Intelligence Organization and Stationing Study report released
Aug. 1, 1975
USAICoE History Office archivesThis photo shows the cover of the IOSS Report.
On Aug. 1, 1975, the Intelligence Organization and Stationing Study released its report on the structure and operations of Army Intelligence. The eight-month study, headed by Maj. Gen. James Ursano, was to find ways to improve intelligence support for commanders in the field and eliminate duplication of effort.
The report was critical of Army intelligence.
At the top, it found that the Army’s chief of staff for Intelligence or ACSI, did not facilitate proper supervision of all intelligence agencies, especially signals intelligence. The report also concluded that the Army’s intelligence production was fragmented among too many agencies. Finally, it sharply criticized the Army Security Agency. The agency, it stated, was not able to adequately meet the requirements of tactical commanders. Moreover, the ASA had developed its own personnel, training, and research and development systems and, in many ways, was functionally independent of the Army. This independence created “a stovepipe” of signals intelligence that worked against the effective development of all-source intelligence.
To correct these problems, the IOSS recommended a radical change in Army Intelligence structure. First and foremost, it proposed dismembering the ASA to bring signals intelligence operations and organizations more in line with the rest of the Army. The agency’s training center should fall under the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command, and its research and development activities should move to US Army Materiel Command.
Next, ASA’s tactical units would be re-subordinated to the field commanders, specifically at the corps and divisional levels. These units would merge with other military intelligence assets to form units with all-source capabilities. The Army began implementing the IOSS proposals in 1976. The proposals would lead to a more sweeping reorganization of Army Intelligence and result in the formation of the U.S. Army Intelligence and Security Command and the Combat Electronic Warfare and Intelligence organizations.
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