June 1956; 67 years ago (June 1956) (as Technical Intelligence Division, renamed Missile Intelligence Office in 1962, renamed Missile Intelligence Agency in 1970, became Missile and Space Intelligence Center in 1985)
MSIC began as a part of Wernher von Braun's missile team, a component of the Army Ballistic Missile Agency in 1956. The missile agency's first iteration, known as the Technical Intelligence Division, consisted of only six people.[1] Renamed in 1962, the TID, now the Missile Intelligence Office (MIO) analyzed developments in the Soviet Union and played a key role in the Cuban Missile Crisis.[2] The Missile Intelligence Office was renamed the Missile Intelligence Agency in 1970; in 1985, it was reassigned to the Army Intelligence Agency and renamed to the Missile and Space Intelligence Center (MSIC).[2] MSIC's final organizational move came on January 1, 1992 when it became part of the Defense Intelligence Agency.[3]
In 2009, the Center employed 650 civilian and military personnel.[4] In 2014, it employed roughly the same amount at its headquarters in Redstone Arsenal.[5] Between 2014 and the present (2021), the Center employed approximately 350 civilians, 60 military personnel, and, indirectly, hundreds of defense contractors.[6]
In 2011, a years-long MSIC dispute with the Air Force'sNASIC over which agency held authority over ballistic missileintelligence analysis was settled in favor of MSIC, which became lead integrator of the Defense Intelligence Ballistic Missile Analysis Committee (DIBMAC).[8]
MSIC employs engineering analysts, support professionals, and support assistants at the 38,000 acre Richard. C Shelby Center for Missile Intelligence[15] in Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama. The building includes various laboratories, high-performance computing operations, and test areas making up a vast engineering complex[16] capable of hosting physical and simulated missile tests.[15]
