within the United States Department of Defense, which advises the president of the United States, the secretary of defense, the Homeland Security Council and ...

(JCS) urging, established a limited Executive Agent System in support of attache operations. The DoD's Office of Special Operations (OSO) negotiated with the

Department of State The United States Department of State (DOS), or simply the State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs ...

for opening the attache systems. Upon the activation of the

(DIA), and the subsequent disestablishment of OSO, DIA assumed responsibility. In 1961, the Secretary of Defense deferred the placement of all attaches under DIA management, and the Services continued to manage, operate, and support their individual attache systems. Several problems existed with the control of attaches under the different branches of the military. Each reported separately to the ambassador and represented the U.S. separately to the host country military, causing duplication of effort. Moreover, the distribution of information was poor. Artificial barriers to a free exchange of information between the branches and the JCS existed, and the coordination of attache activities with other DoD elements was difficult. The cost to DoD in sponsoring up to three separate elements in a single country amounted to the inefficient use of limited resources. Furthermore, the collection and dissemination of duplicate intelligence produced uncertainties. So, on 12 December 1964, the Defense Attaché System (DAS) was established in response to these problems. On 1 July 1965, the Defense Attaché System officially came under the director of DIA. The objectives of the DAS under DIA are twofold: to provide a more efficient system for the collection of intelligence information for DoD components and to preserve a channel for service-to-service and DoD representational matters of common interest.

Chronology

* 1889: Permanent military attachés sent to embassies in London,

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

, and

St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea. The city had a population of 5,601, ...

. (By 1896, military attachés were serving also in

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

, and

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

.) * 1918: 24 military attachés accredited to 28 capitals and 15 naval attachés to 18 capitals. * 1936: 464 military and naval attachés abroad. * 1945: Military attachés in 45 capitals * 1948: 258

Army An army, ground force or land force is an armed force that fights primarily on land. In the broadest sense, it is the land-based military branch, service branch or armed service of a nation or country. It may also include aviation assets by ...

and

Air Force An air force in the broadest sense is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an army aviati ...

officers on attaché duty in 59 countries and 120 naval officers in 43 countries. * 1949: 2,049 personnel on attaché duty; a Senior Attaché was designated for each capital. * 1950: Attachés were cut by 35%, and 36 posts were eliminated; totals were 1,458. * 1951: Executive agency system replaced the Senior Attaché system. * 1952: Executive agency system abandoned, and Services reassumed logistical and administrative support for own attachés. * 1956: 166 attaché posts in 71 countries: 68 Army, 45 Navy, 53 Air Force; total personnel. * 1956: Sixty foreign countries had 121 attachés in Washington: 57 Army, 32 Navy, 32 Air Force. * 1960: The Defense Department had 2,090 attaché personnel in 74 capitals. * 1963: Attaché personnel reached a high of 2,345. * 1964: U.S. attaché personnel reduced to 1,936. * 1965: Defense Attaché System established. * 1986:

Coast Guard A coast guard or coastguard is a Maritime Security Regimes, maritime security organization of a particular country. The term embraces wide range of responsibilities in different countries, from being a heavily armed military force with cust ...

officers begin to serve as defense attachés.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Defense Attache System * 1961 establishments in the United States Defense Intelligence Agency Attache System

History

Chronology

See also

References