Question about the DIA
 

Am I correct that the DIA are drawn primarily from US Military Intelligence with some former CIA operatives who’ve decided that they support MILGOV rather than CIVGOV added in?

If that’s correct does that mean that all DIA operatives will have military ranks?

Thanks for any help.

That's my take on it. Just as you've described. With other intel-type military personnel thrown in, such as the ISA (as in the real-life Intelligence Support Activity aka "The Activity", not that stupid joint CIA-DIA organisation in the RDF Sourcebook).

In my last campaign all the DIA agents the PCs encountered had military ranks. I don't know if I ever decided for my campaign if ALL T2K DIA agents have military ranks but I guess they do.

The DIA is a mix of Active Duty Counter Intelligence Agents an DOD Civilian Intelligence Agents.

Their scope is not as broad as the CIA, being as you can tell more interested in defense matter.

They will work hard to study enemy forces equipment for abilities and short comings.

They will study and publish materials on enemy force structure, CoC, and War time levels.

They will interview detainees about equipment, tactics, were they trained, how they got there, Leaders personalities. A really broad spectrum of questions but, all military mainly.

They are there to keep the Generals informed of how the enemy is trained, how he fights, what he is equipped with, how it was brought to him, who leads them, how capable is that leader, etc.

The DIA is kind of like the Army's CID or Navy's NCIS in this respect -- they don't normally wear uniforms, have relaxed grooming standards (except when wearing a uniform), and when they do wear a uniform, they don't wear rank insignia, just brass (or sew-on insignia) that simply says "US;" DIA personnel also wear random branch insignia on their Class A uniforms. It's not that they don't actually have ranks or branches; they do (along with the associated pay grade). The DIA is also free to recruit non-military personnel, who will also sometimes wear a military uniform in the same manner; they are usually essential specialists in a certain field and have GS ratings instead of rank. Essentially, the personnel in the DIA know who's in charge, either by sight or credentials.

Come the US governmental split, both CIA and DIA have to adapt to fill in the gaps the other agency previously covered. By 2000, both organisations in a broad sense will be doing basically the same thing. Operatives will come from wherever they can dredge them up from (just like most military units in Europe).

+1. Circa 2000 both organizations are going to be making it up as they go along to cope with changed missions, personnel losses, and loss of resources and capabilities.

As military or not, circa 2000, I can see DIA assigning some sort of military rank to all field agents, with analysts and admin and such being a jumble of .mil and civilian personnel. Exception might be foreign nationals serving as agents -- don't know if they'd have US military rank awarded to them or not.

Military rank would at least reduce the risk of being shot as a spy (in theory anyway). Common practice in WW2 on the allied side at least was to commission agents (in most cases, sometimes NCO rank was awarded) before sending on missions.