Department of the Army Historical Summary: FY 1983

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Operational Forces

Advancing the capability of the Army to go to war by improving the quality of its operational forces guided Army planning again during FY 83. Such a guidepost, according to Secretary Marsh, was dictated by the fact that nearly one-quarter of the world's nations were involved in war or insurgency. The Army's operational forces had to be in a high state of readiness if they were to respond to crises globally. The Army planned to achieve readiness by seeking qualitative advantages instead of matching its strongest potential adversary, the Soviet Union, system for system.

In FY 83 the Army deployed its total operational forces, consisting of 24 divisions (13 heavy and 11 light) principally in the Continental United States (CONUS), U.S. Army, Europe (USAREUR), Hawaii (WESTCOM [Western Command]), and Korea, with smaller elements distributed around the world on peace-keeping, advisory, and logistical missions. CONUS had 10 active divisions and all 8 reserve divisions; USAREUR had 4 divisions and 4 forward-stationed brigades of CONUS divisions; Hawaii and Korea each had 1 division.

Organizational Developments

The Army 86 Modernization Plan played a pivotal role in determining unit activations, inactivations, reorganizations, and conversions during FY 83. The goal of these organizational changes was to tailor the Army's combat and support forces to the optimum structure required to take full advantage of qualitative superiority designed for implementing a "fight to win" strategy.

In the Continental United States, the Army activated 2 support battalions at Fort Hood, Texas, and inactivated 2 mechanized infantry battalions-1 in the 1st Cavalry Division and the other in the 2d Armored Division: Consistent with its plan to phase out the Nike Hercules air-defense system and replace it with the more advanced Patriot, the Army inactivated the last CONUS-based Nike Hercules battery at Fort Bliss, Texas, and two Nike Hercules batteries in USAREUR and activated a

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Patriot air defense battalion at Fort Bliss. The Army also converted the 3d Battalion 6th Field Artillery in CONUS and the 3d Battalion 16th Field Artillery in USAREUR, to handle the multiple launch rocket system (MLRS).

In WESTCOM the Army inactivated the 372d Army Security Company and the 25th Military Intelligence Company and used their resources to organize the 125th Military Intelligence Battalion. Similarly, the Army used assets of the inactivated 340th Army Security Company to form the 511th Military Intelligence Company, which provides intelligence support to the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment. This activation followed the Army's plan to improve its combat electronic warfare and intelligence capability begun in FY 80.

A number of force structure changes took place in Europe during the year, particularly in the areas of combat service support and combat support. Activation of the 12th Medical Evacuation Hospital became a significant milestone in the Army's program to increase combat zone beds and overall readiness. Activation of the 179th and 196th Test Station and Equipment Repair Facilities Teams provided increased general maintenance support to handle the large quantities of modernized equipment entering USAREUR. 'The Army activated the 16th and 76th Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical (NBC) Detachments to provide an NBC warning and reporting center for VII Corps and the Berlin Brigade. The Army activated five trailer transfer detachments (15th, 152d, 260th, 270th, and 517th) to modernize line haul operations, including refueling, temporary storage, and transfer of supplies. Activation of the 515th Medium Truck Company provided additional petroleum transportation and distribution capability. Transition from peacetime to wartime operations was facilitated by the activation of two headquarters and Headquarters Company area support groups. The Army converted seven ammunition companies to direct or general support ammunition companies in accordance with its Munition Systems Support Structure (MS 3) concept. Also it modernized thirteen maintenance companies so that all maintenance companies in USAREUR now have the same base Standard Requirements Code (SRC) structure and are supported with augmentation maintenance teams based upon assigned missions.

A major development occurred in the unified command structure during FY 83. On 1 January 1983, the Army officially activated the U.S. Central Command (USCENTCOM) as a unified command with a focus on Southwest Asia. USCENTCOM evolved from the Rapid Deployment Joint Task Force, established in 1980, for contingencies outside the NATO area and Korea.

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USCENTCOM headquarters, established at MacDill Air Force Base near Tampa, Florida, has the mission to plan, jointly train, exercise, and be prepared to deter aggression if it should occur in its operational area-nineteen countries in Southwest Asia, the Persian Gulf, and the Red Sea.

Tactical forces are not assigned to the command, although Army, Navy, and Air Force elements, usually not committed to NATO or Korea, are available to USCENTCOM for planning, exercises, and operations as necessary. These forces include three and one-third Army divisions and various Ranger and Special Forces units with appropriate combat support and combat service support, tactical fighter units, an airborne warning and control wing, reconnaissance and electronic combat groups, a special operations wing, carrier battle groups, surface action and amphibious ready groups, maritime patrol squadrons, a forward-deployed Naval Middle East Force (MIDEASTFOR), a Marine Amphibious Force (MAF), and a Marine Amphibious Force Brigade (MAB). Additionally, seventeen ships have been positioned in the Indian Ocean near Diego Garcia as a Near Term Preposition Force (NTPF). These ships carry equipment and supplies to support USCENTCOM forces in the event of a contingency.

Readiness

"To achieve the readiness needed to counter the broad range of threats against which our Army must be prepared," noted Secretary Marsh and General Meyer, in a joint posture statement before the 97th Congress, "we need individuals throughout the Total Army who are exceptionally fit, both physically and mentally, and units throughout the Total Army that are extensively trained, properly structured, adequately equipped, tactically mobile, strategically deployable, and extremely flexible." During FY 83, the Army continued to improve its overall readiness posture, with advancements in personnel readiness, training status, and equipment modernization.

