Hollywood and humor come to service of defense intelligence agency

That’s exactly what DIA’s new podcast, DIA Connections, was going for, a broad audience to hear its stories of humor, history, and compelling and unexpected work for the American people.

“Our mission doesn’t just provide intelligence,” Valencia Holland of DIA’s office of corporate communications told the Washington Examiner. “We wanted to show how we are touching real people, how we’re involved in the real things that go on in the United States.”

On its third podcast, Riggle does an impersonation of Bill Murray in Stripes and tells stories ranging from a frustrating New York City Dr. Scholl’s audition to his feelings on active-duty deployment to Kosovo, when discerning friend and foe was challenging.

“The thing that always bothered me was the civilian-military chasm,” he tells DIA Director Army Lt. Gen. Robert P. Ashley Jr. at one point.

“The military is just a microcosm of society,” he said. “We have all these wonderful talents: they may be infantry, they may be artillery, they may be intelligence. Whatever they do, they have lives, and they have personalities, and they have skills outside of those things just like everybody else.”

As one of the U.S. government’s 17 intelligence agencies, the DIA’s 16,500 civilian and military employees spread across the globe are working to provide intelligence on foreign militaries “to prevent and win wars,” according to its mission.

Nearly half its employees are stationed outside Washington, D.C., at national intelligence centers, combatant commands, combat zones, and defense attache offices at America’s overseas embassies.

Its mission differs from that of the CIA because of its focus on military intelligence, explained Holland.

“What’s in an adversary playbook, so to speak,” said Holland. “The war fighters, the policymakers, and the leaders rely on DIA to combine all sorts of intelligence and to give them that decision advantage.”

Holland said the podcast also aims to tell how DIA is part of the community, and much of its work has a domestic impact.

The first episode of DIA Connections describes how DIA officers are helping to stop the global production and distribution of fentanyl, the synthetic opioid that has contributed to the deaths of thousands of Americans.

Coming podcasts will look at DIA’s intelligence support for the return of POW/MIA remains from Vietnam and how DIA was involved in the return of Jessica Buchanan, an aid worker who was held by Somali pirates for 93 days.

The range of stories reflect the diversity of the agency’s workforce, Holland said. For brainstorming sessions, a dozen members of the communications team throw all kinds of ideas at the wall to see what sticks.

“We have a solid mix of age ranges, ethnic backgrounds that come to make a balanced story,” she said.

The result is a professionally produced podcast that moves quickly. Mood music deepens the storytelling for vignettes, such as when Riggle talks about being called up from Marine Corps Reserve Sept. 12, 2001, to serve on “bucket brigade,” 12-hour shifts removing rubble by hand from the fallen towers and searching for survivors, then searching for remains when the mission changed.

Public service announcement breaks with compelling music promote the DIA’s unclassified products, including China and Iran military power reports that can be downloaded by anyone.

But at the core of the production is its engaging entertainment value.

“Never pick up the phone at 1700,” Riggle said at one point, describing a public affairs job for the Marine Corps in Manhattan. At the time, he was trying to launch his budding comedy career in the evenings — until duty called.

“Somebody from the Pentagon was saying, ‘Is this Capt. Riggle?’”

“Yeah.”

“How do you feel about the phrase, ‘Leaving on a jet plane?’”

“I don’t know, Sir. How do I feel about it?”

“You feel good because you’re leaving on a jet plane, Riggle!”