United States Army Security Agency The United States Army Security Agency (ASA) was the United States Army's signals intelligence branch from 1945 to 1976. The Latin motto of the Army Security Agency was ''Semper Vigiles'' (Vigilant Always), which echoes the declaration, often ...

(USASA) Field Station Augsburg was the site of a

Wullenweber The Wullenweber (the original name introduced by Dr. Hans Rindfleisch was Wullenwever) is a type of Circularly Disposed Antenna Array (CDAA) sometimes referred to as a Circularly Disposed Dipole Array (CDDA). It is a large circular antenna array ...

AN/FLR-9 The AN/FLR-9 is a type of very large circular "Wullenweber" antenna array, built at eight locations during the cold war for HF/DF direction finding of high priority targets. The worldwide network, known collectively as "Iron Horse", could locate H ...

(V8) radio direction finder, established during the

Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...

. Field Station Augsburg was located on Gablingen Kaserne, near the village of Gablingen just north of Augsburg in Bavaria, West Germany. It was one of nearly 20 field stations positioned strategically around the world by the U.S. Armed Forces during the Cold War. Field Station Augsburg opened in 1970Army.Mil Field Station Augsburg Established 1970
/ref> and closed in 1998, at which time it was turned over to the German government. US Army INSCOM DUI

The Station was owned and managed by the

National Security Agency The National Security Agency (NSA) is a national-level intelligence agency of the United States Department of Defense, under the authority of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI). The NSA is responsible for global monitoring, collecti ...

and staffed by the U.S. Army Security Agency (USASA), which later became

U.S. Army Intelligence and Security Command The United States Army Intelligence and Security Command (INSCOM) is a direct reporting unit that conducts intelligence, security, and information operations for United States Army commanders, partners in the Intelligence Community, and nationa ...

(INSCOM), in conjunction with other branches of the U.S. Military and various allied forces. Personnel assigned to Field Station Augsburg were composed[ of individuals who scored high enough on the Army entrance exams to be classified as "ST" or a skilled technician, which is the Army's top-ranked job category. The Station was staffed 24 hours a day, by means of rotating shifts. There was a saying in the 1970s that if the intelligence units were able to effectively do their job, the combat units wouldn't have to do theirs. The Station's mission was to monitor the communications of Cold War enemy nations, their allies, and client states around the world. The information gathered was time-sensitive and, based on its importance and classification, that information was collected, analyzed and passed through intelligence channels on a "real-time" basis. Personnel assigned to the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Operations Battalions and the Support (Service and Maintenance) Battalion, and the successor Military Intelligence (MI) units (701st Military Intelligence Brigade - 711th, 712th, 713th, & 714th MI Battalions) at Field Station Augsburg served as Morse and non-Morse Cryptologists, Voice Intercept, and Radio Direction-Finding Operators, as well as Traffic Analysts, Equipment Repair and Cryptanalysis/Cryptanalytic Technicians. A Company of the 204th Military Intelligence Battalion was assigned to nearby Augsburg in 1991 until U.S. operations at the station ultimately ceased in 1998. With the end of the Cold War, Field Station Augsburg lost much of its strategic value. It is currently reputedly used by the

Bundesnachrichtendienst The Federal Intelligence Service (German: ; , BND) is the foreign intelligence agency of Germany, directly subordinate to the Chancellor's Office. The BND headquarters is located in central Berlin and is the world's largest intelligence head ...

. The Wullenweber / Flair-9 antenna is still in place as of March 2022.

References

External links

Field Station Augsburg 1970's-90's Reunion Facebook GroupField Station Augsburg Reunion Sitegroups.io (formerly Yahoo) Webgroup for Augsburg Ops veterans
Installations of the United States Army in Germany National Security Agency facilities Military installations closed in 1998 20th century in Augsburg Buildings and structures in Augsburg Federal Intelligence Service {{Bavaria-geo-stub