Defense Media Activity

History

The Defense Media Activity can trace its organizational lineage to the first publication of the Stars and Stripes newspaper produced by Union soldiers during the Civil War in 1861. The DMA is one of a long line of media-related organizations established, consolidated or subsumed within the military and defense departments. DMA was established as a result of the BRAC 2005 decisions.

Base Realignment and Closure 2005

In 2005, as part of the Base Realignment and Closure 2005 analysis, the Defense Department recommended consolidating the media-related organizations of the Military Departments into a single organization and co-locating it with the American Forces Information Service (an existing DoD field activity). The Defense Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) Commission accepted the DoD recommendation and included the recommendation in its report to the President on September 8, 2005. On September 8, 2005, the President approved the BRAC Commission recommendations and forwarded them to the United States Congress. On September 20, 2005, the U.S. Congress failed to disapprove of the BRAC Commission's recommendations. Under the provisions of the Defense Base Realignment and Closure Act of 1990 (Public Law 101–510), the recommendations were effectively "approved".

The approved BRAC actions were to:

• Realign Fort Belvoir, Virginia, by relocating Soldiers Magazine to Fort Meade, Maryland.
• Realign Anacostia Annex, District of Columbia, by relocating the Naval Media Center to Fort Meade, Maryland.
• Realign 2320 Mill Road, a leased installation in Alexandria, Virginia, by relocating Army Broadcasting-Soldier Radio/TV to Fort Meade, Maryland.
• Realign 103 Norton Street, a leased installation in San Antonio, Texas by relocating the Air Force News Agency and the Joint Hometown News Service to Fort Meade, Maryland.
• Close 601 North Fairfax Street, a leased installation in Alexandria, Virginia, by relocating the American Forces Information Service and the Army Broadcasting-Soldier Radio/TV to Fort Meade, Maryland.
• Consolidate Soldier Magazine, Naval Media Center, Army Broadcasting-Soldier Radio/TV, and the Air Force News Agency-Army/Air Force Hometown News Service into a single DoD Media Activity at Fort Meade, Maryland.

Establishment

In September 2007, the deputy defense secretary recognized that the BRAC 2005 decision would result in two field activities co-located at Fort Meade – the American Forces Information Service and DMA – and directed several actions.

• Consolidate the American Forces Information Service with DMA.
• Include the internal media elements of the U.S. Marine Corps that were not addressed in the BRAC 2005 decision.
• Establish DMA on January 1, 2008.
• Transfer the funds and people from the legacy organizations to DMA on October 1, 2009.

DMA's chartering directive, DoD Directive 5105.74, Defense Media Activity, was published on December 18, 2007.

DMA was formally established on January 1, 2008, and the people and funding from the predecessor organizations were transferred to DMA on October 1, 2008. The elements required to move to Fort Meade by the BRAC 2005 decision remained in their facilities as their facility at Fort Meade was designed and constructed. The building design was completed in September 2008.

On March 13, 2009, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Baltimore District, awarded a $56,195,000 contract to Hensel Phelps Construction Co. of Chantilly, Virginia, to construct DMA's headquarters and media production center in Fort Meade, Maryland. It is a 185,870 square-foot facility built to house approximately 660 personnel. The building was completed in May 2011, and organizations began moving into the facility in June 2011. The move was completed in August 2011. DMA elements located in the Pentagon, Washington, D.C., Tobyhanna Army Depot, Riverside, California, and all overseas locations remained in place.