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by Erin E. Thompson, USAICoE Staff Historian
GLENDA GRIFFIN APPOINTED TO TECHINCAL INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE
On Sep. 11, 1990, Mrs. Glenda Griffin was appointed as an Army observer to the interagency Scientific and Technical Intelligence Committee. This was just one of many roles Mrs. Griffin undertook during her long career in intelligence and security development as an Army civilian.
Born in Tennessee in 1938, Glenda married Donald Griffin shortly after graduating high school in 1956. In the late 1950s, they moved to Huntsville, Alabama, where Glenda gained employment as a GS-2 Clerk Typist at Redstone Arsenal. In 1965, she became a clerk at Redstone’s Missile Intelligence Agency, launching her career in Army intelligence.
Griffin became highly knowledgeable about Russian air defense doctrine and tactics over the next few years and received commendations for her analysis of Soviet surface-to-air missile systems from the commander of the Army Missile Command. Griffin remained focused on Cold War-era threats during the Vietnam War and helped develop support between intelligence organizations in the United States and deployed units. She received numerous letters of appreciation and commendations for her role in technical intelligence analysis of foreign weapons systems and foreign materiel exploitation. During the Arab/Israeli conflicts of the 1970s, Griffin oversaw the effort to produce a comprehensive translation of technical data, which gave the Army and Air Force a fuller understanding of Arab air defense capabilities.
In 1981, Griffin transferred to the U.S. Army Electronic Research and Development Command (ERADCOM) in Adelphi, Maryland. She was credited for her work in electronic warfare and technical intelligence, helping establish the Electronic Warfare Integrated Reprogrammable Database and fostering cooperation with the U.S. Air Force Electronic Warfare Center in San Antonio, Texas. She was then assigned to the Special Programs Branch of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Intelligence (DCSINT) at Army Materiel Command (AMC), where she was responsible for developing policies for sensitive intelligence special access programs (SAPs). In 1985, she returned to ERADCOM, which had become the Army Laboratory Command (LABCOM), as deputy to the DCSINT and chief of the Special Programs Branch. Two years later, she became the LABCOM DCSINT, working closely with the Research, Development, and Acquisition community to implement intelligence and security procedures for SAPs during field testing of defense weapons systems.
In 1990, Griffin began working for the Army Research Laboratory (ARL) and helped manage the consolidation of LABCOM’s seven laboratories under ARL’s unified command. Meanwhile, on Sep. 11, 1990, Griffin was appointed as Army observer to the Scientific and Technical Intelligence Committee. As an Army representative to this interagency organization, Griffin helped promote cooperation on matters of foreign scientific and technical developments for national security purposes across the U.S. Intelligence Community.
During Operation DESERT SHIELD/DESERT STORM, Griffin was praised for managing projects dealing with foreign weapons systems exploitation and development of advanced targeting and anti-missile technologies. In the mid-1990s, she became the senior intelligence officer for the ARL, was appointed the laboratory’s foreign disclosure officer, and became the ARL representative to the board of directors for AMC’s intelligence and security organizations. Her numerous accolades and commendations attest to her accomplishments with Army technical intelligence development throughout the Cold War and beyond.
Mrs. Griffin retired in September 1997 after thirty-seven years of federal service. At the time, she was chief, Intelligence and Security, Office of the Chief of Staff, ARL, managing a staff of sixty-one intelligence and security personnel in numerous Army laboratories across the nation. According to Col. John Justice, the ARL DCSINT, Griffin was “a linchpin of the ARL intelligence and counterintelligence functional area” and the reason the ARL security programs became “some of the most effective in AMC.” At the time of her retirement, she had received two Commander’s Awards for Civilian Service and the Meritorious Civilian Service Award. Mrs. Griffin passed away on Aug. 6, 2016 at the age of 77 and was inducted into the Military Intelligence Hall of Fame in 2017.
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| Date Taken: | 09.08.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 09.08.2025 11:40 |
| Story ID: | 547520 |
| Location: | US |
| Web Views: | 16 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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