Although the number of Active Army units achieving authorized levels remained at 71 percent, personnel readiness progressed in many areas. In recruiting quality people, the Army achieved 100 percent of its objective, with 87.6 percent of new recruits having a high school diploma and 61.4 percent scoring above average on the Armed Forces Qualification Test (AFQT). Reenlistments for FY 83 fell short of their objective, but continued improvement occurred in achieving the number of

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noncommissioned officers authorized and in the skills needed. Noncommissioned officer shortages fell from 7,700 in FY 82 to 2,300 in this fiscal year. In another favorable personnel trend, only nine battalions reported not combat ready, while ninety-seven battalions reported combat ready or combat ready with minimum personnel deficiencies by the end of FY 83.

Reserve components (RC) also made progress in personnel readiness as a result of better recruiting and full-time manning initiatives. The number reporting a not-combat-ready status continued to decline.

The maintenance of a relatively high training status again this year also contributed to combat readiness. The better quality of recruits plus extended and improved basic training programs, which included increased use of devices and simulators, have advanced soldier capability upon first assignments to units. Additionally, deployment exercises and the NTC have improved individual and collective skills.

Equipment modernization contributed to overall combat readiness as well. The MLRS, the newest and most modern field artillery system, which made its debut in the Army in March 1983, provides the capability of striking with great accuracy and massive firepower at ranges beyond cannon artillery. Also the Army's first Patriot battalion-the unit equipped with the new, all-weather, surface-to-air missile system designed to attack and destroy several enemy aircraft simultaneously-became operational in the second quarter of FY 83. The Black Hawk helicopter, the most advanced utility helicopter in the world, represented another great stride in Army aviation.

Although the introduction of modernized equipment initially produces equipment shortages, which adversely affect the standards by which a unit's readiness is measured, once completely fielded, updated equipment significantly improves a unit's ability to fight wars. For example, the M60A3 tank provided a night-fighting competence not inherent in the M60AI tank; the M1 Abrams tank, and its companion vehicles, the Infantry Fighting Vehicle (IFV) and Cavalry Fighting Vehicle (CFV), which make up the Bradley Fighting Vehicle System (BFVS), furnished our combined-arms team the most powerful, mobile, and survivable combat vehicle systems possible. The BFVS adds a new dimension to combat efficiency among mechanized infantry and cavalry units.

Given all of the force modernization efforts mentioned above, our Army is increasingly ready and capable of meeting its commitments around the world. Considering the Soviet appetite for military competition, however, the Army's current modernization effort must continue.

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The Army Overseas

By continuing to make substantial progress in the Army-wide modernization program, USAREUR maintains a war-fighting capability that keeps pace with the Soviet military buildup. Combat readiness is accomplished through changes in organization, modernization of equipment, and improved and expanded training.

This fiscal year each division became a more effective fighting element by receiving an air attack brigade (cavalry brigade air attack), a combat service support element to each brigade (forward-support battalion), and a MLRS battery to each division artillery. As a result, the division has more combat power, better support, and fewer command and control deficiencies. In addition, the division is better able to carry out the Air-Land Battle doctrine of deep strikes in the enemy's rear, severing lead echelons from the rest of the formation and disrupting, delaying, and destroying follow-on forces.

In order to accommodate the Air-Land Battle doctrine, the Army will add more than 400 new items of equipment to the Seventh U.S. Army's inventory during the 1980s. The Seventh Army has already begun receiving the M1 Abrams tank; the Bradley fighting vehicle, the Patriot air-defense system, Black Hawk helicopters, and the MLRS and is well along in converting the M60 tank series. Since air transportation is limited, and since the U.S. Army will need rapid reinforcements sent to Europe should war come, the Seventh Army is storing heavier equipment items that the U.S.-based units will need in order to fight. This equipment is termed "pre-positioned materiel configured to units sets," simply called POMCUS. Reinforcement plans, however, include much more than POMCUS units. Large numbers of reinforcing units, along with reserve components, will move to Europe and train with the active force. CAPSTONE, a procedure aligning reserve component units scheduled for Europe with their wartime chain of command, and NATO counterpart contingency training are examples of programs that emphasize the Total Army concept. To offset air and sealift limitations from the United States in the event of hostilities, allied host nations will supply U.S. forces with much-needed logistical support, including medical help, such as hospital facilities.

To improve and expand training programs, USAREUR allocated a large portion of its billion dollar budget for FY 83 to training. The command is upgrading firing ranges to better accommodate the new weapons at a cost of another 70 million dollars and is conducting periodic large-scale maneuvers with NATO members.

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As for U.S. Army readiness in Korea, at the end of FY 83, General Robert W. Sennswold, Commanding Officer, U.S. Forces, Korea, and Eighth U.S. Army (EUSA), stated his belief that "Eighth Army units have achieved and now maintain a readiness posture commensurate with their mission requirements." Since the end of the Korean War thirty years ago, those requirements have been, together with the forces of the Republic of Korea (ROK), to defend South Korea from North Korean aggression. Despite North Korea's unprecedented military buildup this year, Eighth Army continues to maintain that ability by modernizing doctrine and training, improving communications and tactical intelligence, and enhancing combat fire capability.

Modernizing doctrine and training involved adapting the Air-Land Battle principle to the situation and capabilities in Korea and then improving the U.S./ROK Combined Forces' ability to undertake the Air-Land Battle doctrine through participation in updated field training exercises. The best test of Air-Land Battle tactics this year occurred during the annual field training exercise, termed TEAM SPIRIT 83, which was conducted from early February to mid-April and involved some 190,000 Republic of Korea and U.S. forces. At the conclusion of the exercise, which challenged intelligence gathering, communications, and mobility, General Sennswold commented, "Team Spirit 83 was not only a great training success, but, more important, it also confirmed that we are on track in successful employment of Air-Land Battle doctrine."

