Intelligence is one of the primary factors of a successful military.
When we look back in history at both good and evil military regimes, they were able to defeat nearly all their enemies with the use of intelligence.
The United States Army has one of the most sophisticated intelligence and security commands in the military world.
They are well budgeted so that we can be sure that our intelligence is as good as, if not better than the intelligence operations of other country’s militaries.
In today’s post, we are going to provide 10 cool facts about the U.S. Army Intelligence and Security Command (INSCOM).
If you work for, or have worked within INSCOM and have added facts you would like to share, please do so in the comments area at the end of this post.
1: Creation
Courtesy of Wikipedia CommonsArmy intelligence has been important since General George Washington’s days of leading the Continental Army.
One of the issues that was discovered is the separation of the various intelligence systems within the U.S. Army.
In 1977, the U.S. Army Intelligence and Security Command (INSCOM) was created and organized at Arlington Hall Station, Virginia.
All Army intelligence would now be controlled by INSCOM.
This created a merger of various organizations in the Army including:
The U.S. Army Intelligence Agency headquarters
The U.S. Army Security Agency
The Signal Intelligence and Security organizations
The Counterintelligence and Human Intelligence Agency from Fort Meade, Maryland
and other intelligence services under the Assistant Chief of Staff for Intelligence
The 1st Commander was Brigadier General William Rolya.
2: Headquarters
The headquarters for the U.S. Army Intelligence and Security Command (INSCOM) are at Fort Belvoir, Virginia.
3: Army and National Security
This is a fact that many people do not know or realize. INSCOM is an organization and command within the Army, but it is also an organization of the National Security Agency (NSA).
The intelligence agencies of the United States Navy and Air Force are also within the NSA and are collectively known as the Central Security Service.
4: Primary Mission of INSCOM
The primary mission of INSCOM is to collect intelligence information in all disciplines, and to provide unit commanders intelligence for the battlefield with a focus on combat power.
5: Operational Visions
INSCOM has several operational visions which include:
Conducting relevant intelligence, security and information operations to support the U.S. Army, along with joint forces.
Optimizing tactical partnerships.
Exploiting leading edge technology.
Meeting and surpassing all challenges for today, tomorrow and the 21st century.
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6: Parapsychologic Research
INSCOM has done many studies in the use of parapsychology.
They wanted to see if the paranormal such as ESP could be used in the gathering of intelligence information.
Many of wonder what all INSCOM learned, but for the most part, this information is all completely top secret.
7: Systems That INSCOM Has Developed
INSCOM has been a major player in new technologies in the gathering of intelligence.
Some of the systems created include:
The Sandcrab Jammer which is a tactical communication jamming system.
The Army portion of the Joint Surveillance and Target Attack Radar System (JSTARS).
Trackwolf which is a high-frequency locator system.
- Airborne Reconnaissance Low which is an intelligence gathering system from a low-flying aircraft.
Trojan Spirit is a deployable intelligence communication system.
These are just a few, and because of secrecy, I am sure there are many more we do not know about.
8: Subordinate Commands
There are a large amount of subordinate commands under the INSCOM umbrella.
They include:
1st Information Operations Command (Land): Fort Belvoir, Virginia. Commander – Colonel James Skelton
National Ground Intelligence Center: Charlottesville, Virginia
66th Military Intelligence Brigade: Wiesbaden Army Airfield, Germany. Commander – Colonel David Pendall
Army JSTARS: Robins Air Force Base, Georgia
116th Military Intelligence Brigade: Fort Gordon, Georgia
Army Operations Group: Fort Meade, Maryland
- 207th Military Intelligence Brigade: Caserma Ederle, Vicenza, Italy
Army Field Support Center: Fort Meade, Maryland
- 300th Military Intelligence Brigade: Draper, Utah
- Army Cryptologic Operations: Fort Meade, Maryland
470th Military Intelligence Brigade: Fort Sam Houston, Texas. Commander – Colonel James Royce
- 902nd Military Intelligence Group: Fort Meade, Maryland
500th Military Intelligence Brigade: Schofield Barracks, Hawaii. Commander – Colonel Conner
780th Military Intelligence Brigade: Fort Meade, Maryland. Commander – Colonel John Branch
501st Military Intelligence Brigade: Korea. Commander – Colonel Derrick Lee
706th Military Intelligence Group: Fort Gordon, Georgia
505th Military Intelligence Brigade: Fort Sam Houston, Texas
704th Military Intelligence Brigade: Fort Meade, Maryland
513th Military Intelligence Brigade: Fort Gordon, Georgia. Commander – Colonel Eric Heist
9: INSCOM Leadership
INSCOM’s leaders consist of:
Commanding General – Major General Christopher Ballard
Deputy Commanding General – Brigadier General Robert Michnowicz
Command Chief Warrant Officer – CW5 Wendy Ann Wayman
Command Sergeant Major – CSM Dayron Vargas
These INSCOM leaders are quite competent at their positions and are training future leaders.
10: INSCOM Employment
The U.S. Army Intelligence and Security Command is always on the “look out” for capable employees both in the military and civilian.
You can visit the following links to attain more information on INSCOM employment:
Army Civilian Opportunities
Army Recruitment
Army National Guard Jobs
Final Thoughts
Intelligence and security are very important in the United States Army and the Department of Defense.
These are Army jobs that will never go away because of their extreme importance.
So, what are your thoughts?
Do you have any questions or any added facts about INSCOM?
Just post any and all in the comment area below.
References
United States Army Intelligence & Security Command (USA INSCOM)
- INSCOM (United States Army Intelligence and Security Command) at Encyclopedia.com
- United States Army Intelligence and Security Command at Wikipedia
Chuck Holmes
Former Army Major (resigned)
Publisher, Part-Time-Commander.com
Email: mrchuckholmes@gmail.com
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