Pros
The COCOMs (most of them) are good places to work. Good mission, Good people, and probably some of the most interesting things you'll ever get to deal with. Stay away from the Belt Way
Cons
DIA is severely broken. It mostly happened under the former leadership. There are many, many things that those folks did to muck-up the DIA, but let’s just look at promotions right now. The promotion system is perfectly designed to screw over the employees. It’s almost like HR has purposely set you up for failure. First you have to spend an enormous amount of man hours putting together a promotion packet - that packet then goes to your boss for his review and comments - then the packet makes its way to a local hiring board - if you pass that it gets sent to the next higher hiring board. Then they bring in all these senior GG14/15s from all over the country and the world to DIA HQ in DC (and let’s not even try to get into the amount of man-hours, travel, and per diem involved here, okay?) and these folks look at 100s of promotion packets in like a week or two. One hiring manager admitted that they only spent 20 to 30 seconds on each packet – a packet you spent 80+ man-hours producing. The percentage of those who actually get promoted is very low. So - let's say you pass this board – and you are now "promotable" and free to compete for the next higher position you can find. That's the trick, see - most people want a promotion AND stay in place or at the very least the same city/locale. Chances are, there are only a very few DIA positions at the next higher rank available where you are located. So that means you have to either get on DIA’s Job Market on the intra-web or put your name in the Annual Career Assignments Program (ACAP) bin and hope to pick up a position there. The ACAP is a total crap-shoot. Yes, there are 100s of positions listed - but you can only get a position if the person currently in that position gets his or her position, you follow? It's a domino theory way of doing things - and unless the stars are perfectly aligned - you're not likely to get a job you want through ACAP. But lets say you get selected. WooHoo! Right? Nope, that's just being selected for an interview. Whether through DIA's Job Market or through ACAP, you still have to compete for that position. So let’s say you are a GG12 (promotable) looking at a GG13 position; you will likely have to compete with current 13’s who have more experience than you OR will be competing against GG12’s who already work in that department and are just moving up. And the local leadership doesn't exactly play fair, the cards are stacked against you. EXAMPLE: They will get with their human resources and ask to get a GG13 position downgraded to a GG12/13 position so they can move their selected guy in their own office into that space – and he gets the job AND the promotion. Easy peasy nice and easy - - for him. Not so much for you, the chances of you actually getting promoted are pretty slim. So let’s jump forward to the end of the year, and you have been unable to find a next-higher position suitable to your needs. DIA will turn around and offer you whatever they have left in the position bin. Imagine jobs in the worse places in the world that nobody wants, that’s generally what you have to choose from. There is a reason why those positions are empty, right? And you look at where you are now and say, “ya know what, DIA? I think I’ll just stay where I am.” And DIA replies, “That’s fine. But you are now no longer promotable – and you won’t be able to apply for a promotion again for TWO YEARS.” And two years later you go through the whole mess again. They say the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. That, dear reader, is how the DIA promotion system works. Or doesn’t work, depending you perspective.