Founded on October 1st, 1961, the DIA was an external intelligence service specializing in defense and military intelligence. Monitoring foreign powers and non-state actors, the ostensibly military agency has evolved to be one of the most powerful agencies of the Department of Defense, operating secret facilities across the United States, especially in high tech locales like Boston.[1]
Organization[]
As an intelligence agency, DIA's activities were classified. More than that, many DIA facilities were black sites, never officially existing,[2] with numerous field caches hidden across the continental United States to aid field operatives.[3] The secrecy allowed the Agency to maintain an extensive intelligence network abroad and on the domestic front, comprising human intelligence, signals intelligence, data processing, and more.[4] To maintain secrecy the DIA had to go to ridiculous lengths at times, such as when Slocum's Joe #38, the cover operation for the Switchboard, had to deter Lexington customers. Ever increasing customer traffic buying overpriced coffee and donuts warranted increasingly drastic measures, such as halving cleaning, deliberately misleading customers, and even deploying hydrogen sulfide.[5]
The DIA's technological capabilities were more advanced than many branches of the government.[6] The P.A.M. Initiative was one of the most ambitious, daring, and most importantly, successful projects, resulting in the creation of a data processing system that allowed the Agency to predict the actions of foreign entities. By crunching the vast amounts of data provided, PAM could provide analyses or suggest corrective measures to achieve specific goals. Its first major success was stabilizing the situation in the Taiwan Strait, following the Pascale Incident. After tapping it into all the military and civilian agency intelligence databanks, combined with greatly increased funding, the PAM project carried out at the Switchboard black site, PAM provided a decided edge against China in terms of intelligence.[7] As it developed, PAM was used not just to process data, but to determine the likelihood of various military scenarios playing out, such as determining the likelihood of a coordinated nuclear strike by China and the Soviet Union six months into the Chinese invasion ofAlaska (June 2067).[8]
Perhaps the most interesting discovery made by PAM was determining (with a 91% likelihood) the existence of large-scale experiments with stealth technology in December 2075 and tying it to seemingly frivolous reports of the existence of a Chinese Ghost Fleet: Stealth submarines that guaranteed retaliatory capabilities to the communist power. Due to the absence of corroborating evidence, the conclusion was buried as a fantasy, a fatal mistake.[9]
While being one of the more technologically advanced government branches, the DIA still commissioned work to outside corporations, such as for the creation of the custom, multi-million dollar mainframe CRYPTOS created by RobCo. CRYPTOS was intended for use in the old song and dance of "a top secret government project", but the DIA pulled the contract just as work was completed on the mainframe. Zack Hayes, a RobCo employee, was able to sell CRYPTOS to Frederick Rivers before the Great War to recover some of the money used to make it.[10][11]
↑Official history of the Agency and its substantial presence in the Commonwealth.
↑Deacon: "Prepare to be shocked: not every Slocum's Joe has a massive tunnel complex underneath it.We're entering a secret Defense Intelligence Agency research lab. A place that never officially existed. It's called The Switchboard.The DIA eggheads spent their precious brain cells here trying to outwit the Red Menace.The prototype is locked up in the heart of the facility." (Deacon's dialogue)
↑Switchboard terminals; Terminal, Hindu Kush Report: "TO: Michael F. Gelesky, Cpl FROM: Dr. Ramarijan SUBJECT: Hindu Kush: TPN Intercept We need everything you can get from unknown broadcast TPN-03. HumINT, SigINT, anything. I cannot stress the importance enough. Daily updates. The second you have anything actionable run it over to Databank."
↑Switchboard terminals; Terminal, Slocum's Joe Weekly Update: "TO: SigInt/CC FROM: Deborah A. Finch, Lt Col SUBJECT: Slocum's Joe #38, Weekly Update Cover briefing time, boys and girls. Numbers are in for September. #38 had a busy month. Traffic was up 18% despite reducing cleaning in half. We're a go for the General's Operation Rotten Egg. So hold your breath getting to the elevator. If anyone mentions BuzzBites play dumb. Raspberry and cream filled were the hot items of the week. The mayor dropped by to press some flesh on Thursday. If friends/family ask, you were downstairs in the shipping department and missed it. Saturday had a freak thunderstorm that blew out one of the transformers. Whole block was without power for 4 hours (from 0900 to 1300). Those on shift have been briefed, but what everyone would know is shipping was locked inside for the duration. Had a donut party. Remember: Deflect, deflect, deflect. The fewer details you give, the less likely you are to be tripped up."
