Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA)

This agency can't get out of its own way most of the time. Promotion system requires people to lead major changes but not that those changes be a good idea, so every year 15s and higher make ill conceived major changes that affect hundreds or thousands of people so one person can put it on their promotion packet. Junior officers are treated as highly disposable. High attrition and mass hiring events create rotating door for officers under 13. Vast majority of "factory floor" jobs done by largely untrained new hires doing the best they can under terrible pressure and stress with no training and supervisors who are often clueless because they had the right grade for a job but also never really learned how to do it. Culture is terrible and runs directly counter to what the agency claims and aspires to. Life size dummy of Saddam Hussein getting apprehended in the lobby; cleaning staff got in trouble for playing with its troll doll hair. General absurdity of everything takes a toll on mental health. Plus side: every now and then what you do will really make a difference in national security. But most of the time you're holding down a billet with your knee.

What is the best part of working at the company?
Supporting defense war fighters in the war on terror.   

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Being away from my family as a geo-bachelor 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Lack of high level empowerment being held accountable for advancing officer development.   I would advise employee to act first and ask forgiveness afterward to take charge of your career.  I was a pioneer in acting with authority without permission 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Busy.  I was a first leading several inaugural projects that advanced development and saved millions of taxpayer dollars over a period of 5-10 years.  A lot depends on the leadership maturity of your supervisor .. Some are encouraging and empowering.  Some are bureaucratic micro-managers.

What is the best part of working at the company?
Paid Government holidays and paid maternity leave. Sick and vacation time off are separated 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
If you work in finance the end of fiscal year is horrible. Especially if you have children everyone and everthing comes after the job which is unreasonable. 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
The work environment can be ok depending on management but there are little to no telework options if that is what you're looking for. You have to write wellto get your promotion so no matter how much work you donif you do njot write your path wrll you will not getbtou next grade promotion

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
8 hr day some light days some busy

An impressive organization with an important mission, but your experience will totally depend on which part of the organization you are assigned to. Like most government agencies, it is bloated and inefficient, with too many senior folks that know nothing about leadership. There are certainly pockets of toxicity that will make you miserable, so do your research and talk to the right people about the culture before you accept a position. I saw some of the worst, most dishonest people I've encountered in my 30+ years of government service at DIA, but also some of the best and most committed. Unfortunately, both types can succeed at DIA, and the promotion system does not seem to discriminate. 

Continuously met with or worked with professionals across the intelligence community.

Opportunity to brief senior government and military issues on current programs.

Enjoyed management above me and had the opportunity to manage subordinates.

Opportunity for travel both inside and outside the United States.

Hardest part of my job was working within the constraints of often times limited resources, both personnel and budgetary.

Workplace culture was one of high professionalism and mutual respect.  Very comfortable atmosphere.

Typical day at work goes by pretty fast, when there are tasks to accomplish the tempo is definitely high. I learned to work with a large demographic of people. Management was interesting and that was also a learning experience for me, it's not always easy to work with everyone and navigating your career in that situation is interesting. Co-workers were generally nice and easy to get along with. Hardest part of the job was commuting down to DC everyday in traffic.

Defense Intelligence Agency employees are referred to as "Officers" because they all gain professional training, professional responsibilities, and have many formal opportunities for increased technical and professional growth and leadership.  DIA has a unique mission and supports National Security.  Although the organization can sometimes be bureaucratic and process-oriented, it has lots of opportunities for personal interaction and encourages personal development.

Great people; historicly weak leadership and a mess of an organization, but if you're a self-starters who can build networks and navigate a bureaucracy, you can thrive...just takes as good deal of traveling and deploying to be Top 10% performer each year/rating cycle.

What is the best part of working at the company?
Lots of time off for fitness, sick leave, etc

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Absolutely horrible HR, and a promotion system that is designed to NOT promote people. 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Creativity is NOT rewarded and is often discouraged. Poor leadership is allowed to continue because nobody wants to deal with people who don’t have any leadership skills.

I was hired for a job; DIA got it's money's worth....for 7.5 years; at which point, the "You're an officer and we can bounce around wherever we like" became the mantra.  Since that time (about 6.5 years ago) I have been involuntarily reassigned to a succession of jobs for which I was/am not qualified or interested.  makes me question leadership/management's commitment to their stated mission of protecting the country.

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