Fort Detrick was without a bona fide direction after the demilitarization effort closed down the former BW laboratories in late 1972. The Army Materiel Command (AMC), through the former Munitions Command, had been the overseer of Fort Detrick operations as a series of reductions in force, transfers, and reorganizations began taking place.
A major change occurred in August 1971 when the U.S. Biological Defense Research Center was redesignated and reorganized. It was changed from a research center to a research laboratory. The organization was Fort Detrick's primary opera-tion after the offensive program ceased in 1969.
Demilitarization of the facilities was accomplished as quickly and safely as possible. Work was overseen by federal, Department of Defense, State of Maryland, and local agencies. Buildings were sterilized and facilities made ready for the new tenants.
General Order No. 255 redesignated the former laboratories. It simultaneously established Headquarters, U.S. Army Garrison (USAG) to be landlord of the installation. Resources came from the pool of military members and civilian employees assigned to similar duties. These new members of the headquarters were taken from the authorization of the former laboratory command and staff structure.
Eight months later on April 1, 1972, AMC relinquished control of Fort Detrick. It was assigned to the Office of the Surgeon General of the Army. In addition, Fort Detrick was attached to First U.S. Army Headquarters at Fort George G. Meade for general court martial authority.
Thus, Headquarters, USAG became a separate function charged with maintaining the installation but not the functions of the organizations on post.
The U.S. Army Medical Unit (USAMU), which was established in June 1956, began the move into its new $17.5 million facility as the stand down began in 1970. It was designated the USAMRIID in 1972 under the management of the U.S. Army Medical Research and Development Command (USAMRDC).
In 1973 Project Steadfast reorganized the Army and created the U.S. Army Health Services Command, which was activated April 1, 1973, at Fort Sam Houston, Texas. Fort Detrick officially joined the command July 1, 1973.
The changes brought new organizations to Fort Detrick that had separate chains of command. Such tenants included the Defense Medical Materiel Board (DMMB), now the Joint Readiness Clinical Advisory Board (JRCAB); U.S. Army Medical Materiel Agency (USAMMA), and Air Force Medical Materiel Field Office (AFMMFO), now the Air Force Medical Logistics Office (AFMLO). The units transferred from the complex at Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, simultaneous to the close down of the Valley Forge General Hospital. Fort Detrick was responsible for closing down the hospital and affecting the move of DMMB, USAMMA, and AFMMFO to Fort Detrick.
The Army Medical Bioengineering Research and Development Laboratory was organized from the merger of the Army Medical Equipment Research and Development Laboratory at Fort Totten, New York, and the Army Medical Biomechanical Research Laboratory from Forest Glen, Maryland. It was located in Building 568, one of the few former research buildings to stay in possession of the Army.
It was unusual that a civilian agency establishing itself on a military reservation be given full title to the land. However, the Department of Health and Human Services, then the Department of Health, Education and Welfare, took possession and title to more than 68 acres and nearly 70 buildings.
The "campus" became the Frederick Cancer Research Facility, which is today the FCRDC. The cancer facility has its own telephone system, and has grown increasingly independent of Fort Detrick, except in the utilities and safety areas. The Army still provides steam, disposal of burnable and nonburnable waste, and advice and assistance in the proper disposal of low level radionuclides and excess or waste chemicals.
In 1972, the Health Services Data Systems Agency was transferred from Washington, DC, to Fort Detrick. Its organization absorbed the installation data processing center. Control of the center then reverted to the USAG. When the Army established the Information Systems Command (USAISC) from the former Army Communications Command, the center was renamed Directorate of Information Management (DOIM) and placed under USAISC with a direct command link to the Health Services Command DOIM. The director of DOIM-Fort Detrick was also a member of the post commander's staff. In October 1992, the organization was separated from USAISC and brought back under the commander, Fort Detrick.
In spite of the management turbulence, the center developed steadily as one of the leading data processing centers in the Department of the Defense. Its responsibility stretched throughout the continental United States, crossing command barriers, providing mainframe computer operations for the Health Services Command, as well as medical research teams at Fort Detrick and other locations. In 1997, the U.S. Army Medical Information Systems and Services Agency (USAMISSA) was established at Fort Detrick to consolidate corporate information management support for the Army Medical Department (AMEDD).
One of the constants since 1959 was the East Coast Relay Station of U.S. Army Strategic Communications Command. It was established as a relay point for message traffic within the Defense Communications Network. It transcended that role and became the East Coast Telecommunications Center in 1972. In 1988, the center was redesignated the 1110th U.S. Army Signal Battalion. The change was primarily in name and encompassed some internal management changes from the battalion to the agencies supporting the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the President.
Growth in size and technical expertise at the battalion has been phenomenal. It is the gateway station for long haul communications worldwide serving 15 switching centers. It is a key element in the Washington Area Wideband System, which carries a variety of transmissions from the National Command Authority to worldwide users. Its management of the Detrick Earth Station of the Direct Communications Link to Moscow (the Hotline) began with construction of the station in 1973 and ultimate acceptance of the facility in 1978 by both nations.
Today the 1110th U.S. Army Signal Battalion continues to be a focal point for international telecommunications. During Operation Desert Storm it was a vital link in the communications bridge to the Persian Gulf.
