USAEC History
Over the past thirty-six years, under various names and evolving missions, the U.S. Army Environmental Command (USAEC) has supported the Army’s expanding role as a world leader in environmental responsibility.
Armed with lessons from the past and the vision of a transforming Army, the Command provides the knowledge, tools, and programs that enable military readiness and community well-being through sound environmental sustainability practices.The Army Environmental Command traces its roots back to 1972, when the Army created the Project Manager for Chemical Demilitarization. The organization’s mission then was the destruction of the nation’s toxic chemical agents and munitions. In 1975, the organization began managing the newly established Installation Restoration Program, set up to develop an assessment process for evaluating environmental conditions at Army installations. With the new responsibilities came a new name, the Department of the Army Project Manager for Chemical Demilitarization and Installation Restoration. At that point, the agency was reassigned to the Army Materiel Command.
By 1978, the Army’s environmental responsibilities had expanded to include challenges such as the installation restoration program, and the organization was renamed the U.S. Army Toxic and Hazardous Materials Agency (USATHAMA) to reflect a broader, more long-term mission. By 1980, the agency welcomed several new responsibilities to include environmental research, development, test, and evaluation; pollution abatement; and environmental control technology.In an effort to provide better focus to the Army’s growing environmental program during the mid-1980s, two programs were separated from the agency’s mission. In 1985, the Army established a separate program manager to cleanup the Rocky Mountain Arsenal, Colo., and in 1986 the Army established a separate project manager to manage the destruction of the nation’s toxic chemical agents and weapons. Environmental compliance joined the responsibilities of the organization in 1988 and with that new responsibility came a transition from the U.S. Army Material Command to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
In 1993, looking to further centralize the management of its many environmental programs, the Army shifted USATHAMA and the mission for conservation from the Corps of Engineers to a field operating agency of the Assistant Chief of Staff for Installation Management, the U.S. Army Environmental Center. At this point, the focus of USAEC’s mission changed from program execution to program management. The broad nature of the mission also required the Center literally to branch out. In 1995, USAEC established Regional Environmental Offices in Denver, Atlanta, Kansas City, and at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md., to work with state and federal regulators on a regional basis.The Army Environmental Center transformed into a subordinate command of the Installation Management Command October 24, 2006. This significant transformation occurred when IMCOM was created as a direct reporting unit of the Department of the Army in Army-wide effort to improve critical support programs to Soldiers and their families through effective garrison support of mission activities. The integrated organization allows the US Army Environmental Command’s dedicated professional staff to provide sound advice and supervision of installation environmental programs worldwide.
The organization’s most recent change came when the Regional Environmental Offices became operational components of the office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Installations and Environment in April 2007.The regional offices continue the important legislative and regulatory monitoring and outreach activities performed under USAEC leadership but now they report to the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army for Environment, Safety and Occupational Health.
The USAEC team will continue to transform and adapt as necessary to fulfill the Army’s diverse mission demands and to meet the changing needs of the nation’s environmental ethic. Yet, USAEC will always keep its commitment to focus the organization’s experience and innovative capabilities on the ethic of environmental sustainability that has become such an essential part of Army readiness and quality of life.
USAEC Organizational Structure
Army Structure | History | Organization