Eighth Army is also achieving combat readiness by improving communications and tactical intelligence. The 501st Military Intelligence Group is currently receiving additional manpower and equipment to support its intelligence-gathering functions. A tactical satellite company will deploy to Korea, followed by an area signal battalion to join the 1st Signal Brigade in the near future.

Other force structure improvements that enhance readiness and efficiency include activating attack helicopter battalions to provide a highly mobile, aerial-delivered antitank capability, particularly valuable given the increasing North Korean armor threat; converting armor and mechanized infantry battalions to the Division 86 design and a multiple launch rocket system battery to the 2d Infantry Division's general support artillery battalion; and authorizing military manpower increases for combat support and combat service support forces, which will provide critically needed supervisory personnel.

Associated with Eighth Army's modernization drive are advances in logistical support. To improve fuel supplies, a comprehensive petroleum tank construction program is under way that

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will substantially increase in-country storage capacity. Moreover, the Eighth Army is increasing facilities for the covered storage of supplies and equipment.

Eighth Army's ability to fight the land war progressed this year when the Army's first three COHORT units-a field artillery battalion and two infantry companies-were assigned to the 2d Infantry Division. Acquiring modernized equipment and intelligence forces has helped as well. The 2d Division already has fielded the M 198 155-mm. towed howitzer, AH-IS Cobra TOW, and a military intelligence battalion. Over the next few years, Eighth Army will receive some 180 new equipment systems, including counter-fire radar, the MLRS, Viper, Black Hawk helicopter, improved TOW missiles, M60A3 tanks, and the Tactical Fire Direction System (TACFIRE).

The forces of the ROK also are improving both quantitatively and qualitatively. They have embarked on their second five-year force-improvement plan, a portion of which supports U.S. forces through combined-defense improvement projects (CDIP). The five-year plan is directed toward upgraded ROK armor and air defenses, continued aircraft coproduction and missile assembly, aircraft and radar purchases, continued construction of frigates and high-speed naval craft, as well as strengthened infantry and tank units. Although the plan will improve maneuver and firepower capabilities, it does not alter the current imbalance of ROK forces via-a-vis North Korea.

Moving eastward, this year WESTCOMs 25th Light Infantry Division, stationed on Oahu, Hawaii, improved its ability to carry out the Army's mission in the central Pacific. Besides undergoing intensive combat training on Oahu and at the Pohakuloa Training Area on the island of Hawaii, the division conducted training exercises for both staff and tactical units of various strengths from platoon to division level in New Zealand, Australia, the Philippines, Japan, and Korea. The division also sent one battalion to the U.S. Marine Corps Amphibious Warfare School at Coronado, California, and conducted a Map Exercise (MAPEX) with I Corps at Fort Lewis, Washington.

The improved U.S. Army continued to play an important role in advancing hemispheric security during FY 83, although U.S. support for Great Britain during the Falkland Islands War between Argentina and the United Kingdom dampened the effects of the U.S. security assistance effort in the region. The Army helped to establish a Regional Military Training Center (RMTC) for Central America in Honduras, where a Salvadorian battalion trained and received equipment this year. The Army provided additional security assistance to El Salvador and also to Guatemala, Honduras, Bolivia, and Costa Rica, usually in the

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form of helicopters, howitzers, small arms, ammunition, and individual clothing and equipment. In response to urgent requests, El Salvador also received critical security assistance airlifts.

Command and Control

An Army in transition needs to rethink and rework plans. During FY 83, work continued on the rewriting of the Army Command and Control Master Plan (AC 2MP) first published in 1978, in fifty-eight volumes, with several more volumes added in 1980. The plan not only contains a tactical portion, but also defines the architecture for the Army Command and Control System (ACCS), sets forth deficiencies to be overcome, and establishes responsibilities and milestones for implementing ACCS. The updated version, scheduled for publication in February 1984, focuses on baseline capabilities of the tactical echelons of the Army, which were projected from the current program year through 1990. The Army expects that the plan will facilitate the progression from requirements and doctrine to programming and budgeting priorities.

Also to improve command and control, this fiscal year the Army designed a Mobile Communications Center for corps and division levels that is flexible and able to survive enemy attack. The center also should reduce the number of unique signal unit tables of organization and equipment (TOES) and thereby save on personnel and money for the Army.

Intelligence Activities

"The shrinking of the planet through technology-and the collapse of time and space-places a great premium on intelligence and the need for an effective intelligence-gathering capability," noted Secretary Marsh, at the 1983 Association of the United States Army (AUSA) meeting. This year the Army modernized its intelligence activities in such areas as personnel security, security investigation and counterintelligence, organizational changes, systems updating, program expansion, and Army regulation and plans revision.

In the area of personnel security, specialists participated in numerous studies on the use of the polygraph for personnel security screening and helped civilian contractors study the feasibility of including psychological screening as part of the personnel security investigation. Following the reinstatement of the Periodic Reinvestigations (PR) program, which had been suspended for twenty months, personnel security specialists processed 134 cases in which the Central Personnel Security Clearance Facility

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(CCF) had made determinations to deny or revoke security clearances. The specialists also took actions to accelerate security clearances for new accessions, identify fraudulent enlistments at the earliest possible point, and support faster processing of new accessions in the event of a large-scale mobilization. On 1 August 1983, the Army revised Army Regulation (AR) 380-5 pertaining to the classification, downgrading, and declassification of information requiring protection in the interests of national security. The revision implemented an Executive Order and the supplementing Department of Defense (DOD) regulation.

