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Fort George G. Meade
Near Fort Meade, Maryland in the United States
National Security Agency, 2013.jpg
The National Security Agency headquarters building, a major tenant at Fort G. Meade
Fort G Meade seal.jpg
Coordinates 39°6′25″N 76°44′35″W / 39.10694°N 76.74306°W / 39.10694; -76.74306Coordinates: 39°6′25″N 76°44′35″W / 39.10694°N 76.74306°W / 39.10694; -76.74306
Type US Army installation
Area 5,067 acres (2,051 hectares)
Site information
Owner Department of Defense
Operator US Army
Controlled by US Army Installation Management Command (IMCOM)
Condition Operational
Site history
Built 1917 (1917)
In use 1917–present
Garrison information
Current
commander		 Colonel Christopher M. Nyland

Fort George G. Meade is a United States Army installation located in Maryland, that includes the Defense Information School, the Defense Media Activity, the United States Army Field Band, and the headquarters of United States Cyber Command, the National Security Agency, the Defense Courier Service, Defense Information Systems Agency headquarters, and the U.S. Navy's Cryptologic Warfare Group Six. It is named for George G. Meade, a Union General from the U.S. Civil War, who served as commander of the Army of the Potomac. The fort's smaller census-designated place includes support facilities such as schools, housing, and the offices of the Military Intelligence Civilian Excepted Career Program (MICECP).


History

For the 1898 Camp Meade at Middletown PA and the "Meadeboro" camp near the Pickett's Charge field, see Harrisburg ANGB and 1913 Gettysburg reunion.

Initially called Camp Annapolis Junction, the post was opened as "Camp Admiral" in 1917 on 29.7 sq mi (77 km2) acquired for a training camp. The post was called Camp Meade Cantonment by 1918, Camp Franklin Signal Corps school was located there and in 1919, the Camp Benning tank school—formed from the World War I Camp Colt and Tobyhanna schools—was transferred to the fort before the Tank Corps was disbanded.

Renamed to Fort Leonard Wood (February 1928 – March 5, 1929), the fort's Experimental Motorized Forces in the summer and fall of 1928 tested vehicles and tactics in expedition convoys (Camp Meade observers had joined the in-progress 1919 Motor Transport Corps convoy). In 1929, the fort's 1st Tank Regiment encamped on the Gettysburg Battlefield.

During World War II, Fort Meade was used as a recruit training post and prisoner of war camp, in addition to a holding center for approximately 384 Japanese, German, and Italian immigrant residents of the U.S. arrested as potential fifth columnists. The Second U.S. Army Headquarters transferred to the post on June 15, 1947; and in 1957, the post became headquarters of the National Security Agency.

Cold War air defense

From the 1950s until the 1970s, the Fort Meade radar station had various radar equipment and control systems for air defense (e.g., the 1st Martin AN/FSG-I Antiaircraft Defense System). Fort Meade also had the first Nike Ajax surface-to-air missiles in December 1953 (operational May 1954) and an accidental firing occurred in 1955 with Battery C, 36th AAA Missile Battalion. In 1962, the Army's Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 13th Air Defense Artillery Group, transferred from Meade to Homestead AFB for initial deployment of MIM-23 Hawk missiles, and during the Cuban Missile Crisis, the 6th Battalion (HAWK), 65th Artillery at Fort Meade (a United States Strike Command unit) was deployed to the Miami/Key West area (the 8th Battalion (Hawk) was at the fort in late 1964). Fort Meade bomb disposal experts were dispatched to secure nuclear bombs in the 1964 Savage Mountain B-52 crash.

Expansion

In 1977, a merger organized the fort's U.S. Army Intelligence Agency as part of the United States Army Intelligence and Security Command. On 1 October 1991, a wing of the Air Force Intelligence Command transferred to Fort Meade, and the organization was replaced by the 70th Operations Group on May 1, 2005. In the early 1990s and the Defense Information School moved to the fort in 1995. The 311th Signal Command headquarters was at Fort Meade from 1996 – September 2006. The 70th Intelligence Wing headquarters was established at Fort Meade on July 17, 2000, and the Base Realignment and Closure, 2005, designated Fort Meade to gain 5,700 positions. "Fort Meade currently has more than 54,000 employees (service members and civilians), and is the largest employer in the state of Maryland and second largest installation by employee population in the Army.

Hazardous waste

After an August 27, 2007, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency order to assess the contamination at 14 hazardous waste sites on Fort Meade (e.g., ordnance disposal area, 1940s waste dump, closed sanitary landfill), a September 2007 environmental impact report identified adding two golf courses would be a "significant threat to the biological and territorial integrity of the Patuxent Research Refuge". The US Army responded it is taking steps to limit the environmental damage.

