Defense Technical Information Center

About DTIC

DTIC's mission is "to aggregate and fuse science and technology data to rapidly, accurately and reliably deliver the knowledge needed to develop the next generation of technologies to support our Warfighters and help assure national security.

DTIC's full mission statement

The Defense Technical Information Center (DTIC®) has served the information needs of the defense community for more than 70 years.

As a Department of Defense (DoD) Field Activity, DTIC operates under the leadership of the Secretary of Defense and reports to the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering USD(R&E). DTIC supports the USD(R&E)’s efforts to mitigate new and emerging threat capabilities, enable affordable or extended capabilities in existing military systems, and develop technology surprise through engineering by:

Preserving and disseminating the research that led to the technologies our warfighters use today;
Delivering the tools and collections that empower the research and engineering enterprise to accelerate the development of technologies that will help maintain our nation's technical superiority;
Stimulating innovation by providing access to DoD-funded research and digital data to the public and industry; and
Maximizing the value of each dollar the DoD spends through the analysis of funding, work-in-progress, and Independent Research and Development (IR&D) data to identify gaps, challenges and way forward.

These areas of responsibility support USD(R&E) in their efforts to mitigate new and emerging threat capabilities, enable affordable new or extended capabilities in existing military systems, and develop technology surprise through science and engineering.

More than 50 percent of the research records in DTIC’s collection are available through the R&E Gateway — an access-controlled knowledge management repository available to authorized DoD personnel, defense contractors, federal government personnel, government contractors, and select academic institutions. The R&E Gateway requires Common Access Card (CAC) login or registration. Access to unclassified, unlimited information, including many full-text, downloadable documents are available to the general public through this website.

DTIC also manages the Information Analysis Centers which provide essential technical analysis and data support to a diverse customer base that spans the Combatant Commands (CCMDs), the Office of the Secretary of Defense, defense agencies, and the military services. The IACs actively partner and collaborate with defense research and engineering focus groups and communities of interest in cyber, homeland defense and defense systems. They are staffed with scientists, engineers and information specialists who provide research and analysis to customers with diverse, complex and challenging requirements.

History

Established in June 1945 as the Air Documents Research Center (ADRC), the agency’s original mission was to collect German air documents. The documents collected were divided into three categories: those that would assist the war in the Pacific theater, those of immediate intelligence interest to the United States or British forces, and those of interest for future research.

In 1945, the ADRC relocated its operations in London, United Kingdom to the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base (AFB) in Dayton, Ohio where it was renamed Air Documents Division (ADD). The ADD staff cataloged captured documents and translated a small number of reports deemed as high-priority research.

In 1948, the secretaries of the U.S. Navy and U.S. Air Force reorganized ADD into the Central Air Documents Office (CADO), broadened its mission to include collecting, processing and disseminating information for use within military regulations. The organization has since evolved—in name and mission—to become the central resource for DoD- and government-funded scientific, technical, engineering and business related information for the DoD community.

1951: CADO becomes the Armed Services Technical Information Agency (ASTIA).

1962: The DoD Scientific and Technical Information (STINFO) Program is established.

1963: ASTIA is renamed Defense Documentation Center (DDC) and becomes a field activity of the Defense Supply Agency (DSA).

1972: The Defense Research, Development, Test and Evaluation Online System (DROLS) becomes operational.

1979: DDC officially changes its name to Defense Technical Information Center (DTIC).

1980: DoD Information Analysis Center (IAC) Program is added to DTIC’s mission.

1994: DTIC begins offering products and services via the Internet.

1995: DTIC moves to its current location in the Andrew T. McNamara Headquarters Complex, Fort Belvoir, Virginia.

2004: DTIC becomes a DoD Field Activity aligned under the Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisitions, Technology and Logistics reporting to the Director, Defense Research & Engineering (now Assistant Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering (ASD(R&E)).

2008: DTIC Online is launched, providing one Web site to search and access DoD research and engineering information.

2008: DTIC launches DoDTechipedia, DoD’s scientific and technical information wiki. It is a wiki to facilitate increased communication and collaboration among DoD scientists, engineers, program managers, acquisition professionals and operational Warfighters. DoDTechipedia is a living knowledge base that reduces duplication of effort and encourages collaboration among program areas and connects capability providers with technology developers.

2009: DTIC launches DefenseSolutions.gov, an idea portal for potential DoD Contractors to submit solutions to DoD challenges.

2010: DTIC celebrates 65 years of meeting the scientific and technical information needs of the DoD community in support of the warfighter.

Products and services

DTIC Online

DTIC Online is the public gateway to DTIC’s products and services. Access to the unclassified, unlimited information on this site is available to the general public free of charge. No registration is required. Features of DTIC Online include:

Technical reports: unclassified, unlimited
Research and development descriptive summaries (research in progress)
Public release citations and citations to full-text documents in Adobe PDF
MultiSearch capabilities with access to over 50 resources and databases through a single query, including WorldWide Science and Scitopia, gateways to international sources
Congressional budget data
Current Issues: information on topics of high interest to DTIC users

DTIC Online also contains information about registering for DTIC Online Access Controlled, how to submit documents to DTIC and frequently used DTIC and DoD forms.

DTIC Online Classified

Free on the Secure Internet Protocol Routing Network (SIPRNet), DTIC Online Classified provides access to DTIC’s complete collection (unclassified, unlimited; unclassified, limited; classified up to SECRET) of technical reports. In addition, registered users have access to other websites housed on the SIPRNet, including DoDTechipedia Classified.

Embedded Librarians

DTIC Embedded Librarians provide onsite, direct support to COCOMs during major exercises. Reach-back support is provided by the DTIC Reference Team at DTIC Headquarters. Embedded Librarians:

Follow daily battle rhythm of exercise
Attend Commander’s Update Brief (CUB)
Receive taskers or assignments
Refer queries for reach-back support from DTIC staff
Discuss research with assigned group
Prepare quad charts, PowerPoint presentations and command briefings
Conduct training for COCOM staff on DTIC resources

Embedded Librarians have participated in major exercises with United States Pacific Command (USPACOM) and United States Northern Command (USNORTHCOM) and have provided support to all 10 Unified Combatant Commands.

Information Analysis Centers

Information Analysis Centers (IACs) are research and analysis organizations chartered by the DoD and operated by DTIC (http://iac.dtic.mil/). IAC experts help researchers, engineers, scientists and program managers get the information they need, when they need it. DTIC manages 3 distinct IACs divided between Technical Area Tasks (TATs) and Basic Centers of Operations(BCOs), which enable quick access to S&T information worldwide. Basic searches (up to four hours of research) are free to DTIC registered customers. If your search requires more in-depth research, IACs can support you without your organization incurring common procurement cost.

IACs operated by DTIC

Technical Area Tasks

Basic Center of Operations (BCOs)

Military-Sponsored IACs

Airfields, Pavements, and Mobility IAC
Coastal Engineering Defense IAC
Cold Regions Science and Technology IAC
Concrete Technology IAC
Defense Threat Reduction IAC
Environmental IAC
Hydraulic Engineering IAC
Shock and Vibration IAC
Soil Mechanics IAC

References

External links