On 22 February 1983, the Army established a Technology Transfer Division within the Counterintelligence Directorate of the Office of the Assistant Chief of Staff for Intelligence (OACSI). The news-division's mission is to establish technology transfer policy for the U.S. Army and to monitor technology transfer issues of concern. This mission is accomplished through the active staff review of munitions and strategic trade cases, bilateral and multilateral codevelopment/coproduction agreements of Army-related military equipment, and proposed technology transfer policies generated by higher and adjacent echelons. Further, this division adjudicates all foreign requests for visits, military documents, and accreditations of exchange, liaison, and officers. Although at cadre strength, the division is now organized and functioning as a viable entity within the Army staff and is looking forward to increased responsibility.

In the spring of 1983 the Counterintelligence Directorate also received responsibility for operational intelligence oversight. The duties were assigned to a senior civilian and included review of intelligence activities to ensure conformity with national, Department of Defense, and Army policy; drafting of Army implementation of DOD policy; and coordination with the Office of the Judge Advocate General and Office of the General Counsel to establish proper legal review of concepts and proposals. The Army is revising AR 381-10, U.S. Army Intelligence Activities, to comply with this action.

During the year, OACSI's Counterintelligence and Security Division handled 685 actions relating to Army intelligence activities, the majority being Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and Privacy Act actions and coordinations. This division also spent numerous hours this year in locating and coordinating material for the justice Department's Office of Special Investigations (OSI) to use in its investigation of Klaus Barbie's relationship with Army intelligence. The investigation of Barbie, charged with war crimes dating from 1943 when he was a Gestapo official in Lyon, France, began when the government of France extradited him from Bolivia where he was living under an assumed name.

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In the area of imagery and signals intelligence, the Army held a general officer review on two interim tactical intelligence exploitation systems, which are being developed under the Tactical Exploitation of National Capabilities (TENCAP) program. The two systems are the Enhanced Tactical Users Terminal (ETUT)-associated with the Electronic Processing and Dissemination System (EPOS)-and the Tactical Imagery Exploitation System (TACIES). In another TENCAP development, testing continued of the Collection Management Support System (CMSS) at VII Corps.

Another automated intelligence system, the Tactical Simulation program (TACSIM), consists of a series of computers and a remote communications terminal, which simulates the results of Army reconnaissance and surveillance systems as well as theater and national-level intelligence collectors operating against a theater-size enemy force. The realistic intelligence training support provided by the TACSIM program received increased attention within a number of major Army commands and unified commands, and the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command's (TRADOC) Combined-Arms Test Activity at Fort Hood, Texas, which operates the program, was hard pressed to keep up with consumer demand. The Army was weighing proposals to expand the program as the fiscal year drew to a close.

In March 1983 OACSI served as the executive agent for a joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) special project, GRAINY HIDE, designed to assess the capabilities of national intelligence systems to support tactical intelligence requirements. Army units, which participated in the special project during exercises at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, received valuable training with both computer simulated intelligence and the exploitation of intelligence data from national collectors.

In late 1983 the Army awarded a contract for the procurement of the CRAZY HORSE system. CRAZY HORSE is a jointly funded Army and National Security Agency (NSA) system designed to satisfy selected intelligence collection requirements at the echelon above corps for theaters throughout the world. The Army activated the unit to receive this system in late 1983 as a subordinate of the Intelligence and Security Command (INSCOM) at Fort Monmouth, New Jersey.

During the year the Signal Intelligence (SIGINT) Division of OASCI, in conjunction with NSA, initiated a Field Assistance Visitation (FAV) program modeled after the NSA visitation program for strategic cryptologic facilities. The FAV is intended to review cryptologic operations of tactical units in accordance with governing directives and to provide advice and assistance to field commanders aimed at improving such operations. Intelligence

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officials visited Army tactical units in Europe in 1983 and will visit U.S. Army Forces Command (FORSCOM) and Eighth Army units in 1984.

The Army took a number of steps during FY 83 to raise the caliber and increase the productivity of DOD Human Intelligence (HUMINT) personnel. This year saw the successful completion of the Army-coordinated Department of Defense Human Intelligence Plan, developed by a Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) study group, which projects thirteen years into the future and which will be revised annually. The purpose of the plan was to identify DOD HUMINT shortcomings, to recommend improvements, and to implement recommendations. The latter has already begun and will continue through 1984. In response to the continuing concern that service intelligence activities lack adequately trained HUMINT personnel, OASCI's HUMINT Division participated in the final coordination phase for the DOD Strategic Debriefing and Interrogation Course (DSDIC). The HUMINT Division also provided the keynote speaker at the first graduation on 9 September 1983. Finally, in conjunction with the Defense Attaché's Office, Paris, the HUMINT Division participated in the preparation and coordination of an agreement on the exchange of information between the Assistant Chief for Intelligence, Department of the Army (DA), and his French G-2 counterpart.

The Army emphasized the Tactical Intelligence Readiness Training (REDTRAIN) program again this year. The REDTRAIN program provides increased training opportunities to tactical intelligence units and personnel of both the active and reserve components. By incorporating realism in the training environment and using actual intelligence materials wherever possible, and by enhancing individual technical and foreign language skills and unit readiness, this program provides satisfaction to the individual participants and thereby improves the Army's ability to retain them. The program also results in the production of intelligence useful to the Army's tactical forces and, occasionally, to the national intelligence community. This year the Army placed special emphasis on Reserve Component participation in the program, to include planning for the participation of members of the Individual Ready Reserve (IRR), that is, those intelligence specialists in the reserves who have no unit affiliation.

