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 American 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
20th century Initially called Camp Annapolis Junction, the post was opened as "Camp Admiral" in 1917 on acquired for a training camp. The post was called Camp Meade Cantonment by 1918,Supplemental History of Construction at Camp Meade, Including Completion Report of Camp Franklin Signal Corps school.. Admiral, MD: February 1919. Weiss, Dreyfous and Seiferth Office Records, Southeastern Architectural Archive, Special Collections Division, Tulane University Libraries. During the First World War, the garrison included the 154th Depot Brigade, which was commanded for part of the conflict by Brigadier General Tyree R. Rivers.
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, such as the 1st Martin AN/FSG-I Antiaircraft Defense System.A Handbook of Aerospace Defense Organization 1946–1980, by Lloyd H. Cornett and Mildred W. Johnson, Office of History, Aerospace Defense Center, Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado 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.
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 October 1, 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, was transferred from the post to the Patuxent Research Refuge. A planned closure of the post in the 1990s was not implemented, and the Defense Information School moved to the fort in 1995. The 311th Signal Command headquarters was at Fort Meade from 1996 to September 2006.
21st century 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.Larry Whitley, , Ft. Meade Soundoff, February 14, 2018. Fort Meade is currently undergoing another major transformation and is expecting another 8,000-10,000 employees by 2023.
After an August 27, 2007, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency order to assess the contamination at 14 hazardous waste sites on Fort Meade, such as an ordnance disposal area, 1940s waste dump, closed sanitary landfill,Fort George G. Meade: Current Site Information, Environmental Protection Agency, retrieved January 24, 2008 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 that it is "taking steps to limit the environmental damage."Steve Vogel, "U.S. Agency Assails Ft. Meade Plan: Impact Report Cites Concerns About Traffic and Environment, Washington Post, September 22, 2007
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 County, Virginia, was at the agency's Fort Meade complex of .
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.
Security incidents Alleged gunman Hong Young was arrested in connection with shootings at five public places in Maryland, including an NSA building, theaters and occupied vehicles in late February 2015. No motive has been established but his estranged wife attributed his behavior to mental issues, and he told police he heard voices telling him to shoot at a random driver.
On March 30, 2015, National Security Agency police officers shot and killed a person who attempted to drive an SUV through a restricted entrance to the NSA campus in Fort Meade, Maryland. A passenger in the SUV was injured, as was an officer, and both were treated at a hospital. President Obama was briefed but the FBI determined "we do not believe it is related to terrorism."
On February 14, 2018, National Security Agency police officers shot and wounded an individual who rammed an SUV into a barricade near an entry gate outside of the facility. In the immediate aftermath of the event, the NSA announced that there was "no ongoing security or safety threat."
Geography Fort Meade is bordered by the Baltimore–Washington Parkway on the west and is about 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.
United States Army United States Army Civil Affairs & Psychological Operations Command (Airborne)
352nd Civil Affairs Command United States Army Corps of Engineers
North Atlantic Division Baltimore District Bay Area Office
United States Army Criminal Investigation Command
68th Military Police Detachment (CID)
United States Army Forces Command
First Army Division East 72nd Field Artillery Brigade 3rd Training Support Battalion
United States Army Intelligence & Security Command
704th Military Intelligence Brigade Headquarters and Headquarters Company 741st Military Intelligence Battalion 742nd Military Intelligence Battalion (Network Warfare) 780th Military Intelligence Brigade Headquarters and Headquarters Company 781st Military Intelligence Battalion 902nd Military Intelligence Group Headquarters and Headquarters Detachment 308th Military Intelligence Battalion
United States Army Recruiting Command
1st Recruiting Brigade Medical Recruiting Brigade 1st Medical Recruiting Battalion
United States Army Reserve
48th Combat Support Hospital 200th Military Police Command
United States Army Training and Doctrine Command
Asymmetric Warfare Group
Maryland Army National Guard
32nd Civil Support Team
Other 241st Military Police Detachment 55th Signal Company (Combat Camera) Army Audit Agency Army Public Affairs Center Forensic Toxicology Drug Testing Laboratory US Army Field Band
United States Marines Marine Corps Forces Cyberspace Command
Headquarters Marine Corps Cyberspace Command
Marine Corps Information Command
Marine Cryptologic Support Battalion Headquarters Marine Cryptologic Support Battalion Company B Company L
United States Air Force Air Combat Command
Sixteenth Air Force 70th Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Wing Headquarters 70th Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Wing 70th Operations Support Squadron 659th Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance Group 7th Intelligence Squadron 41st Intelligence Squadron 691st Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance Group 22nd Intelligence Squadron 29th Intelligence Squadron 34th Intelligence Squadron 707th Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance Group 32nd Intelligence Squadron 94th Intelligence Squadron 707th Communications Squadron 707th Force Support Squadron
Air Force Reserve Command
Tenth Air Force 655th Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Wing 655th Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Group 16th Intelligence Squadron 512th Intelligence Squadron
United States Navy United States Fleet Cyber Command (United States Tenth Fleet)
Cryptologic Warfare Group Six
Department of Defense Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency
Consolidated Adjudications Facility
Defense Information Systems Agency
Headquarters Defense Information Systems Agency
Defense Media Activity
Headquarters Defense Media Activity Defense Information School United States Cyber Command
Headquarters United States Cyber Command
United States Transportation Command
Defense Courier Service Defense Courier Station, Baltimore
Defense Logistics Agency DLA – Disposition Services
United States Department of the Navy Naval Criminal Investigative Service
Department of the Navy Central Adjudication Facility
United States Environmental Protection Agency
Environmental Science Center
Library of Congress
Book Storage Facility
National Security Agency
Headquarters National Security Agency
Library of Congress Fort Meade is used as a storage facility for the United States Library of Congress.
In 1994, a 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.