The Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) has taken over the stewardship of Bethesda, Maryland-based National Intelligence University (NIU), the only accredited federal degree-granting institution of the intelligence community.
NIU's organizational transition from the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) to ODNI represents a milestone in its 59-year history of educating future IC leaders, the office said Monday.
DNI Avril Haines and NIU President J. Scott Cameron said in a joint statement the community and the federal government stand to benefit from the integration of the university’s academic leadership and ODNI’s initiatives.
“At no point has it been more important to sharpen our intelligence tradecraft with emerging expertise, strengthen our intelligence partnerships, and preempt long-term strategic threats with intellectual creativity," Haines and Cameron added.
Congress initiated the transition effort in Dec. 2019 and the university said the process involved collaboration with IC members to ensure continuity of operations.
The university, originally known as the Defense Intelligence School, is accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education and lets students pursue top secret/sensitive compartmentalized information research.
NIU’s alumni include IC leaders and former directors of the CIA, National Security Agency (NSA), DIA and National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA).