In FY 83 the REDTRAIN program provided a menu of courses, hands-on experience, and on-the-job-training opportunities embracing all intelligence disciplines. These include collection management; human, signal and imagery intelligence collection, and counterintelligence operations involving "real

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world" targets; exercise and enhancement of foreign language skills in conjunction with collection operations, such as communications intercepts, debriefings and interrogations of immigrants from denied areas, and liaison with foreign intelligence agencies; analysis of raw and semiprocessed all-source data, focused on potentially hostile forces and areas of operations directly related to the contingency missions of the supported combat units; creation of intelligence data bases and production of combat intelligence; and exercise of unit operational processes leading to improved readiness.

This year the REDTRAIN program provided $7.8 million to pay for, among other items, the travel and per diem expenses of individuals participating in live environment training away from their units; the purchase of state-of-the-art, commercial training equipment and training aids; the establishment of a foreign language training center in Europe; the operation of two Reserve Component consolidated intelligence training facilities; the development of technical packages to support intelligence unit training; the development of exportable foreign language materials; and the upgrading of secure training facilities.

Those funds also assisted in the procurement of equipment for the FY 84 establishment of three TROJAN training facilities, in addition to the three already established in FY 82. TROJAN facilities bring live intercepted signals to signal intelligence specialists at or near their home stations for their analysis and incorporation of the resulting intelligence into all-source products.

In FY 83 over 3,000 Active and Reserve Component intelligence specialists participated in out-of-unit live environment training. Nearly all Active Component and numerous Reserve Component unit program personnel participated in focused in-unit training activities and intelligence production.

In 1983 language training in the Army took on added emphasis with the organization of the Special Operations Command (SOCOM) and continued development of the 1980 Vice Chief of Staff of the Army (VCSA) initiatives. Those initiatives included developing a language incentive pay proposal; rewriting Army regulations governing language training; and assigning to the 142d Military Intelligence Linguist Battalion, Utah Army National Guard, specialized intelligence functions which require the use of foreign languages.

This fiscal year the Army took initiatives to revitalize its Intelligence and Security Civilian Career program. The Army totally revised the regulation governing the civilian program; appointed a full-time coordinator and action officer for the program in April 1983; undertook a worldwide positions and classification management survey of GS-080 and GS-132 positions with results

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to be published in February 1984; ensured active civilian participation in the DOD intelligence career development program; developed qualification and classification standards for intelligence research and operations specialists, which will be completed in 1984; and reviewed case officer and scientific and technical high-grade requirements to ensure adequate resources are available to support Army intelligence goals. The Army will complete the review in June 1984.

Chemical and Nuclear Matters

The health and safety of our nation dictate the Army's significant interest in chemical and nuclear matters. In these areas the Army was concerned with the following activities this fiscal year: nuclear test personnel review; technical assistance to the Nuclear Regulatory Agency; the Army Agent Orange Task Force (AAOTF); the NATO Nuclear Planning Group; the toxic chemical demilitarization program; and nuclear, biological, and chemical (NBC) warfare capabilities.

During the year the Army's Nuclear Test Personnel Review (NTPR) team, working under the auspices of The Adjutant General (TAG), continued identifying all Army participants in atmospheric nuclear testing which occurred between 1945 and 1962 and reporting any radiation exposure danger to the participants. The review, whose executive agent is the Defense Nuclear Agency (DNA), resulted from the discovery in 1977, by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in Atlanta, Georgia, of a possible leukemia cluster among participants in a test held at Smoky, Nevada, twenty years before. After a review of historical records and individuals' service records, the Army team has identified 47,000 out of an estimated 50,000 participants. The team also has responded to 1 White House inquiry, as well as 23 congressional, over 450 Veterans Administration (VA), and 190 individual inquiries on the subject. During the year, the activity moved to Washington, D.C., to unite with other federal agencies involved in health-related research.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) provided technical assistance to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) in two areas this year. Waterways Experiment Station (WES) evaluated the stability of slopes at the Limerick Generating Station nuclear power plant and determined the support requirements in potentially unstable zones. The results of the WES study supplemented the NRC's review and evaluation for the Final Safety Analysis Report for the power plant. WES also assisted the NRC in the development of criteria for evaluating alternative methods for disposal of low-level radioactive wastes. WES prepared

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guidance for site characterization and monitoring for such alternative methods as above- and below-ground vaults, earth-mounded concrete bunkers, mined cavities, and augered holes. The NRC developed present regulations specifically for shallow land disposal in trenches.

During FY 83 the AAOTF remained the primary office of DOD dealing with the ongoing controversy and resulting studies stemming from the use of herbicides in the Vietnam War. The task force continued to provide records and information to government agencies and private entities involved with collecting data, undertaking studies, and conducting litigation on behalf of Vietnam veterans.

In February 1983 the Centers for Disease Control, under pressure from Congress, had assumed from the VA responsibility for conducting an epidemiology study to determine whether Vietnam veterans had been adversely affected by Agent Orange exposure. The CDC requested AAOTF's help in protocol planning for the study. On 31 May 1983, the AAOTF provided the CDC with a draft protocol, which included the service number and location of 1,000 male Vietnam veterans as well as data essential in determining availability, completeness, and locations of records. To find this information, the AAOTF researchers thoroughly combed the Vietnam War records collection as well as each individual's personnel file (201 record) from the National Personnel Records Center (NPRC) in St. Louis, Missouri. The protocol called for the AAOTF eventually to provide 30,000 study subjects.

