# DIA in the 1980s: The Agency Hits its Stride

/ Published May 1, 2015

The 1980s were a pivotal decade for the DIA. After confronting a wide array of organizational, financial and national security challenges in the 1960s and 1970s, DIA entered the 1980s as a stronger, more centralized and effective member of the Intelligence Community —making a profound impact on helping conclude the Cold War.

As the 1970s drew to a close, many policymakers and academics believed that the détente between the United States and Soviet Union had reduced the risk of conflict.

But the Agency saw a very different picture, and DIA Director Lt. Gen. Eugene Tighe and intelligence officer John T. Hughes regularly provided the highly classified brief, “Soviet Military Trends and Capabilities.”

Sen. Ted Stevens, chairman of the Appropriations Defense Subcommittee, said, "I don't think any normal person could listen to that briefing and not come out with his hair standing straight up on his head."

Tighe and Hughes provided substantial evidence that the Soviet Union was using the détente as a cover for an enormous military build-up.

Already making waves at the end of the Carter administration, it had a chilling effect on the incoming Reagan administration.

What’s more, each time benchmark information came to light, it proved the accuracy of DIA’s capabilities and economic assessments related to the Soviet Union.

From this analysis, Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger directed DIA to publish the first unclassified edition of Soviet Military Power in September 1981.

What’s more, each time benchmark information came to light, it proved the accuracy of DIA’s capabilities and economic assessments related to the Soviet Union.

From this analysis, Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger directed DIA to publish the first unclassified edition of Soviet Military Power in September 1981.

The impact of Soviet Military Power was enormous — far beyond what anyone had foreseen. The editions spanned a decade, and forever set the standard for authoritative unclassified publications.

At the height of its run, the 1987 edition totaled nearly 400,000 copies — greatly exceeding the sales required to place on the New York TimesBest Sellers list.

Armed with credible unclassified information, the U.S. public and allies progressed with increases in defense budgets that the Soviets could not match.

In 1980, the Joint Chiefs requested a nuclear weapons targeting reassessment from DIA with the goal of establishing a nuclear policy denying Sovietwar objectives.

The result was a major study in 1982 which stressed that the range and number of Soviet targets allowed for a high level of flexibility in targeting.

The Joint Chiefs accepted DIA’s findings and, in July 1983, Weinberger issued a new nuclear weapons employment policy that gave planners the ability to customize target packages based on what they believed Soviet intentions would be in a given scenario.

Theoretically, this made a flexible, controlled nuclear war a technical possibility and provided the missing piece to the nuclear planning puzzle not found in the previous mutual assured destruction planning.

DIA played an important role in eliminating illicit technology and arms sales.

In one case, the Soviets sought to improve their air defenses via purchases of automated Western air traffic control technology.

DIA analysts were the first to recognize the critical importance of denying Western air traffic control sales to the Soviet Union due to military ramifications.

A DIA Directorate for Science & Technology assessment resulted in a Department of Justice investigation of an illicit sale, which led to the successful prosecution of a company and an associated fine of $3.1 million.

This case made front page news in 1984 and was the largest fine imposed at the time for violation of U.S. export control laws.

DIA’s ability to support military operations matured significantly during the 1980s.

In 1983, U.S. troops were dispatched to Grenada to evacuate approximately 1,000 American medical students following a coup by hard-line Marxists as part of Operation Urgent Fury.

During the operation, a special DIA task force responded to numerous taskings for briefings, papers and other intelligence information.

That same year, DIA established the country’s first national-level intelligence fusion center, the Central America Joint Intelligence Team, to support efforts to defeat the communist insurgency in El Salvador.

Throughout the 1980s, the Agency also assumed a greater role in combating terrorism, establishing an all-source fusion cell for terrorism analysis, and supporting counterterrorism operations following a number of high-profile terrorist attacks.

In 1986, the Agency’s counterterrorism efforts were recognized with DIA’s first Joint Meritorious Unit award.

DIA also played an important role in arms control, helping to reduce threats around the globe.

From May 1987 to June 1987, DIA supported the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Force Treaty, Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, Defense and UN talks, the Geneva Conference on Disarmament, Mutual Balanced Force Reduction Talks, and the Conference on Confidence and Security-Building Measures and Disarmament in Europe.

The successes of the 1980s had significant impacts on the future.DIA’s efforts paved the way for success in the Gulf War and expansion into new intelligence realms.But with the successful conclusion of the Cold War, the peace dividend and associatedbudget cuts would threaten all the progress made by the Agency.