Trump taps Marine general as DIA director
President Donald Trump nominated a Marine general who helped usher the Corps through two clean financial audits — the first and only time any military branch has done so — to head the Defense Intelligence Agency.
Lt. Gen. James Adams III was nominated as director of the DIA last week, according to a notification to Congress which did not list the position he would be assigned to. The Pentagon released Adams’ nomination information on Tuesday amid a slew of general officer assignments.
Adams is currently the deputy commandant for programs and resources, which oversees the Marine Corps’ financial requirements. His military biography does not list any background in intelligence, a thread among some Trump nominees who have little experience with the type of work done by the organizations they’ve been picked to lead.
The Trump administration ousted DIA director Air Force Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Kruse last August, leaving the intelligence agency without a Senate-confirmed leader for five months.
The month before his ouster, the DIA developed a preliminary assessment that said U.S. military strikes against Iran’s nuclear facilities only set Tehran’s nuclear program back by months — undercutting Trump’s assertion that it had been “completely and totally obliterated,” CNN reported.
The DIA assessment wrought immediate backlash from the Trump administration.
Adams began his career as a AH-1W Super Cobra pilot and deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan multiple times, according to his military biography. As a field grade officer, he held roles in programming, resourcing and aviation.
In 2024, the Marine Corps announced that it had passed a full financial audit during Adams’ tenure, which neither the Pentagon nor any of the other services have yet to achieve. The Corps announced last February that it had passed the audit for a second year in a row, garnering praise from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
If confirmed, Adams would lead a 16,500-person workforce tasked with providing intelligence support to the Defense Department, including advising Hegseth and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine.
The Pentagon’s announcement also said Marine Lt. Gen. Melvin “Jerry” Carter — who has experience in cyber and intelligence roles — has been nominated to serve as the military affairs advisor to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. Carter is currently serving as the Corps’ deputy commandant for information.
Additionally, Marine Maj. Gen. Joseph Matos III was tapped for promotion to lieutenant general and would take over Carter’s old position as deputy commandant for information, if confirmed. Matos is currently serving as commander of Marine Forces Cyberspace Command, Marine Forces Space Command, Joint Force Headquarters-Cyber, and Marine Corps Information Command, according to the Pentagon.
