The Department of Defense Distinguished Civilian Service Award is the highest civilian award

Awards and decorations of the United States government

Awards and decorations of the United States government are civilian awards of the U.S. federal government which are typically issued for sustained meritorious service, in a civilian capacity, while serving in the U.S. federal government. Certain U.S...

 given by the United States Department of Defense

United States Department of Defense

The United States Department of Defense is the U.S...

. This award and accompanying Distinguished Civilian Service Medal is the Department's highest award given to career DoD civilian employees whose careers reflect exceptional devotion to duty and whose contributions to the efficiency, economy, or other improvements in DoD operations are of a significantly broad scope

First recipient

Originally, the Distinguished Civilian Service Medal was awarded by United States Department of War

United States Department of War

The United States Department of War, also called the War Department , was the United States Cabinet department originally responsible for the operation and maintenance of the United States Army...

 for work in the intelligence service. Earl H. Pritchard

Earl H. Pritchard

Earl H. Pritchard was a scholar of China and one of the founders of the Association for Asian Studies and served as its president....

 was the first recipient of the award for his service from 1942 to 1945 when he was a civilian analyst with military intelligence

Military intelligence

Military intelligence is a military discipline that exploits a number of information collection and analysis approaches to provide guidance and direction to commanders in support of their decisions....

 during the Second World War.