USASA Field Station Augsburg

United States Army Security Agency (USASA) Field Station Augsburg was the site of a Wullenweber AN/FLR-9 radio direction finder, established during the Cold War. Field Station Augsburg was located on Gablingen Kaserne, near the village of Gablingen just north of Augsburg in Bavaria, West Germany. It was one of the nearly 20 Field Stations positioned strategically around the world by U.S. Armed Forces during the Cold War. Field Station Augsburg opened in 1971 and closed in 1993. It was owned and managed by the National Security Agency and manned by USASA / Intelligence and Security Command, in conjunction with other branches of the U.S. Military and various Allied forces. Personnel assigned to Field Station Augsburg were composed of highly motivated, highly intelligent individuals who were top achievers on Army intelligence tests, and then proved themselves through rigorous academic and “hands on” training. They worked around the clock at Field Station Augsburg to ensure the safety and security of the U.S. Their task was to monitor and interpret military communications of Cold War enemy nations, their allies, and client states around the world. The information gathered was time-sensitive and based on its importance and classification, that information was collected, analyzed and passed through intelligence channels within minutes to hours of intercept.

Personnel assigned to the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Operations Battalions, and their successor Military Intelligence (MI) units (701st MI Brigade - 711th, 712th, 713th, & 714th MI Battalions respectively) at Field Station Augsburg served as Morse Code, Teletype, Voice Intercept and Radio Direction Finding Operators as well as Traffic Analysts and Cryptanalysis/Cryptanalytic Technicians.

With the end of the Cold War, Field Station Augsburg lost much of its strategic value. It was rendered to Germany and is reputedly used by the Bundesnachrichtendienst.