Badge History |
1992-Present |
Reserve Agent |
1982-1992 |
Vietnam |
1966-1982 |
WWII Era |
1930s Reserve |
WWI Era |
History
NCIS traces its roots to Navy Department
General Order 292 of 1882, signed by William H. Hunt, Secretary
of the Navy, which established the Office of Naval Intelligence
(ONI). Initially, the ONI was tasked with collecting information
on the characteristics and weaponry of foreign vessels, charting
foreign passages, rivers, or other bodies of water, and touring
overseas fortifications, industrial plants, and shipyards.
In anticipation of the United States' entry
into World War I, the ONI's responsibilities expanded to include
espionage, sabotage, and all manner of information on the
Navy's potential adversaries; and in World War II the ONI
became responsible for the investigation of sabotage, espionage
and subversive activities that pose any kind of threat to
the Navy.
The major buildup of civilian special agents
began with the Korean War in 1950, and continued through the
Cold War years. In 1966 the name Naval Investigative Service
(NIS) was adopted to distinguish the organization from the
rest of ONI, and in 1969 NIS special agents become Excepted
Civil Service and no longer contract employees.
The early 1970s saw a NIS special agent
stationed on the USS Intrepid for six months—the beginning
of the Deployment Afloat program, now called the Special
Agent Afloat program. In 1972, background investigations
were transferred from NIS to the newly formed Defense Investigative
Service (DIS), allowing NIS to give more attention to criminal
investigations and counterintelligence.
In 1982, NIS was upgraded to Echelon II
status, with control of its own budget. Echelon II commands
report directly to the Chief of Naval Operations (CNO). Later
that year, NIS assumed responsibility for managing the Navy's
Law Enforcement and Physical Security Program and the Navy's
Information and Personnel Security Program.
Two months after the October 1983 bombing
of the Marine Barracks in Beirut, the agency opened the Navy
Antiterrorist Alert Center (ATAC). ATAC, a 24-hour-a-day operational
intelligence center, issued indications and warning on terrorist
activity to Navy and Marine Corps commands. In 1984, special
agents began training at the Federal Law Enforcement Training
Center (FLETC) in Georgia—the training facility for
most other federal investigative agencies, except the FBI.
In 1985, Cathal L. Flynn became the first
admiral to lead NIS. The command took on the additional responsibility
of Information and Personnel Security. In 1986, the Department
of the Navy Central Adjudication Facility (DON CAF) was established
and placed under the agency, corresponding with the organization's
new responsibility of adjudicating security clearances. DON
CAF now maintains over 1.7 million automated records and over
500,000 clearances for the Department of the Navy and the
U.S. Coast Guard.
In 1992, Roy D. Nedrow became the first
civilian director of today's Naval Criminal Investigative
Service (NCIS). Nedrow oversaw the restructuring of NCIS into
a Federal law enforcement agency with 14 field offices controlling
field operations in 140 locations worldwide. In 1995, NCIS
introduced the Cold
Case Homicide Unit.
In May 1997, David
L. Brant was appointed Director of NCIS by Secretary of
the Navy John Dalton. In 1999, NCIS and the Marine Corps Criminal
Investigative Division (CID) signed a memorandum of understanding
calling for an integration of Marine Corps CID into NCIS,
and in 2000, Congress granted NCIS civilian special agents
authority to execute warrants and make arrests.
A growing appreciation of the changing threat
facing the Department of the Navy in the 21st century, culminating
with the terrorist bombing of the USS Cole in Yemen and the
attacks on September 11, 2001, led NCIS to transform the Antiterrorist
Alert Center (ATAC) into the Multiple
Threat Alert Center (MTAC) in 2002.
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