Concurrently the AAOTF continued its support of the CDC Birth Defects Study, which is attempting to determine whether Vietnam veterans exposed to Agent Orange have a greater likelihood of fathering a child with a birth defect than those not exposed. By August 1983 the AAOTF had provided CDC with approximately 600 thoroughly researched cases, with each subject classified into one of five categories, ranging from "Exposure Extremely Likely" to "Exposure Extremely Unlikely." The AAOTF anticipates that this study will conclude in late 1983 and that CDC will have its first report of the Birth Defects Study ready in early 1984.

The expansion of AAOTF responsibility grew sharply on 18 April 1983, when the VA Administrator requested that the Secretary of Defense provide data needed to adjudicate Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)-a broad-ranging psychological unrest related to the Vietnam War experience-claims, which could involve supplying documentation on an estimated 5,000 to 10,000 cases annually. On 9 May 1983, Secretary of Defense Caspar W. Weinberger committed the AAOTF to provide the VA

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with the requested data. By the end of this fiscal year, the AAOTF had received over 100 PTSD inquiries.

In addition to this work, the AAOTF has played or will play a major role in the following scientific studies: a VA study comparing the mortality rates of Vietnam veterans with Vietnam-era veterans who did not serve in Vietnam; a Veterans Administration/Environmental Protection Agency (VA/EPA) study of the correlation between Vietnam service and dioxin levels in fat tissue; a VA study comparing the health experience of twins, one of whom served in Vietnam; a National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) registry of U.S. production workers who may have been exposed to dioxin (This registry when complete will be used to compare causes of death in these workers in comparison to the U.S. population.); VA and CDC case-control studies of soft tissue sarcoma (a rare malignancy); and an Armed Forces Institute of Pathology study of the relationship between various medical diagnoses and service in Vietnam.

Other AAOTF activities include information exchanges, in the form of letters, briefings, and documents, with state Agent Orange commissions, the VA, individuals, veterans groups, Congress, and the Australian government. As a result of interest shown by veterans groups and Congress, the AAOTF is currently compiling a census of women Vietnam veterans and, as of the end of this fiscal year, has identified 4,850 women who served in Vietnam. In response to queries from the Australian government concerning Agent Orange, the AAOTF has declassified numerous DOD documents covering periods of mutual involvement in Vietnam which the U.S. government shared with Australia.

Throughout 1982 and 1983, the AAOTF personnel examined, catalogued, and reproduced several thousand documents in the Agent Orange product liability litigation, the class action suit filed in the Eastern District Court of New York. Although DOD is not a party to the suit, there is an overriding interest in DOD documents since both the industrial and chemical defendants and the veteran plaintiffs hope to use them to win the suit. The court proceedings in this case may begin as early as April or May 1984.

In FY 83, the High Level Group, consisting of assistant ministers of defense of the NATO Nuclear Planning Group, continued its study of NATO's requirements for Short-Range Nuclear Forces begun in 1981. This review addressed Pershing la, Lance and Honest John Missiles, gravity bombs, and Artillery-Fired Atomic Projectiles (AFAPS). Key elements of the study were that the NATO nuclear stockpile would, over five to six years, be unilaterally reduced by 1,400 weapons, leading to a stockpile level

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of 4,600 weapons; the stockpile would be stabilized through at least 1994; the stockpile would be modernized concurrent with reductions to forestall an unacceptable increase in the risk level. The Nuclear Planning Group invited the USSR to reciprocate with comparable reductions in its expanding Nonstrategic Nuclear Forces (NSNF) stockpile, but also noted that the decision to reduce might have to be reconsidered should a significant increase occur in the Soviet threat. The study report should be finalized by the High Level Group and forwarded to the Nuclear Planning Group ministers early in the coming fiscal year.

As for nuclear weapons for operational forces, the Army experienced no major changes in FY 83. Congressional proponents of opposing nuclear positions maneuvering for advantage put into question the future of certain nuclear systems and preparations for their replacements. While Congress pushed for a termination of the improved 155-mm. nuclear replacement, the Army pressed to maintain at least research, development, test, and evaluation (RDTE) for the system. Production of the improved 8-inch nuclear projectile continued with the system's being placed in the stockpile. Preparation of Army units to receive the Pershing II also remained a high priority, with training focusing on new procedures to reflect the reduced response time of the Pershing II. No major changes in nuclear warhead operations occurred. The replacement of the nuclear-capable Nike Hercules with the nonnuclear Patriot air defense system continued, and Congress extended support for NATO Nike Hercules (and Honest John) beyond the Nike Hercules phaseout by U.S. forces. Congress, however, resisted the Army's initiatives to develop a nuclear warhead for the joint Tactical Missile System (JTACMS) as a follow-on for the Lance.

The Army continues to make significant progress in the toxic chemical demilitarization program. Research efforts at the Chemical Agency and Munition Disposal System (CAMDS), Toole Army Depot, Utah, support the design and construction of the Johnston Atoll Chemical Agent Disposal System, scheduled to be built in FY 85 on Johnston Island in the Pacific. The Army will construct similar facilities at CONUS sites to dispose of obsolete M55 rockets and M3 land mines during FY 86. Operations of the Drill and Transfer System (DATS) to demilitarize defective munitions at Lexington-Blue Grass Depot Activity, Kentucky, are near completion. The DATS will continue operations during FY 84 at Umatilla Army Depot Activity, Oregon, and Pueblo Army Depot Activity, Colorado. The Army also concluded lethal chemical demilitarization operations at Rocky Mountain Arsenal (RMA), Colorado, disposing of 21,458 chemical agent identification training sets. In the future, the Army will use the demilitarization facilities

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at RMA to dispose of the riot control agent Adamsite as well as DDT-contaminated small arms ammunition returned from Southeast Asia.

