Fort George G. Meade: The First 100 Years

The Next 100 Years
This whole dang book talks about Fort Meade’s history:
Patton, Eisenhower, Hello Girls, a dog named Joe, and so
on and so forth.
So, you shouldn’t be surprised this article on Fort Meade’s
transformation isn’t different, save a few exceptions: The
pictures will be in color, have a bit more gender equity,
and unlike the articles that talked about what the Fort was,
this piece will give you a glimpse into what we’ll be.
When I signed into the U.S. Army Student Detachment
at the Defense Information School in the summer of ‘98,
I was already ready to leave–drill sergeants have a way of
doing that to a private. Back then, I ran PT around the trail
that circled the golf course, partied with fellow DINFOS
students in the checkerboard room at McGill, as well as
in the woods around the golf course and dodged NSA
SUVs so I could use the no-fee ATM in the Agency’s
headquarters.
When I officially became a DINFOS-trained killer three
months later, I’d fallen in love with the place and vowed
to come back. Ten years, two tours to the desert, a family
and honorable discharge later, I finally made it back.
And when I arrived in 2008, things pretty much looked
the same, but there were whispers about this thing called
BRAC and how it was going to change the landscape of
the fort.
Little did anyone know that BRAC 2005 was only the
tip of the iceberg in Fort Meade’s transformation: An
ongoing process that’s turned the old golf course into
the DoD’s headquarters for the “Fifth domain of human
conflict and competition,” built Fort Meade into Team
Meade, and ultimately transformed our little post in
western Anne Arundel County into the Nation’s Center
for Information, Intelligence and Cyber Operations.
Of course, changing Fort Meade from the former
shortcut between Odenton and Laurel into the DoD’s
primary power projection platform for all things cyber
didn’t happen overnight.
The transformation began in the first years of the new
century when the community started rallying together to
ensure Fort Meade wasn’t a loser in the BRAC 2005.
“My boss, Senator Mikulski, had always focused on
CYBERSPACE AND THE FUTURE
By Chad Jones
“Jobs Today, Jobs Tomorrow” and a negative BRAC
outcome was perceived as a possible threat to one of the
largest employers in Maryland,” said Denise Nooe who
served as Senator Barbara Mikulski’s primary liaison with
the Fort Meade region.
It’s safe to say Mikulski, along with the rest of the
Maryland delegation and state officials did a good job
rallying support, and Fort Meade didn’t just win BRAC
2005, they crushed it by gaining three separate agencies
that would call Fort Meade home in 2011: The Defense
Information Systems Agency, The Defense Media
Activity, and the Defense Adjudications, which really
brought together 10 organizations under one roof.
Senator Benjamin Cardin called BRAC “a consolidation”
and it brought about 5,600 employees and a few million
square feet of office space. DISA’s HQ was approximately
the size of the Arundel Mills Mall (Pre-Maryland Live).
DMA was smaller, but being PAO, it was also my favorite
because it solidified Fort Meade’s place as the DOD’s
home for Public Affairs. Adjudications was the smallest
of the three, but we all know Fort Meade runs on security
clearances.
According to the law, all three organizations had to be
up and operational by 2011, which meant there was a lot
of work to be done on and off post. Keeping everyone
in synch and on message quickly became a task for the
garrison commander: For me it was retired Col. Dan
Thomas, retired Col. Ed Rothstein, Col. Brian Foley, and
current garrison commander Col. Tom Rickard.
Looking at how things worked out, I have to give the
Army credit for picking the right leaders for the right
time.
Col. Thomas took over for retired Col. Ken McCreedy
in 2008, and was charged with getting the facilities
built, which meant finding free space in a place that was
already pretty tight–except, of course, for the big open
space smack-dap in the middle of the post, aka, the golf
course. To say people weren’t happy with the prospect
of The Courses going the way of the dodo would be an
understatement.
I mean how dare the DoD prioritize the future of
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