Rahul Sharma (Editor)

DIA in popular culture

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DIA in popular culture

The Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) is a military espionage organization of the United States and one of the country's national-level intelligence agencies under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD). Less known than its non-DoD equivalent or its cryptologic counterpart, the DIA and its personnel have at times been portrayed in works of American popular culture. As with other U.S. foreign intelligence organizations, the agency's role has occasionally been confused with those of law enforcement agencies.

Contents

Television

  • Madam Secretary (TV series)
  • Season 2: Jill Hennessy plays the recurring role of Jane Fellows, a DIA handler carrying out recruitment of Russian students.
  • Covert Affairs
  • Embassy Row – Annie Walker runs into Ryan McQuaid at the Russian Embassy Ball, where he is secretly trying to buy Russian helicopters for DIA, which the agency intends to use in areas where American-made helicopters would attract too much attention.
  • NCIS
  • "Admiral's Daughter" – Daughter of Admiral Kendall, Amanda, works for DIA's Defense Clandestine Service (DCS) under a cover identity of a "party girl", which unsettles her unsuspecting father.
  • "Better Angels" – the episode revolves around an investigation into the death of Michael Dawson, an employee of Defense Clandestine Service (DCS), and whether DCS had anything to do with the incident.
  • "Tell-All" – commander Patrick Casey is discovered dead, along with his DIA ID and a codeword written in his own blood. The NCIS investigation is hampered by DIA's secrecy and attempts to conceal national security information.
  • "Need To Know" – a DIA operative George Roca comes in conflict with investigators from NCIS, who are not let on a sensitive DIA operation.
  • "Ex-File" – a DIA employee working on highly classified project finds her husband killed; the DIA sends a team to accompany the NCIS investigators due to the possibility that they may come in contact with classified information.
  • NCIS Los Angeles – Hetty Lange, operations manager at NCIS Los Angeles, formerly served with DIA and earned an Award of Merit at the agency
  • Burn Notice
  • Season 5 – involves a rogue DIA psychiatrist Anson Fullerton (Jere Burns), who turns out to be a murderer and a spy bent on blackmailing Michael Westen into doing his dirty work. Fullerton is responsible for burning Westen and is the founder of the Organization which serves as the main villainous group in the series.
  • Burn Notice – during one of the operations, Michael Westen burns and later befriends a counterintelligence officer Jesse Porter, who used to work for the Counterintelligence Field Activity, an entity incorporated into DIA at the time. Porter works with Westen throughout the series.
  • Intelligence
  • "Patient Zero" – Defense Intelligence Agency Director Gen. Greg Carter inadvertently causes a deadly virus outbreak as a result of DIA's illegal bioweapons research.
  • "The Event Horizon" – Alexander Hatcher is a former DIA field operative who, during his service with the agency in 1980s, began research on a secret Iranian sleeper agent project titled "The Flood". He is murdered, placing "The Flood" under spotlight.
  • Lost – Kelvin Inman, a member of the Dharma Initiative, is a former DIA officer
  • 24 (season 8) – Jason Pillar, a former DIA deputy director, serves as Charles Logan's executive assistant in season 8 of 24.
  • E-Ring – DIA was often featured as the provider of intelligence to senior DoD decision-makers who are housed in the E-ring of the Pentagon

    • Film

  • American Sniper – Eric Close plays the role of a DIA operative.
  • The Men Who Stare at Goats – features Dean Hopgood (Stephen Lang), a DIA Brigadier General who takes interest in the paranormal and recommends the start of military research into psychic phenomena. Based on an actual DIA research into extrasensory perception named Stargate Project.
  • Mr. & Mrs. Smith – the Smiths' come into conflict when they are both assigned to kill Benjamin "The Tank" Danz (Adam Brody), a DIA prisoner being transferred by the agency to the FBI.
  • Spies Like Us – the agency sends two of its expendable agents – played by Chevy Chase and Dan Aykroyd – into Soviet Central Asia to act as decoys for a more potent DIA team.
  • Safe House – revolves around a struggle between an ex-DIA agent and his former DIA boss, who is running for President.
  • Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever – a son of DIA director is kidnapped by a former DIA agent played by Lucy Liu.
  • Jane Doe – Rob Lowe plays a DIA agent.

    • Video games

  • Metal Gear – two characters in the Metal Gear franchise, Nastasha Romanenko and Richard Ames, served as DIA operatives.
  • Fallout 4 - an abandoned fictional DIA facility is featured in the game as a former base of the Railroad one of the factions. Furthermore, a robot, programmed originally by the DIA and taken from the aforementioned facility, is using mathematical calculations to predict the outcome of situations said faction is involved in.

    • In writing

  • Area 7 – A cryptanalyst working for the DIA foils two plans in the novel, involving a vaccine against a highly-lethal biological weapon known as the Sinovirus.
  • Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon – DIA recruits a Chinese official, who is eventually exposed and killed in a staged robbery before the DIA extracts him.
  • Brotherhood of War – features a talented commander of a covert unit during World War II, who rises to become the Director of the DIA.
  • The Pitt – features a DIA officer who investigates the accidental destruction of the city of Pittsburgh.

    • References

    DIA in popular culture Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA