Navy Intelligence Specialists — IS rating — served in fleet intelligence organizations, naval intelligence support centers, and shipboard intelligence departments aboard aircraft carriers and large combatants. Intelligence Specialists analyzed aerial and satellite imagery, signals intelligence, and tactical intelligence data supporting operational commanders. IS ratings were assigned to shore commands including the Naval Intelligence Support Center at Suitland, Maryland; the Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI); fleet intelligence centers; and carrier battle group and fleet headquarters intelligence departments. The IS rating was established as a formal enlisted specialty in the early Cold War era. Naval intelligence shore facilities — including older government buildings, naval station command facilities, and intelligence center buildings — used WWII-era and Cold War-era construction with asbestos-containing materials, creating asbestos exposure for intelligence personnel working in these facilities.

Intelligence Shore Facility Construction and Asbestos

Naval intelligence shore facilities incorporated asbestos in their building construction:

  • Naval Intelligence Support Center and intelligence center buildings — the Naval Intelligence Support Center at Suitland, Maryland and other intelligence center buildings used for naval intelligence analysis and processing operations used WWII-era and Cold War-era government building construction with asbestos floor tile, asbestos ceiling products, and asbestos-containing pipe insulation in the facility mechanical systems. Intelligence Specialists spending extended work periods in these office and intelligence facility buildings were in daily proximity to the asbestos-containing floor and ceiling materials in the building construction
  • Secure facility construction — naval intelligence facilities requiring physical security incorporated various construction materials in the secure compartmented information facility (SCIF) construction, with older SCIF construction in WWII-era government buildings using standard asbestos-containing construction materials of the period in the building infrastructure

Shipboard Intelligence Department Spaces

IS ratings aboard ships accumulated exposure from ship construction:

  • Carrier intelligence center spaces — Intelligence Specialists assigned to aircraft carrier intelligence centers (CVIC) worked in the carrier’s specialized intelligence analysis spaces, which on WWII Essex class and early Cold War carriers used construction with asbestos-containing materials consistent with the carrier’s overall construction specification
  • SSES and shipboard intelligence spaces — the Ship’s Signals Exploitation Space (SSES) and intelligence analysis compartments on large combatants used shipboard construction with asbestos-containing deck tile, overhead insulation, and construction materials in the interior intelligence space construction

VA Claims for IS Rating Veterans

VA evaluates asbestos-related disability claims on a case-by-case basis. Veterans generally need evidence of in-service asbestos exposure, a current asbestos-related diagnosis, and a medical link between them. Intelligence Specialists who served in WWII-era or Cold War naval intelligence facilities and have since been diagnosed with mesothelioma, asbestosis, or asbestos-related lung cancer may qualify for VA disability benefits.