New Commander Takes the Reins at Fort Meade

A career intelligence officer has become commander of Fort Meade as the Anne Arundel County installation is set to expand rapidly to accommodate a regionwide realignment of military jobs.

Col. Daniel L. Thomas assumed command at a ceremony Monday amid the chords of a military band and a parade of soldiers. Thomas is taking over from Col. Kenneth O. McCreedy, who is retiring after 28 years of service, with the past three as Fort Meade's commander.

"I thank you for all you do and look forward to getting to know you and witnessing firsthand your continued support to service members and their families," Thomas, 45, said in a short speech at the ceremony.

Thomas will oversee Fort Meade as it adds 5,695 jobs by 2011, most of them from other parts of the Washington region. He praised its community as a reflection of service members and civilians "providing selfless service to our nation in times and circumstances of her greatest need."

McCreedy had also been a career intelligence officer when he assumed the post. In an interview, he described the challenges of the position: "Fundamentally, the Army takes a career intelligence officer with years of experience doing intel work and military planning and suddenly makes him mayor of a small city."

The base hosts 35,000 workers, has a child-care center and its own water and sewer systems, relies on police and fire units independent of the county, and even includes a parks and recreation department. The Army post is a hub for military information and intelligence work. The headquarters of the National Security Agency is on the base. By 2011, Fort Meade will also host workers from such offices as the Defense Information Systems Agency and Defense Media Activity.

"Just getting your arms around those challenges is significant when you're starting out," McCreedy said. "We call it drinking from a fire hose -- just soaking in as much information as you can in short period of time."

The base and its challenges are likely to grow in coming years. The expansion from the base realignment and closure will require almost 1.5 million square feet of new office space, and officials at the base and in county government are looking at ways to deal with increasing demands on infrastructure.

Thomas previously served as a director of intelligence for the U.S. Central Command in Qatar, supporting operations in Iraq. In 2003, he was deployed to Germany and assumed command of the 279th Base Support Battalion, supporting 1st Infantry Division and V Corps units. He has also served as deputy chief of staff for intelligence for V Corps and Multi-National Corps-Iraq.

Once the transition is complete, McCreedy, 53, plans to retire from the Army and take a job near a Naval station in Indian Head.

"I want to apply some of the skills I learned in this job to the private sector," he said. In his new job, he will be director of workforce and economic development for Energetics Technology Center, a start-up research development firm affiliated with the University of Maryland.

During his tenure, McCreedy said, he had two major goals: to build a sense of community at the base and to improve education in the schools around Fort Meade, many of which are attended by children whose parents work there. To further those goals, he held picnics and festivals and emphasized the fort's traditions and social events. Under his watch, the county high school near the base began an International Baccalaureate program; this fall it will launch a homeland security program.

The official change of command was symbolized at the ceremony Monday as the base's official colors were passed from McCreedy to a supervising senior general and to Thomas.