On January 15, 1953, Brig. Gen. Harry Reichelderfer assumed command of the Army Safety Company (ASA). An extended-serving Sign Corps officer, Reichelderfer would function the ASA chief for nearly 4 years, offering a lot wanted stability within the eight-year-old group.
The 57-year-old Reichelderfer obtained his Army fee simply after america entered World Battle I. Earlier than becoming a member of the Sign Corps in 1921, he served as an infantry officer with the twenty seventh Infantry in Siberia in 1919-1920. As a Sign Corps officer, he proved a succesful administrator with a specific expertise for fight growth. He served because the commander or deputy for the Sign Corps’ Sound Laboratory (1922-1924); Plane Radio Laboratory (1935-1938 & 1940); and Engineering Laboratory (1949-1951). He additionally served because the commander of each the Sign Corps Coaching Heart at Fort Gordon, Georgia (1948-1949) and Sign Corps Heart at Fort Monmouth, New Jersey (1951). On the operational aspect, Reichelderfer served because the sign officer for Gen. Walter Kruger’s Sixth Army within the Southwest Pacific Space throughout World Battle II. Briefly, Reichelderfer took command of ASA with a great inventory of administrative and operational expertise.
When Reichelderfer assumed command, ASA was a world-wide group of simply over 13,000 uniformed personnel (1,270 officers, 167 warrants, and 11,606 enlisted). These troops had been divided into thirty-six desk of group and gear (TOE) models and thirty desk of distribution (TD) organizations. The TOE models operated from cell intercept positions and had been meant to immediately assist the Army’s forces within the subject. The TD organizations included twelve subject stations that supported nationwide assortment efforts. General, ASA’s personnel power was divided virtually equally between TOE models, subject stations, and administrative teams. The ASA historical past for FY53 acknowledged: “The general company power was thought of passable; ASA colleges had been at peak load; and company recruiting actions had been as a rule assembly established month-to-month quotas.”
To function the company, Reichelderfer had a finances of $14.8 million. The company allotted slightly below 58 p.c of the finances ($8.4 million) to procurement of cryptologic gear. One other $2 million went to gear for subject stations and cell models, whereas $2 million paid the civilians.
The company’s obligations had been evolving with the institution of the Nationwide Safety Company (NSA) in 1952. ASA’s mission remained mainly the identical: assist nationwide assortment with the sector stations and assist the Army’s subject forces with the cell models. But, NSA’s centralized authority required changes to ASA packages. For instance, ASA leaders dropped industrial mobilization and different joint initiatives and as an alternative focused on army personnel readiness. ASA additionally obtained new necessities for each TOE and TD models beneath NSA.
To satisfy the brand new obligations and to regulate oversea models, Reichelderfer might depend on theater and regional headquarters. The most important two of those headquarters had been ASA Pacific (3,829 personnel) and ASA Europe (3,788 personnel). Each headquarters oversaw the operations of subject stations, 4 within the Pacific and three in Germany. Within the Pacific, company leaders paid specific consideration to supporting operations in Korea. Whereas truce negotiations had been inching nearer to an settlement to finish the battle, ASA nonetheless maintained a heavy presence with 9 tactical models (one group, three battalions, and 5 firms). Particularly, the company labored towards bettering its low-level voice intercept operations in Korea. ASA Europe had one group, two battalions, and 9 company-sized models.
Along with its two massive theater headquarters, ASA had 4 smaller regional headquarters for Alaska, Austria, the Caribbean, and Hawaii. Each ASA Alaska and ASA Hawaii managed small subject station operations. ASA Alaska additionally operated a company-sized unit to assist Army commanders within the subject, as did ASA Austria. ASA Caribbean was the smallest of the headquarters with about ninety troopers working groups within the Canal Zone and Puerto Rico.
Throughout the ensuing 4 years beneath Common Reichelderfer, ASA prospered. It expanded to an assigned power of 18,213 troopers. With this power, the company fielded thirty TOE models and fifty TD organizations, together with fourteen subject stations and greater than a dozen different monitoring websites. When Reichelderfer turned over command, ASA was in a greater place to fulfill the necessities of the Chilly Battle.
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This piece is written by the U.S. Army Intelligence Heart of Excellence. Need to function your story? Ship your draft right here at the moment.
