The Transatlantic Division was established September 29, 2009, in Winchester, Virginia, to provide unity of command for all the USACE organizations working in the U.S. Central Command area of operations.

Before the division was established, three major USACE organizations operated in that theater: the Gulf Region Division in Baghdad, Iraq; the Afghanistan Engineer District in Kabul; and the Transatlantic Programs Center in Winchester.

When the Transatlantic Division was activated, the Gulf Region Division was disestablished (concurrently with a declining construction mission in Iraq) and its remaining districts assigned to the new Division: the Gulf Region District in Baghdad and the Gulf Region South District in Tallil. The Division inherited the Afghanistan Engineer District-North in Kabul; the newly created Afghanistan Engineer District-South in Kandahar; and the Middle East District (renamed from the Transatlantic Programs Center).

Since then, the Transatlantic Division’s structure has changed to meet its operational requirements. USACE operations in Iraq continued to downsize to coincide with the reduced U.S. mission, and Iraq operations were assigned to the Middle East District in June 2011. The Division placed a forward organization in Afghanistan in August 2011 to synchronize USACE efforts for the $12 billion construction program supporting the operations of NATO International Security Forces-Afghanistan and U.S. Forces-Afghanistan. The Division now has the two districts in Afghanistan, which will be consolidated into one district in summer 2013, and the enduring Middle East District.

The Transatlantic Division:

· Provides USACE services in the U.S. Central Command area of operations, with projects in 18 of the 20 nations in this region.

· Remains committed to the Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) mission in Afghanistan, constructing facilities that support stability, economic development and governance.

· Has deployed – through the USACE Deployment Center – more than 10,000 people to Iraq and Afghanistan to support OCO missions.

· Relies on several USACE organizations to provide specialized reach-back services to support the massive construction program in Afghanistan. Districts from across USACE provide design services and award contracts that are then transferred to the Afghanistan districts to administer and supervise.

· Builds facilities that support U.S. Army, Navy, Air Force, and Special Operations personnel in the Middle East and Central Asia during both peacetime and contingency operations in accordance with government-to-government agreements.

· Provides engineering services to foreign government agencies under the USACE Interagency and International Services program. Most of this work is through the Defense Department’s foreign military sales program.