Congress approved requests for funds to construct the BZ (3quinuclidinyl benzilate) Disposal Plant at Pine Bluff Arsenal, Arkansas, in FY 84. The plant is designed to dispose of the incapacitating agent BZ, BZ-filled munitions, and contaminated wastes and to allow for the easy conversion of equipment so as to permit the disposal of other lethal chemical munitions and agents.

Because of the sensitivities of the population of the Pacific region to environmental issues, the Army is preparing an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) before requesting funds from Congress for the Johnston Island facility. The draft was announced in July, and the public comment period ended on 6 September 1983. Preparation for the final EIS is under way.

During FY 83 the Army continued to upgrade its NBC warfare capabilities. The Army activated two additional NBC companies to support the 2d Infantry Division in Korea and the 5th Mechanized Infantry Division at Fort Polk, Louisiana, with the company at Fort Polk becoming the first chemical unit to convert to the new Division 86 design. Major design changes included moving the NBC reconnaissance capability to the divison's armored cavalry squadron and adding one additional decontamination platoon and one new smoke generator platoon to the NBC company. The smoke addition provided division commanders with the capability of generating large-area smoke screens to conceal friendly forces and obscure the enemy, thereby increasing combat power.

The Army also persisted in modernizing the NBC warfare capabilities of reserve components. It activated two divisional NBC companies in the Army National Guard (ARNG) and one additional decontamination and two smoke generator companies in the Army Reserve. As a result the overall number of NBC specialists on active duty increased from 6,700 in FY 82 to 7,500 during FY 83. Reserve components strength grew to 7,800 soldiers, as they assumed a larger share of the Army's NBC defense mission.

The U.S. Army Chemical School expanded to accomplish its important NBC training mission. The student census increased from 3,600 in FY 82 to 5,200 in FY 83. They completed an initial NBC Mission Area Analysis that established the training, doctrine, equipment, and force structure framework for continuing future improvements.

The Army's major commands and reserve components received $63.7 million to purchase stock fund chemical defense

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equipment under the Army's Operations and Maintenance (OMA) appropriation. The FY 83 Army procurement program provided another $47.9 million for NBC protective masks and modular NBC collective protective equipment. In May 1983 the Army began procurement of the Battle Dress Overgarment (BDO), a camouflaged chemical protective (CP) overgarment that provided enhanced NBC protection. The new BDO uses the same woodland pattern camouflage overprint as the Battle Dress Uniform fatigues but offers better protection for the soldier than does the currently fielded CP over garment.

In August 1983 the M13 portable decontaminating apparatus became standard equipment for the Army, replacing the M11. The M13 provides larger decontaminating volume and is designed with brush-scrubbing and hand-pumping capabilities. The M272 Water Testing Kit became an expendable stock fund NBC item in January 1983. This kit is used to detect the presence of chemical warfare agents in water.

In the first quarter of this fiscal year, the XM76 smoke grenade, infrared (IR) screening entered full-scale engineering development. The smoke grenade, which is fired from grenade launchers, will provide extended armored vehicle smoke protection coverage in the mid- to far-IR region of the electromagnetic spectrum. In December 1982, the improved 155-mm. WP smoke-screening projectile M825 became standard equipment for the Army. The M825 projectile is twice as effective as the M116 smoke projectile it replaces.

In October 1983 the Board on Army Science and Technology (BAST), Commission of Engineering and Technology, National Research Council, completed the study, "Protection Against Tri-cothecene Mycotoxins." The BAST committee studied the biological behavior of T-2 and significant related mycotoxins so that defense against their actions might be appropriately and efficiently designed. It concluded that no known specific antidote exists; protective masks, clothing, or shelters can greatly reduce exposure; and removal with soap and water or household bleach can reduce severity. The committee acknowledged that the current U.S. Chemical Protective Ensemble will fully protect the wearer against these toxins. It also recommended that the Army initiate programs to better identify global distribution of the toxins, and to develop field sampling protocols, materials to degrade toxicity, methods to reclaim contaminated food supplies, detailed assessments of biological effects, methods to prevent exposure, and medical treatments of exposed personnel.

Achieving a verifiable chemical munitions ban, and the maintaining a credible deterrent as well as a retaliatory capability should deterrence fail, have continued to drive the Army's

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chemical modernization efforts in FY 83. This focus was reflected in the president's budget request, which included $158 million to facilitate the initial production of binary munitions (the 155-mm. GB-2 artillery projectile and BIGEYE VX-2 bomb) and retaliatory research and development (R&D).

At the beginning of the fiscal year, as part of its modernization efforts, the Army began to facilitate the production of Phase 1 of the 155-mm. GB-2 artillery projectile at Pine Bluff Arsenal. It should be completed by September 1984, with the first tests scheduled to take place by February 1985.

The BIGEYE program, on the other hand, has had a mixed year. Technologically the BIGEYE enjoyed some success. A pressure buildup problem, discovered by the Navy in late 1982, was solved by accelerating and improving the mixing system and adopting an "off station" mixing concept, as four flight tests run during May through September 1983 demonstrated. Politically, however, the BIGEYE has not fared well. Opponents to the binary program focused their attention on the BIGEYE developmental problem and continued to attack the binary modernization program. Using the BIGEYE problem as a lever, these congressmen attempted to undercut DOD credibility with the rest of Congress even in the face of continued successful operational tests. Their efforts culminated in a General Accounting Office (GAO) review of an alleged BIGEYE problem cover-up. The investigation is still ongoing.

After extensive deliberation and debate, the Congress did authorize the chemical modernization program, but failed to appropriate procurement and construction funding for 1984, thus delaying modernization for at least another year. The funding of R&D work on binary chemical weapons systems became small consolation for the loss of modernization initiative and impetus.

