Fort George G . Meade Fort George G . Meade is a United States Army installation that includes the Defense Information School , the United States Army Field Band , and the headquarters of United States Cyber Command , the National Security Agency , the Defense Courier Service , and Defense Information Systems Agency headquarters . It is named for George G . Meade , a general from the U . S . Civil War , who served as commander of the Army of the Potomac . The fort ' s smaller census - designated place includes support facilities such as schools , housing , and the offices of the Military Intelligence Civilian Excepted Career Program ( MICECP ) . History . Initially called Camp Annapolis Junction , the post was opened as " Camp Admiral " in 1917 on acquired for a training camp . The post was called Camp Meade Cantonment and Field Signal School by 1918 , and in 1919 , the Camp Benning tank school — formed from the World War I Camp Colt and Tobyhanna schools — was transferred to the fort before the Tank Corps was disbanded . Renamed to Fort Leonard Wood ( February 1928 – March 5 , 1929 ) , the fort ' s Experimental Motorized Force s in the summer and fall of 1928 tested vehicles and tactics in expedition convoys ( Camp Meade observers had joined the in - progress 1919 Motor Transport Corps convoy ) . In 1929 , the fort ' s 1st Tank Regiment encamped on the Gettysburg Battlefield and Fort Meade was used as a World War II recruit training post and prisoner of war camp . The Second U . S . Army Headquarters transferred to the post on June 15 , 1947 ; and in the 1950s , the post became headquarters of the National Security Agency . Cold War air defense . From the 1950s until the 1970s , the Fort Meade radar station had various radar equipment and control systems for air defense ( e . g . , the 1st Martin AN / FSG - I Antiaircraft Defense System ) . Fort Meade also had the first Nike Ajax surface - to - air missile s in December 1953 ( operational May 1954 ) and an accidental firing occurred in 1955 with Battery C , 36th AAA Missile Battalion . In 1962 , the Army ' s Headquarters and Headquarters Battery , 13th Air Defense Artillery Group , transferred from Meade to Homestead AFB for initial deployment of MIM - 23 Hawk missiles , and during the Cuban Missile Crisis , the 6th Battalion ( HAWK ) , 65th Artillery at Fort Meade ( a United States Strike Command unit ) was deployed to the Miami / Key West area ( the 8th Battalion ( Hawk ) was at the fort in late 1964 . ) Fort Meade bomb disposal experts were dispatched to secure nuclear bombs in the 1964 Savage Mountain B - 52 crash . Expansion . In 1977 , a merger organized the fort ' s U . S . Army Intelligence Agency as part of the United States Army Intelligence and Security Command . On 1 October 1991 , a wing of the Air Force Intelligence Command transferred to Fort Meade , and the organization was replaced by the 70th Operations Group on May 1 , 2005 . In the early 1990s , was transferred from the post to the Patuxent Research Refuge . A planned closure of the post in the 1990s was not implemented , and the Defense Information School moved to the fort in 1995 . The 311th Signal Command headquarters was at Fort Meade from 1996 - September 2006 . The 70th Intelligence Wing headquarters was established at Fort Meade on July 17 , 2000 , and the Base Realignment and Closure , 2005 , designated Fort Meade to gain ~ 5 , 700 positions making it the third largest workforce of any Army installation . Hazardous waste . After an August 27 , 2007 , U . S . Environmental Protection Agency order to assess the contamination at 14 hazardous waste sites on Fort Meade ( e . g . , ordnance disposal area , 1940s waste dump , closed sanitary landfill ) , a September 2007 environmental impact report identified adding 2 golf courses would be a " significant threat to the biological and territorial integrity of the Patuxent Research Refuge " ( the Army responded it is taking steps to limit the environmental damage . ) Defense Information Systems Agency . After United States Cyber Command was established at the post in 2009 ; on April 15 , 2011 , the Defense Information Systems Agency ribbon - cutting for the move from Arlington , Virginia , was at the agency ' s Fort Meade complex of . Geography . Fort Meade is bordered by the Baltimore - Washington Parkway on the west and is about east of Interstate 95 . It is located between Washington , DC and Baltimore . It is located in proximity to Columbia , Jessup , Laurel , Severn , Hanover , and Odenton . Museums . The Fort George G . Meade Museum exhibits the Post ' s historical artifacts , including uniforms , insignia and equipment . The Museum also has a small collection of vehicles , including an FT - 17 , a MK VIII Liberty Tank , an M3A1 Stuart , an M4A3E8 Sherman , an M41 Walker Bulldog , an M47 Patton , armored personnel carriers such as an M113 , M114 and M84 , a Nike Ajax missile , and a UH - 1H helicopter .