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TBT 1/5 The Defense Special Missile and Aerospace Center was created in April 1964 based on a Department of Defense directive, signed by then Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara, to address Soviet advances in missile and space capabilities. 
2/5 DEFSMAC, overseen jointly by DIA and NSA, was tasked with management and technical control of DoD missile and space intelligence collection and to provide around the clock analysis and reporting of foreign missile and space events.
3/5 In 1964, DEFSMAC tracked nearly 100 foreign missile and space launches. By 1970, there were nearly 400 foreign missile and space launches each year, and numbers increased as missile capabilities proliferated.
4/5 The collapse of the Soviet Union fundamentally altered DEFSMAC’s mission. In February 1991, DEFSMAC identified the full range of Iraqi short-range ballistic missile launches throughout the Gulf War.
5/5 Today, DEFSMAC remains a vital contributor to DIA’s mission under the Missile and Space Intelligence Center. To read more about MSIC visit go.usa.gov/xmxUy.
#tbt #ThrowbackThursday #ThisWeekInDIAHistory #DiscoverDIA #DoWhatMatters
#tbt #ThrowbackThursday #ThisWeekInDIAHistory #DiscoverDIA #DoWhatMatters
