Fort Meade Information
Fort Meade is located adjacent to Odenton, Maryland in Anne Arundel County. The population was 9,882 at the 2000 census, and covers 6.6 square miles. It is the home to the National Security Agency, which is located on the US Army base Fort George G. Meade.
Fort George G. Meade is an active U.S. Army installation. The fort, established in 1917, is named for General George Meade, a Union Army general in the American Civil War. It covers 5,067 acres (20.51 km2) in Anne Arundel County, Maryland.
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 was scheduled to close in the 1990s, but was kept open to support the NSA. Today, Ft. Meade is often used as a metonym for the NSA.
Due to its location near Washington, D.C., it is increasingly being used by government and military tenants like the Defense Information School, the headquarters of the Defense Courier Service, the United States Army Field Band, and an United States Environmental Protection Agency facility.
As part of the U.S. Defense Department's 2005 Base Realignment and Closure process, several additional activities are scheduled to move to Fort Meade around 2010, including the 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. In October 2007 the Army estimated that Fort Meade will gain about 5,700 jobs directly, and the area will see an increase of thousands more jobs for related businesses.