Defense Information Systems Agency

After United States Cyber Command was established at the post in 2009; on April 15, 2011, the Defense Information Systems Agency ribbon-cutting for the move from Arlington, Virginia, was at the agency's Fort Meade complex of 95 acres (38 ha).

Defense Information School

The consolidation of the Defense Information School and the Defense Visual Information School in fiscal 1996 and further consolidation with the Defense Photography School in fiscal 1998 created a single focal point in the Department of Defense for these specialties fields. Advancements in information technology and recent base realignment and closure initiatives have contributed to the evolution of the school. The result is a single school proud of its historical roots and dedicated to serving the diverse requirements for public affairs, broadcasting and visual information.

Geography

Fort Meade is bordered by the Baltimore–Washington Parkway on the west and is about 5 miles (8.0 km) east of Interstate 95. It is located between Washington, D.C. and Baltimore. It is located in proximity to Odenton, Columbia, Jessup, Hanover, Laurel, and Severn.

Based units

Notable military and government units based at Fort George G. Meade.

Library of Congress

Fort Meade is used as a storage facility for the United States Library of Congress.

In 1994, a 100 acres (40 ha) site located in the U.S. Army Base at Fort Meade, MD was transferred to the U.S. Congress to provide additional storage capacity for the Library of Congress and other legislative bodies. The current master plan includes the land to construct up to 13 Phased Storage Modules for collections, if this number is needed.

In subsequent years, Congress provided construction funds in the Architect of the Capitol budget for Module 1, completed in 2002, for Module 2, completed in 2005 and Modules 3 and 4 and four cold storage rooms, completed in 2009. A full-scale three-year transfer program of the special format collections to Modules 3 and 4 and the four cold storage rooms began in Spring 2010 and was completed in September 2012. Module 5 has been fully funded with occupancy scheduled for September 2017.

The state-of-the art Storage Modules are being built to store, preserve and protect the Library's collections. Collections include books and bound periodicals as well as special format collections, such as maps, manuscripts, prints, photographs, sheet music, and microfilm masters. If needed and constructed, the 13 collections storage modules will provide a total of 180,600 gross sq ft of archival storage space for the Library's collections.

Museums

For the NSA-related museum outside of this post, see National Cryptologic Museum.
Not to be confused with the Old Fort Meade Museum at Fort Meade in South Dakota.

The Fort George G. Meade Museum exhibited the post's historical artifacts, including uniforms, insignia, and equipment. The museum also had a small collection of vehicles, including an FT-17, a MK VIII Liberty Tank, an M3A1 Stuart, an M4A3E8 Sherman, an M41 Walker Bulldog, an M47 Patton, armored personnel carriers such as an M113, M114, M84, a Nike Ajax missile, and a UH-1H helicopter. The Fort George G. Meade Community Council noted in July 2018 that the museum would close, with artifacts relocated to the National Museum of the United States Army under construction in Fort Belvoir, Virginia.

Transportation

Since 2005, the NSA operates a shuttle service from the Odenton station of MARC to its Visitor Control Center at Fort Meade. In 2009, the U.S. Army established a similar shuttle service from the Odenton station to the Army section of Fort Meade; the NSA operates this service, allowing garrison employees, persons with Fort Meade visitor passes, and U.S. Department of Defense IDs to board.

Housing concerns

In February 2019, Secretary of the Army Mark Esper, Chief of Staff Mark Milley, and Sgt. Maj. of the Army Daniel A. Dailey met with the commander of IMCOM, the Fort Meade garrison commander, and Army families over safety concerns with housing units on the base in which residents were exposed to lead and asbestos. After speaking with the CEO for the company which manages the house maintenance of the installation, the senior leaders of the Army will determine necessary actions. "We are deeply troubled by the recent reports highlighting the deficient conditions in some of our family housing. It is unacceptable for our families who sacrifice so much to have to endure these hardships in their own homes."—Secretary of the Army, Dr. Mark T. Esper and Chief of Staff of the Army, Gen. Mark A. Milley

Gallery

  • New arrivals at Fort Meade, Maryland. - NARA - 533531

    New recruits arrive, circa 1917–1919

  • Inspection of personnel, Fort George G. Meade, Md (71133)

    Inspection of personnel, circa 1930–1945

  • MI soldiers rehearse first aid procedures 140314-A-FE031-553

    Medical situational training exercise, 2014

  • Nike Ajax (Jeff Kubina)

    Nike missile on display at Fort Meade

  • Pride 140526-F-CJ989-055

    Army soldiers from the Defense Information School lower the flag, 2014

  • Memorial Day Massing of the Colors 150517-A-KU820-058

    Air Force Color Guard march during Massing of the Colors, 2015

  • Officer Houseing Fort Meade Maryland

    Officer housing at Fort Meade

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