After several years of uncertainty, Fort Detrick received the boost it needed in 1978. A key governmental decision to move defense agencies outside the Washington National Capital Region was responsible for transferring the U.S. Army Medical Research and Development Command Headquarters to Fort Detrick.
A second Field Operating Agency of the Surgeon General of the Army, the Army Medical Intelligence and Information Agency, also moved to Fort Detrick in the spring of 1979. Today it occupies a large, secure complex and is managed through the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) as the Armed Forces Medical Intelligence Center.
Ironically, Fort Detrick also lost one of its tenant organizations in the 1978 decision. The Army Medical History Division moved to Washington, DC, where it merged with its parent organization, the Office of the Chief of Military History under the Adjutant General of the Army.
Since 1978, Fort Detrick also has welcomed the Air Force Medical Wartime Hospital Integration Office, the Secret Service, and the Frederick Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Among the larger organizations, the Naval Medical Materiel Support Command was "piped aboard" Fort Detrick in August 1985. Now the U.S. Naval Medical Logistics Command (NMLC), it was the first Naval detachment at Fort Detrick since June 30, 1975, when the former Naval Unit, Fort Detrick, was disestablished. On February 8, 1944, the U.S. Naval Unit was established at Camp Detrick. It was a field activity of the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery in the Fifth Naval District. It had a complement of 85 officers and 320 enlisted personnel. It was reorganized in July 1944 as the U.S. Naval Unit, Special Projects Division, Chemical Warfare Service. It increased to 125 officers and 875 enlisted personnel. It was disestablished October 5, 1945, but was reestablished a month later on November 13, 1945. It was redesignated as the U.S. Naval Unit, Biological Division, Chemical Corps, September 3, 1947. It was again redesignated April 12, 1956, using the same name. The U.S. Naval Unit's strength was reduced to five officers, nine enlisted men, and one civilian employee. The unit departed in June 1975.
The arrival of the Navy completed the co-location of the medical materiel managers of each of the Armed Services in one location. The concept, originally proposed in 1973, was to prove a major success when Operations Desert Shield/Storm commenced in August 1990. Coordination among the units was called exceptional.
A former procurement division was placed under management of USAMMA in 1975. However, in 1979 a decision by the Office of The Surgeon General (OTSG) combined the purchasing divisions of Headquarters, USAMRDC, and WRAIR with the USAMMA procurement division. It was placed under the USAMRDC and on July 1, 1984, it became the U.S. Army Medical Research Acquisition Activity (USAMRAA). It took responsibility for managing medical research contracts with private industry, and medical research projects at colleges and universities, in addition to other procurement actions for the entire installation.
Colonel Harry Dangerfield unfurled the guidon of the U.S. Army Medical Materiel Development Activity (USAMMDA) in 1984. Its mission is the development and fielding of medical materiel to protect and sustain America's fighting force.
By 1980, Fort Detrick became home for the Eastern Area Gateway Station, Military Affiliate Radio System (MARS). In addition, the Satellite Communications Platoon, AN-MSQ-114, (developed at Fort Detrick in 1980) became part of the new U.S. Space Command (continental U.S.). Ground was broken in the fall of 1992 for its stationary satellite dish while the administrative team occupied quarters a few blocks away in Frederick.
The first combat unit permanently assigned to Fort Detrick was Company B, 4th Light Armored Vehicle Battalion, U.S. Marine Corps Reserve. Assigned in 1987 as part of the new 4th Marine Division, Company B recruited members through its Inspector and Instructor Staff of active duty Marines and began accepting delivery of the new eight-wheeled vehicles. When President George Bush mobilized Marine Reserve units for Operation Desert Shield, Company B, with a complement of approximately 120 Marines, deployed to Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. It became part of the lst Marine Expeditionary Force, further deploying to Saudi Arabia in December 1990. The unit's success breaching the enemy lines in Kuwait helped speed victory in the 100 hours of battle in the Persian Gulf War. The unit trained at Fort Detrick; Fort A.P. Hill, Virginia; Quantico, Virginia; and Twenty-Nine Palms, California. The Marines continue with the mission to be ready to augment deployed active units providing reconnaissance and other battlefield support.
Also distinguishing themselves was the 153rd Medical Detachment (Supply Inventory). The unit was responsible for the accounting of medical supplies and equipment sent to Panama as a part of Operation Just Cause in December 1989. Not long after its return from Panama, the 153rd was deployed in August 1990 to the Persian Gulf to provide medical logistics support and liaison. The 153rd is a U.S. Forces Command unit assigned to the USAMMA. It disestablished in 1994, but it reemerged as the 6th Theater Medical Materiel Management Center assigned to the 44th Medical Brigade out of Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
Another unit to become part of Fort Detrick was the new Fort Detrick Commissary, which opened in April 1992. A large portion of the old supply warehouse was converted for use by the commissary and the Directorate of Logistics acquired an elaborate mechanical storage system that made efficient use of vertical storage space. The commissary has more than met the sales objectives, proving its need was not understated in years of applications.
Headquarters, U.S. Army Garrison underwent a change in alignment within the Directorate of Resource Management that separated the finance and accounting division. Finance and accounting functions and positions were transferred to the Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS).
In 1994, the Health Services Command was disestablished in a reorganization of the Army Medical Department. The U.S. Army Medical Command (MEDCOM) was established to consolidate all Army medical organizations with a clear chain of command. The new MEDCOM improved the management structure of Army medicine.