Defense Attaché System

Defense Attache Offices (DAO) operate from U.S. embassies in more than a hundred locations globally.

From July 1951 to March 1952 the Secretary of Defense, at Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) urging, established a limited Executive Agent System in support of attache operations.

The DoD's Office of Special Operations (OSO) negotiated with the Department of State for opening the attache systems.

Artificial barriers to a free exchange of information between the branches and the JCS existed, and the coordination of attache activities with other DoD elements was difficult.

The cost to DoD in sponsoring up to three separate elements in a single country amounted to the inefficient use of limited resources.