Nevertheless, the Army continues to seek approval to modernize the binary weapons stockpile. As this stockpile continues to lose its ability to support national objectives, the need to modernize becomes increasingly important if the United States is to achieve its goal of eliminating the threat of chemical warfare from the community of nations.

Military Support to Civil Authorities

This year, while in the midst of its modernization drive, the Army continued the practice of lending support to civil authorities. Benefiting from the Army's support this fiscal year were the 1984 Olympic Games Committee; federal agencies fighting the illegal flow of narcotics into the United States; the U.S. Secret

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Service (USSS); the nation's Water Preparedness Program; and natural disaster relief and emergency operations.

This fiscal year Secretary of the Army Marsh set in motion plans to lend military support to the 1984 summer Olympics. In July 1983, the Director of Military Support established a multi-service Olympic Support Task Force to coordinate and provide military assistance to the Los Angeles Olympic Games and to federal and local law enforcement agencies. By the end of the fiscal year the Olympic Support Task Force had received and processed ten formal requests for military support.

FY 83 also saw the Army become involved in assisting federal agencies to stem the flow of narcotics into the United States. On 23 March, the president announced the formation of the National Narcotics Border Interdiction System (NNBIS)-a compilation of federal agencies and DOD departments working together to interdict the flow of narcotics into the United States. The vice president chairs NNBIS, and his chief of staff runs the operation. The Army's participation includes stationing personnel at each of the six regional NNBIS centers throughout the United States: New York, Chicago, El Paso, New Orleans, Long Beach, and Miami; and loaning aircraft, vehicles, and other items.

The Army also supported the Secret Service during this fiscal year, primarily in providing transportation and bomb search assistance in connection with the travel of VIPs authorized USSS protection. The Army completed over 875 such missions in the Continental United States and overseas during the year.

During this fiscal year the Army assumed responsibility for water preparedness planning from the Department of Interior, effective 28 April. The Secretary of the Army further delegated these responsibilities to the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Affairs (CA) and through him to the Corps of Engineers. The Corps organized a civil works task force for water preparedness to determine its water preparedness mission, program responsibilities, and the resource levels required to accomplish the mission.

The mission and responsibilities developed by the task force were to ensure the nation's readiness to respond to national security and domestic emergencies by: (1) developing overall plans for the management, control, allocation, and use of water and water resources of the nation, consistent with plans of other federal agencies having specific water responsibilities; (2) establishing a system of priorities and allocations for the emergency production, distribution, and use of water and water resources; (3) providing guidance and assistance to, and coordinating plans with, other federal agencies, states, local governments, and the

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private sector; and (4) achieving and maintaining implementation capability through data collection and analysis, training, exercises, research, and human resources development.

The task force estimated that the mission would require approximately $1.1 million and 14.5 man-years in FY 84 and FY 85 and approximately $5 million per year and 154 man-years in FY 86 through FY 90. Headquarters, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, would hold approximately 80 percent of the resources in the first two years, while the Corps' field offices would contain 90 percent of the resources in the next five years. Besides providing national leadership during peacetime for water preparedness, and thereby improving national security, the Corps' activities also should enhance the nation's ability to deal with water resources by the year 2000.

The Corps also responded to widespread problems involving civilian communities across the nation again this fiscal year. Such emergency activities included technical assistance, rehabilitation, advance measures, and flood-fighting assistance. The Corps participated in major emergency operations in California, Utah, the upper Colorado River Basin, the lower Mississippi Valley, south Mississippi, Alabama, Texas, southern Missouri, and Arkansas.

Flooding along the coast and in the central portions of California resulted in the Corps' providing technical assistance to local interests and, in some cases, immediate flood fight support. When the snow-melt runoff caused mud slides in Utah, the Corps provided advance measures, such as emergency pumping of water impounded behind the landslide to prevent overtopping and failure of the embankment created by the landslide, constructing temporary levees, and furnishing sandbags and technical assistance. Flooding in the upper Colorado River Basin resulted in the Corps' coordinating with the Bureau of Reclamation concerning appropriate flood control releases from Hoover, Parker, and Davis dams. In support of emergency flood fight efforts in the lower Mississippi Valley, the Corps provided state and local organizations with numerous sandbags, pumps, and polythlene sheeting. After flooding in south Mississippi and Alabama the Corps furnished sandbags and technical assistance to local authorities and compiled damage survey reports for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). When a hurricane hit Alicia, Texas, causing extensive damage along its path, the Corps worked with the Coast Guard in replacing marking buoys and lights lost in the storm, besides providing other emergency measures. In early December 1982 southern Mississippi and Arkansas received extensive flood fight and tornado damage assistance from the Corps. The Corps helped remove nine sunk barges from the Arkansas River.

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Despite Corps participation in many emergency operations, emergency fund expenditures in FY 83 fell below the historical average. Out of an emergency fund appropriation of $54,877,000 the Corps spent $42.4 million. Of these funds, it used $15.5 million in the Mount Saint Helens area and over $10.5 million for emergency activities across the country. Although the cost of rehabilitation efforts is expected to be high, the Corps expended only about $7.5 million on them, as most rehabilitation work began late in the fiscal year.

During FY 83 the Army improved the combat readiness of its operational forces in a number of ways. It made force structure consistent with the Army 86 Modernization Plan; recruited quality personnel; improved basic training programs; modernized equipment; fielded new equipment overseas; and modernized intelligence activities. While in the midst of its modernization drive, the Corps played a key role in chemical and nuclear matters and lent support to civil authorities in such areas as narcotics control, water preparedness, and disaster relief. Such activities helped the Army to achieve the qualitative edge it sought.

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Last updated 9 March 2004