↑The Sole Survivor: "Nice. That sounds pretty high tech." P.A.M.: "Correct. The cache belonged to the Defense Intelligence Agency. The DIA's technological capabilities were more advanced than many branches of the government. You only have to secure the cache. Runners will transport contents on a separate timetable. Terminating human/machine interface." (P.A.M.'s dialogue)
↑Switchboard terminals; Research Terminal, > Section 1091/1092 Report: "EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The P.A.M. Initiative is already bearing fruit. Foreign operatives report that the corrective measures employed in the Taiwan StraightQuoted verbatim, error appeared in the original source region have already greatly stabilized matters after the Pascale Incident. The first few iterations of PAM's core code have increased the effectiveness of the program dramatically, but without drastic action we're approaching a point of diminishing returns. The team asks for double the funding for the upcoming fiscal year. With additional cutting edge databanks we can boost the processing power of PAM three-fold. Additionally, the P.A.M. Initiative needs to be fully tapped into all military and civilian agency intelligence apparatus. The combination of these two spends should give us a decided edge against the Chinese."
↑Switchboard terminals; Research Terminal, > 2067 Jun 19: "OFFICIAL RECORD "P.A.M., run the 'USSR China Attack' scenario." > Processing... > Query. What goal does entity Chairman seek in this hypothetical set of facts? "Conquest. Run program." > Your answer does not logically follow. An ideal nuclear first strike scenario would still leave 59% of the American nuclear stockpile free for retaliation. Posit. You cannot conquer what is destroyed. "P.A.M., Chairman Cheng isn't always logical. He won't always make logical decisions. We've been over this." > Warning. Human variability results in a highly flawed statistical model. "P.A.M. Run the program." > Warning. Warning. <Emergency Shutdown> "Dammit. We've lost her. Power her down. Did we get crash logs on that?""
↑Switchboard terminals; Research Terminal, > 2075 Dec 17: "OFFICIAL RECORD "Could you repeat for the general what you just told me?" > Posit. Chinese stealth technology far outstrips our own capabilities. Posit. The Chinese intelligence apparatus is sufficient to conceal large scale research operations from American operatives. Conclusion. The Chinese have a 91% chance of having conducted large scale experimentation with Stealth Tech. "Large scale? What do you mean? What are their capabilities?" > American projects involving this technology (refer to "Stealth Boy") have merely reverse engineered captured Hei Gui suits. The underlying science of this technology is unknown. So the theoretical limits are also unknown. However the so-called "Ghost Fleet" that station A-31 and B-19 reported in November may indicate that testing has already commenced with submersible vessels. "Dear God. You think they have stealth subs?" > A second order approximation is inconclusive. Explanation. The logic chain of these assumptions have too much variability. Further data is required. "So you can't even give me a guess?" > Machine/human interface aborted. "Sorry, sir. We're working on some of her glitches. P.A.M... well, she gets real stubborn when she's doing too much guesswork." "Stubborn? She's a machine." "Sir. With each new version, well, she's getting quirky." "There's no way I'm taking this stealth sub nonsense to the Joint Chiefs unless I have proof. It's goddamned ludicrous to think the Chinese have been working on something this big and we've heard nothing." > Virtually no actionable intelligence has come out of the Shaanxi Province for 3.1 years. However, the province reports a spike in the imports of complex polymers and other key synthetic compounds. The quantity in question is consistent with stealth technology research on the macro scale. "Until you can give me something concrete, I don't want to hear another goddamned word about this."
↑Turtledove Detention Camp terminals; Terminal, Public Release: Person Of Interest: "Bulletin: Attention Citizens of Pt. Lookout! Wan Yang, suspected communist and Chinese sympathizer, has been reported in the vicinity of Point Lookout. Agent Yang may be operating under an alias and/or using a disguise. You are required to report any suspicious persons or behavior to Lt. Krumfolz (DIA) at the US Recruitment Station located at 1811 St. Mary’s Branch. Known Aliases: Jamie Patrick, Maria Lopez, Stanley Derrick, Five-Claw Dragon"
↑Turtledove Detention Camp terminals; Terminal, Bulletin: Yang Capture/Transfer: "''Local community informants provided intelligence leading to the capture and arrest of a priority person of interest, Wan Yang, aka Five Claw Dragon. Yang is on file with DIA as a Chinese Intelligence field agent, operating within America and Canada over the past decade. Yang has been transferred to Turtledove Detention Camp for interrogation. Our office has so far declined comments to press and diplomats. Please have DoD relations advise regarding a public statement."
