# CIA's relationship with the United States Military

The Central Intelligence Agency needs to liaise with the United States Armed Forces, and a range of organizational structures have been used since the formation of the CIA to facilitate this liaison.

## National Intelligence Support Team

   A NIST normally is composed of personnel from DIA, NSA, NIMA, and the CIA who are deployed upon request by the military commander to facilitate the flow of timely all-source intelligence between a Joint Task Force (JTF) and Washington, DC, during crises or contingency operations.

## Bureaucratic structure

Associate Deputy Director of Operations for Military Affairs (ADDO/MA)
This position 'faded off the org chart' after the creation of the ADCI/MS c. 1995
Associate Director of Central Intelligence for Military Support (ADCI/MS) or Associate Director of Military Support or Assistant Director for Military Support
and finally, Associate Director for Military Affairs
This position was created by CIA Director John Deutch in 1995 He called it the 'Associate Director for Military Affairs' in a report in 1996, but that name was not used until the late 1st decade of the 21st century in official documents, like org charts, and the 110th congress DoD appropriations bill says that Title IX Subtitle D will undergo changes "necessitated by the redesignation of the CIA's Assistant Director for Military Support as the Associate Director for Military Affairs."
Office of Military Affairs
* 1992 - Created by CIA after problems during the Gulf War
* 1995/1996 - Moved out of the Directorate of Operations by ADCI/MS Dennis C. Blair, to be directly under his office, which reported directly to the Director
   OMA is staffed by CIA and military personnel. As the agency's single POC for military support, OMA negotiates, coordinates, manages, and monitors all aspects of agency support for military operations. This support is a continuous process that can be enhanced or modified to respond to a crisis or developing operation. Interaction between OMA and the DCI representatives to the OSD, the Joint Staff, and the combatant commands facilitates the provision of national-level intelligence in support of joint operations, operation planning, and exercises.

## List of associate directors for military affairs

| No. | Portrait | Name | Term of office | Term of office | Term of office | Service branch | Ref. |
| No. | Portrait | Name | Took office | Left office | Time in office | Service branch | Ref. |
| | | Vice Admiral Dennis C. Blair | 1995 | 1996 | ayd | United States Navy | |
| | | Lieutenant General John A. Gordon | 1996 | 1997 | | United States Air Force | |
| | | Lieutenant General John H. Campbell | 2000 | 2003 | | United States Air Force | |
| | | Vice Admiral Albert Calland III | 2004 | 2005 | | United States Navy | |
| | | Major General John T. Brennan | 2006 | 2008 | | United States Air Force | |
| | | Lieutenant General Mark A. Welsh III | 2008 | 2010 | | United States Air Force | |
| | | Lieutenant General Kurt A. Cichowski | 2010 | 2013 | | United States Air Force | |
| - | | Lieutenant General Raymond A. Thomas III | 2013 | 2014 | 1 year, 0 days | United States Army | |
| - | | Lieutenant General John F. Mulholland Jr. | January 9, 2015 | October 4, 2016 | 1 year, 269 days | United States Army | |
| - | | Vice Admiral P. Gardner Howe III | October 4, 2016 | November 8, 2019 | 3 years, 35 days | United States Navy | |
| - | | Vice Admiral Colin J. Kilrain | November 8, 2019 | October 20, 2021 | 1 year, 346 days | United States Navy | |
| - | | Lieutenant General John D. Caine | November 3, 2021 | December 2, 2024 | 3 years, 29 days | United States Air Force | |
| - | | Lieutenant General Michael L. Downs | December 2, 2024 | Incumbent | 91 days | United States Air Force | |