The Marine Corps Intelligence is the intelligence arm of the United States Marine Corps (USMC) and an element of the United States Intelligence Community. The Director of Intelligence supervises the Intelligence Department of HQMC and is responsible for policy, plans, programming, budgets, and staff supervision of Intelligence and supporting activities within the U.S. Marine Corps as well as supervising the Marine Corps Intelligence Activity (MCIA). The Department supports the Commandant of the Marine Corps (CMC) in his role as a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), represents the service in Joint and Intelligence Community matters, and exercises supervision over the MCIA.
The Department has Service Staff responsibility for Geospatial Intelligence (GEOINT), Advanced Geospatial Intelligence (AGI), Signals Intelligence (SIGINT), Human Intelligence (HUMINT), Counterintelligence (CI), and ensures there is a single synchronized strategy for the development of the Marine Corps Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) Enterprise.
The MCIA, located at Hochmuth Hall (see Bruno Hochmuth), provides tailored intelligence and services to the Marine Corps, other services, and the Intelligence Community based on expeditionary mission profiles in littoral areas. It supports the development of service doctrine, force structure, training and education, and acquisition. The Swain Annex of the Marine Corps Intelligence Activity (MCIA) complex is named for LCpl James E. Swain, USMC, who posthumously received the National Intelligence Medal for Valor for his service as a Marine Corps intelligence analyst during the battle of Fallujah in Iraq.
Marine Corps Intelligence Activity
The Marine Corps Intelligence Activity (MCIA), created in 1987, is a field activity headquarters of the United States Marine Corps, and a member of the United States Intelligence Community. The MCIA describes itself as: "a vital part of military intelligence 'corporate enterprise,' and functions in a collegial, effective manner with other service agencies and with the joint intelligence centers of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Unified Commands."
The Marine Corps Intelligence Activity mission is to provide intelligence services to the Marine Corps and the U.S. Intelligence Community. These services are based on expeditionary mission profiles in littoral areas. It supports the development of service doctrine, force structure, training and education, and acquisition.
MCIA determines what missions the Corps needs to carry out as well as who will need to be trained for that mission. MCIA is in partnership with Marine Corps Intelligence the Office of Naval Intelligence and Office of Coast Guard Intelligence in the National Maritime Intelligence-Integration Office and at Marine Corps Base Quantico in Quantico, Virginia. MCIA has administrative control of the Marine Cryptologic Support Battalion, which supports the National Security Agency.
MCIA began as the Marine Corps Intelligence Command (MCIC), created in 1987 by then Commandant of the Marine Corps General Alfred M. Gray, Jr. Gray created MCIC to address the lack of expeditionary intelligence support for policy, acquisition, and operations, as each of the other service intelligence centers focused only on their needs. Colonel Walter Breede III was the first Director.
The flagship study of the Center, "Planning and Programming Factors for Expeditionary Operations in the Third World", was published by the Marine Corps Combat Development Command (MCCDC) in March 1990, and was unusual for relying exclusively on open sources of information for creating a matrix of 143 mission area factors that could be objectively evaluated in relation to five degrees of difficulty, and for being published as an unclassified rather than a classified study.
Marine Corps Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance Enterprise (MCISR-E)
The Marine Corps Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance Enterprise (MCISRE) Plan articulates and implements the Director of Intelligence’s vision for designing and developing the MCISRE. The MCISR-E is a warfighting enterprise that supports decision-making through the provision of tailored intelligence that is timely, relevant, and predictive. The enterprise supports institutional decision-making through both the provision of relevant intelligence and the comprehensive integration of the intelligence warfighting function in operating concepts, structural decisions, and material investments. The multi-domain, collaborative, worldwide construct of the MCISR-E provides the crucial edge across the spectrum for both deployed and CONUS-based MAGTFs.