Serving Those Who Protect … Protecting Those Who Serve
Within the Department of the Navy, the Naval Criminal Investigative Service is the civilian federal law enforcement agency uniquely responsible for investigating felony crime, preventing terrorism and protecting secrets for the Navy and Marine Corps.
NCIS will defeat threats from across the foreign intelligence, terrorist and criminal spectrum by conducting operations and investigations ashore, afloat, and in cyberspace, in order to protect and preserve the superiority of the Navy and Marine Corps warfighters.
Comprised of about 2,000 personnel, with more than 1,000 serving as federal Special Agents, NCIS is unique among U.S. military criminal investigative organizations as it is a civilian-ran agency and is headed by a civilian law enforcement professional who reports directly to the Secretary of the Navy.
Today, NCIS operates in approximately 191 locations, in more than 41 countries. Given the organization's worldwide forward presence, NCIS is often the first federal law enforcement agency on the scene when U.S. interests overseas are affected. In addition to serving at major naval commands around the world, NCIS Special Agents deploy aboard all Navy aircraft carriers and with amphibious task forces. NCIS agents routinely conduct advances before U.S. Navy ships visit non-Navy ports, working with domestic and foreign counterparts to identify and mitigate security threats. NCIS also conducts protective service operations for senior naval officials and visiting dignitaries.
The agency's global beat, relatively modest force structure, and jurisdictional mosaic – NCIS frequently operates in locations where local, state, or foreign law enforcement agencies have primary jurisdiction – means that partnering with other law enforcement entities is essential. NCIS agents routinely work with local, state, federal, and foreign law enforcement and security agencies to address criminal incidents, identify and mitigate threats to U.S. naval forces and assets, and pursue joint proactive operations.
As part of its ongoing effort to expand its ties with other agencies, NCIS personnel often provide law enforcement and security force training, share "lessons learned" in behavioral assessment, host seminars on Cold Case resolution, and more. NCIS has also pioneered information-sharing between federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies with its Law Enforcement Information Exchange (LInX) program, enabling unprecedented exchanges of criminal data between agencies in eight major regions of the U.S. Overseas; NCIS has also spearheaded new efforts to share information with counterpart agencies.
NCIS continues to support and pursue new and innovative ways to partner with the international law enforcement community, and is always seeking new partners.