| Defense Criminal Investigative Service | |
| Abbreviation | DCIS |
| Seal of the Defense Criminal Investigative Service. | |
| Agency overview | |
|---|---|
| Formed | 1982 |
| Employees | Approximately 400 (2011) |
| Legal personality | Governmental: Government agency |
| Jurisdictional structure | |
| Federal agency | United States |
| General nature |
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| Operational structure | |
| Headquarters | Arlington, Virginia |
| Agency executives |
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| Parent agency | Office of the Inspector General, U.S. Department of Defense |
| Website | |
| www.dodig.mil/INV/DCIS | |
The Defense Criminal Investigative Service is the criminal investigative arm of the Office of the Inspector General, U.S. Department of Defense. DCIS protects military personnel by investigating cases of fraud, bribery, and corruption; preventing the illegal transfer of sensitive defense technologies to proscribed nations and criminal elements; investigating companies that use defective parts in weapons systems and equipment utilized by the military; and stopping cyber crimes and computer intrusions.
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DCIS serves as the criminal investigative arm of the Department of Defense Inspector General. DoD IG was created in 1982 by an amendment to the Inspector General Act of 1978.
It is the obligation of the DoD Inspector General to "initiate, conduct, and supervise such...investigations in the Department of Defense (including the military departments) as the Inspector General considers appropriate" (IG Act Sec. 8(c)(2)) and to "provide leadership and coordination and recommend policies for activities...to prevent and detect fraud and abuse in...[DoD] programs and operations (IG Act Sec. 2(2))."
DCIS current investigative priorities include:
Significant fraud and corruption impacting crucial DoD operations throughout Southwest Asia, with particular emphasis upon schemes that potentially affect the health, safety, welfare, or mission‐readiness of U.S. troops assigned to theater.
Significant procurement and acquisition fraud, corruption, and other financial crimes which result in multi‐million dollars losses, thus depriving DoD of critically‐needed funds that would otherwise be utilized to finance vital national defense initiatives.
Defective, substituted, counterfeit, or substandard products introduced into the DoD acquisition system, with particular emphasis upon allegations involving troop safety[1] and/or mission‐readiness.
Illegal theft, export, diversion, transfer, or proliferation of sensitive DoD technology, systems, weapons, and equipment, with particular emphasis upon allegations involving targeted foreign nations, organized international criminal organizations, or potentially hostile entities apt to utilize said items in furtherance of assaults against U.S. military forces.
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act‐related fraud, waste, and abuse involving funds allocated to DoD, with particular emphasis upon criminal activity involving projects designed to improve the quality of life of service members and their families.
Health care fraud committed by providers that involves (a) quality of care, unnecessary care, or failure to provide care to TRICARE‐eligible service members, retirees, dependents, or survivors; or (b) significant direct loss to DoD’s TRICARE Management Activity.
Computer intrusions and other cyber crimes that result in (a) serious compromises of the Global Information Grid; (b) exfiltration of sensitive DoD data or large volumes of personally identifiable information pertaining to civilian DoD employees or service members; or (c) potential contractual violations on the part of a DoD contractor.
DCIS is lead by the Deputy Inspector General for Investigations and organized into three functional branches. Each branch is managed by an Assistant Inspector General.
DCIS is headquartered in Arlington, Va. DCIS operates field offices in the following locations:
In addition, DCIS is located overseas in the following locations:
DCIS is composed of special agents who have full law enforcement authority; they make arrests, carry concealed weapons, execute search warrants, serve subpoenas, and testify in legal proceedings.
To be considered for a DCIS special agent position, an individual must:
DCIS special agent candidates initially receive training at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center located in Glynco, Georgia. They attend FLETC's basic training course for special agents, the Criminal Investigator Training Program, which lasts about 13 weeks and represents the beginning or basic training received by DCIS special agents. Later, agents may return to FLETC to attend specialized training in contractor fraud, money laundering, computer crimes, advanced interview techniques, etc.