Mike Turner, Ranking Member of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Strategic Forces, today sent letters to President Barack Obama and Lieutenant General Ronald Burgess, Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), strongly opposing efforts of the Alabama Congressional Delegation to move mission responsibility and jobs from the National Air and Space Intelligence Center (NASIC), based at Wright Patterson Air Force Base outside of Dayton, OH, to the Missile and Space Intelligence Center (MSIC), based at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama.
In July, 2010, LTG Burgess commissioned a DIA review panel tasked with studying the division of labor and assignment of responsibilities among DIA analytic elements and the service intelligence centers assigned to perform analysis of foreign ballistic missile systems and foreign space and counterspace capabilities.
NASIC has developed the nation’s premier analytical expertise in air, space, counterspace, and cyberspace which has been reinforced by decades of proven performance in technical intelligence assessments.
“This attempt to take jobs from Wright Patterson Air Force Base and ship them to Alabama does not support our national security or our national intelligence community” Rep Turner said. “This is only about one state trying to steal jobs from another. It is outrageous and the Obama Administration needs to step forward and make clear that this will not happen.”
On August 27th, the Alabama Congressional Delegation sent a letter to LTG Burgess requesting the consolidation of ballistic missile and space/counterspace analysis functions under MSIC. The leadership of MSIC and the Alabama delegation has consistently over the past several years worked to consolidate and grow the mission of MSIC by attempting to steal mission responsibility from NASIC. During that time, Representative Turner, and the rest of the Ohio delegation has continuously worked to protect the current missions at NASIC as it has the performance record of achievement and customer trust in these areas.
The National Air and Space Intelligence Center (NASIC) is one of the critical missions at Wright-Patterson and remains one of the most valuable and important assets in the Dayton Region. Approximately 2,000 personnel are assigned to the mission, of which about 60 percent are civilians.