The NGIC provides scientific and technical intelligence (S&T) and general military intelligence (GMI) on foreign ground forces in support of the warfighting commanders, force and material developers, Department of the Army, Department of Defense, and National-level decisionmakers.

The NGIC also manages the Army's Foreign Materiel Exploitation Program and foreign material acquisition requirements, and constitutes a single authoritative source for comprehensive ground forces threat to the Army and other services.

(Chapter 8, Army Field Manual 34–37, Preliminary Draft) The center is located in northern Albemarle County, Virginia, just north of Charlottesville.

NGIC was created on 8 July 1994, by merging the US Army Foreign Science and Technology Center (FSTC) and the US Army Intelligence and Threat Analysis Center (ITAC).

(INSCOM Permanent Order 41-1, 3 June 1994) The Air Force counterpart to NGIC is the National Air and Space Intelligence Center, located at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio.