9. Arlington Hall Station

38°52'3"N 77° 6'3"W Former Hq US Army Security Agency (USASA) 1945-1976 used to be the successor to the Army Signals Intelligence Service established at WW1. USASA was controlled by the Director of the National Security Agency (DIRNSA) at Fort Meade, Maryland but had its own Hq at Arlington Hall Station, Virginia. Besides intelligence gathering USASA was monitoring and interpreting military communications of the Soviet Union, the People’s Republic of China, and their allies and client states around the world. Thus its personnel was stationed worldwide wherever the US had a military presence , ASA personnel were among the earliest US military advisors in Vietnam. The first ASA combat fatality in Vietnam took place in 1961. ASA personnel were attached to Army infantry and armored cavalry units throughout the Vietnam War. Some select teams were also attached to MAC/SOG and Special Force units. USASA occupations required top secret clearance and were crucial to US. Cold War efforts. Its units operated 24/7. Personnel was not allowed to discuss their ops with outsiders – in fact, they could not talk among themselves about their duties unless they were in a secure location. Decades after they served, some missions are still classified. In the NSA Hq at Ft. Meade, MD is a memorial wall listing over 150 names of ASA members and members of its comparable Navy or Air Force organizations who lost their lives on duty during the cold war. We may be thinking that freedom is normal but freedom does not come "free". In 1977, ASA merged with the US Army's Military Intelligence component to create the United States Army Intelligence and Security Command (INSCOM).

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