Fort George G. Meade

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NSA headquarters in Fort Meade, Maryland

Fort George G. Meade, 5 miles (8 km) northeast of the city of Laurel, Maryland, is an active US Army installation. The fort is named for General George Meade, a Union Army general in the United States Civil War.

Fort Meade was established in 1917 when the U.S. War Department acquired 19,000 acres of land west of Odenton to develop a training camp. First known as Camp Annapolis Junction, the fort was named Camp Admiral at its opening in 1917. Other name changes occurred after construction of 1,460 buildings on the site when it became Camp George Gordon Meade then in the 1920s it became Fort Leonard Wood, but by the 1930s it reverted back to Fort George G. Meade.

Fort Meade was used as a basic training post and a prisoner of war camp during World War II. In the 1950s, the post became headquarters of the National Security Agency (NSA). The post, located at 39.108° N 76.771° W, was scheduled to close in the 1990s, but was kept open to support the NSA.

Due to its location near Washington, DC, it is increasingly being used by government and military tenants like the Department of Defense's Defense Information School, the headquarters of the Defense Courier Service, the United States Army Field Band, and an Environmental Protection Agency facility.

As part of the U.S. Defense Department's 2005 Base Realignment and Closure process, several additional activities will move to Fort Meade around 2010, including Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA), Adjudication and Office of Hearing and Appeals Offices and several DoD media activities. Several parcels of land have been made available for commercial lease. [1]

The National Cryptologic Museum is located on Fort Meade.

Ft. Meade is home to Meade Senior High School.