Photo By Erin Thompson | Scene from the 1964 anti-American Panama Canal riot captured by a member of the 470th...... read more read more
by Erin E. Thompson, USAICoE Staff Historian
470TH INTELLIGENCE CORPS GROUP REDESIGNATED
On 15 October 1966, the 470th Intelligence Corps Group was redesignated the 470th Military Intelligence (MI) Group. The unit was originally established in 1944 as the 470th Counter Intelligence Corps (CIC) Detachment in the Panama Canal Zone.
The Panama Canal Zone (PCZ) was a major supply and travel route between the Pacific and Atlantic oceans, and maintaining control of this region required extensive security and intelligence activities. Since the 1920s, military intelligence personnel were stationed in the PCZ, initially to provide routine security operations and later to conduct investigations of suspected saboteurs and spies. World War II vastly increased the scale of intelligence work required in the PCZ, and in July 1944, the various intelligence detachments were organized as the 470th CIC Detachment and assigned to U.S. Army Caribbean Defense Command.
In 1949, the detachment was stationed at the Caribbean Defense Command headquarters at Fort Amador (also called Fort Grant) in southern Panama Bay. The 470th was tasked with investigating U.S. military personnel located in the PCZ, and additional personnel were allotted to support the commander-in-chief, Caribbean Command. In 1957, an augmentation unit, Research Unit 7431, was also assigned to the 470th CIC. This unit was redesignated the Security Service Detachment the following year.
On 25 July 1961, the 470th CIC Detachment was redesignated the 470th Intelligence Corps (INTC) Detachment, reflecting the consolidation of non-signals intelligence activities under the U.S. Army Intelligence Corps in January 1961. In 1963, the Caribbean Defense Command was renamed U.S. Southern Command, which then assumed responsibility for the 470th INTC Detachment. A year later, the unit was redesignated the 470th INTC Group. On 15 October 1966, the unit was again redesignated the 470th MI Group after the Intelligence Corps was discontinued [see This Week in MI History #81 1 March 1966]. The 470th was subordinated first to U.S. Forces Command in 1974, and then to the U.S. Army Intelligence and Security Command (INSCOM) in 1977 [see This Week in MI History #21 1 January 1977].
After many years of anti-American tensions in the PCZ, the Torrijos-Carter Treaties were signed in 1977, granting neutrality over jurisdiction of the PCZ and paving the way for the ultimate relinquishment of U.S. control of the region by 2000. In accordance with these treaties, the 470th MI Group moved to Fort Clayton, Panama, in 1979. A detachment of the 470th MI Group relocated in 1982 to Galeta Island, Panama, where it formed Field Station Panama. This detachment later became the 747th MI Battalion.
On 1 October 1987, the 470th MI Group was again redesignated, this time as the 470th MI Brigade. The brigade provided intelligence support for counterinsurgency, counterdrug, and force protection missions across Latin America. Its first major campaign since World War II occurred in December 1989 when it deployed for Operation JUST CAUSE, the U.S. action to overthrow Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega [see This Week in MI History #72 20 December 1989]. Soldiers of the 470th MI Brigade also deployed to the Middle East in support of Operation DESERT STORM in 1991, as well as to Somalia, Haiti, and Korea.
On 20 May 1997, the brigade commander, Col. Ronald Burgess, cased its colors during an inactivation ceremony, and its intelligence duties transferred to a forward-based detachment of the 202d MI Battalion, 513th MI Brigade, headquartered at Fort Gordon (known as Fort Eisenhower since 2023), Georgia. By 2002, the brigade had been reactivated and stationed at Fort Sam Houston, Texas, where it remains today.
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| Date Taken: | 10.15.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 10.15.2024 10:15 |
| Story ID: | 483108 |
| Location: | US |
| Web Views: | 155 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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