CHARLOTTESVILLE -- When the Defense Intelligence Agency brings an estimated 800 employees to Rivanna Station in September, it will join the nearly $110 million defense-related industry already headquartered in central Virginia.
The DIA is relocating much of its intelligence-analysis function to the Albemarle County facility occupied by the National Ground Intelligence Center. The move will improve communications and cooperation between the agencies, officials said.
Area business leaders have heralded the new jobs as good for the area.
"The DIA says the average salary will be $80,000. That means that in October 2010, there will be $64 million more in salaries that aren't here now," said Timothy Hulbert, president and chief executive officer of the Charlottesville Regional Chamber of Commerce. "That's huge."
Not all of the 800 employees DIA wants to bring to town are coming. To compensate, DIA officials are opening some jobs to local residents and proffering contracts for local businesses.
"It's a targeted campaign in that we have specific positions we want to fill," said Laura Donnelly, DIA spokeswoman. "These are known vacancies or anticipated vacancies, so we know the jobs are available."
Defense contracts already stimulate area businesses. In 2008, contracts brought more than $92 million into Charlottesville and $64.4 million into Albemarle.
The federal government spent more than $991 million in defense contracts in central Virginia between 2000 and 2008, according to federal figures, with more than $880 million in Charlottesville and Albemarle.
The contracts include everything from uniforms to laboratory analysis to commissary food. Defense-related companies in the area build weapons systems, targeting systems, radar, navigation, anti-explosive devices and firearms.
The totals do not include the military's Judge Advocate General's Legal Center and School for military lawyers and legal officials at the University of Virginia, nor the Charlottesville-based Federal Executive Institute, operated by the U.S. Office of Personnel Management.
Central Virginia has long had military contractors, beginning with the arrival of Sperry Marine in the 1950s and the Army Foreign Science and Technology Center, which located in downtown Charlottesville in 1962.
That agency expanded in 1994, when it was merged with the Army's Intelligence and Threat Analysis Center and was renamed the National Ground Intelligence Center. In 2001, NGIC left the city and moved to its current location along U.S. 29 in Albemarle.
"As the focus has sharpened with the addition of the DIA and its move, we've become aware of this whole economic sector that has grown almost by itself," Hulbert said. "I don't think we had a grasp of the fact that the Charlottesville area has become a center for the intelligence agencies and organizations."
Hulbert said defense intelligence contracts are a growing source of revenue and income for central Virginians.
"It's important as an economic engine that's here and growing," Hulbert said. "Other companies like General Electric and Sperry Marine that have been here for a while see the growth as a tremendous opportunity. Knowing that NGIC and DIA are here helps cement their commitment to the area."
Bryan McKenzie is a staff writer for The Daily Progress in Charlottesville.
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