The White House
Communications Agency
|
||||
|
||||
| Type Of Activity | Communications support for the White House | |||
Location
|
||||
Location
|
Washington DC
|
|||
Date of Activity
|
Nov
1965 to Dec 1973
|
|||
Coordinates
|
38°53′52″N 77°02′11″W
|
|||
 |
| Entrance to Checkmate (The Shop) from Wisconsin Ave NW in Washington D.C. (1973) |
 |
| Entrance to Checkmate (2011) |
 |
| The USSS CP at the Eisenhower farm in Gettysburg PA |
 |
| WHCA Communications Van (Roadrunner) |
 |
| The south lawn of the White House |
 |
| Don at Ft Monmouth, NJ Gov’t Housing (1965) |
 |
| Joanne and Don in April 1965 Long Branch NJ |
The WHCA Shop in Georgetown | |||
| |||
Type Of Activity | WHCA Operations | ||
Location | |||
Location | 3248 M St NW Georgetown | ||
Date of Activity | 1965 to 1976 | ||
Coordinates | |||
Parts of the structure located on M Street predate 1838 when it was used as a tobacco warehouse that opened up directly onto the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal. In the 1850s, the building was purchased by John E. Reeside and Gilbert Vanderwerken and converted into stables for their omnibus line. The building continued to be used as stables for the first horse car line, the Washington and Georgetown Railroad. It was later converted into a machine shop for streetcars. The parts of the building that face the canal and the facade of the M Street entrance remain from those earlier periods. After the demise of Washington's streetcars in 1962, the building served as the United States Defense Communications Annex E before being converted to WHCA’s base of operations in 1964.
I received my orders after I graduated Microwave repair school at Ft Monmouth to report to a street address in Washington D.C. in Nov of 1965. I loaded my family in the car and headed to my new assignment in WHCA. When I arrived in Washington, I tried to locate the address, not knowing the city I made several wrong turns and ended up in VA, several times so we decided to stop and get something to eat. Luckily, I had a contact number for MSG Joe Terrian, I called him, and he informed me that they had moved to a location in Georgetown, and Ft Monmouth gave me the wrong address. The old building had been razed and all that was left was a hole in the ground. Now I had passed that hole in the ground at least a half a dozen times that morning. The old location was located at 26th Street and D Street NW. This is where WHCA had occupied a building that was in the Olde Heurich Brewing Company in Foggy Bottom. The brewery buildings were razed to make room for the new Kennedy Center which occupies that space today, the old shop moved from 26th St in May 1965. It had been DC transits street car repair shop, a monstrous old facility. GSA rented it from O. Roy Chalk, gutted it and remodeled it. The new location fronted on M St with two entrances one was WHCA personnel and the second was a non affiliated DCA office that had had no access to the rest of the building. MSG Joe Terrian gave me WHCA's official address which was 3248 M Street NW. It was an unmarked white front building with no columns but having a few steps that went up to a black door. Behind that door was an iron security gate.
 |
| 3248 M St NW entrance 2017 |
WHCA’s Audio-Visual Branch stored all of their travel equipment at the shop on M Street. Everyone in the group had their own specific set of equipment... audio mixer, multiple for media feeds, tape recorders, mics and cables. Each individual was responsible to make sure everything was in working order in case of instant travel. The AV Group had their own maintenance shop at M Street where they maintained all the AV gear and stored all the trip packages there.
 |
WHCA’s Wisconsin Ave entrance in 1974 |
As you entered the facility and the Parking garage you immediately saw the WHCA dispatcher who monitored all incoming traffic and access to the parking garage. The call sign for the M Street dispatcher was Checkmate. The Transportation Group also had motor pool was equipped with a lift and a car wash facility. Transportation was responsible for the maintenance of all the WHCA vehicles including the rented station wagons from a civilian contractor and WHCA own trucks and Van's, the rented Chevy Kingwood wagons were eventually replaced with GSA supplied Ford wagons.
On the right was the entrance to the Radio and TV shops. These two groups maintained and repaired all of the Motorola radio Equipment(base stations and hand held units) HF /SSB radios as well as associated radio and paging consoles, all TV’s were also maintained in this area.
Material and Supply and was located between the Electronics Shop and Budget/Accounting who had a small office located between supply and WHCA Dispatch.
The Comm Center or 13a group had a secure office and crypto vault on the first floor, behind Transportation.
Crown Radio was located at the "M" street shop on the Second floor above the radio shop and wood shop. Access to the second floor was by using an outside stairway to the right of the driveway off Wisconsin Ave.
Crown Radio had two consoles one was the DC FM network. The other one was for the Nationwide System (E/F), and secure voice All of WHCA and USSS FM locations in the Washington DC area terminated there, as well as the Echo/Fox Nationwide air-to-ground Communications for AF1. That was the old E/F console built by Mario Lilla. It was operated from there until Crown Radio moved to the OEOB shortly after the new WECO 608 was cut into service there.
In the basement there was an underground storage vault below the radio shop which belonged to 13A. One nice feature at M Street was the basement barroom where we had our Friday afternoon off-duty beer call -- the most recently promoted guys bought the beer, there were many attitudes adjusted there. The Technical Library was also located in the basement behind the Keg.
In the five years that I was assigned to Camp David I was sent on roughly forty trips where I left from the shop. All of the equipment needed for every trip was staged at the shop, loaded on box trucks if needed or in the back of station wagon on smaller trips and all personnel would be provided transportation to the various D.C. Airports for departure. Upon the return from all trips and from all groups the equipment would be sent to the shop to test and or repair would be staged for the next trip.
The current store that occupies that spot where the door was located is "H & M". It cannot be verified if the white trim around the doorway of H & M is a reproduction or a real artifact of the facade of the entryway to The M Street door of WHCA. I do not know who had it before them, and maybe it was "Victoria's Secret". Part of the movie "True Lies" with Arnold Schwarzenegger and "No Way Out" with Kevin Costner were filmed in parts of the mall. Arnold may have crashed through the window of Victoria's Secret in the movie.
I remember the stories of the WHCA shop as being a secret CIA HQ where it was found out by a local Georgetown rag in the late 60s-early 70s.
The people that worked in Riggs Bank was saying that our paychecks were coming from different parts of the country which was true. Air Force had paychecks from Randolph AFB in Texas, Army checks were coming from Indianapolis, and Navy was from another place. They saw license plates of our POV's from states around the country going into the shop through one gate and then coming out in government cars from the other gate with radio antennas on them. They saw all the antennas fencing on the roof of the building and cameras and speakers down on the street level at all the buildings entrances/exits. WHCA personnel going into a warehouse type of building with suits and ties seemed out of place for this Georgetown location.
 |
| CIA building on M St |
 |
| The Exorcist Stairs |
In the early 1970’s the decision was made to move the shop to a more secure location in Anacostia. Over a period of time a phased move was coordinated to relocate all Groups and Departments to their new location. When WHCA vacated the location that was the “shop” in Georgetown the building was totally remodeled and was turned into a a very upscale mall, the Georgetown Park Mall now occupies the space on M St.
 |
| Georgetown Park Mall M St Entrance |
 |
| First floor interior of the Georgetown Park Mall |
 |
| Wisconsin Ave Entrance Today |
 |
| Rive Gauche Restaurant |
WHCA HEADQUARTERS | |||
| |||
Type of Activity | IG audit of Communications Support | ||
Location | |||
Location | Washington DC | ||
Date of Activity | May 16, 1996, June 13 1996 | ||
Coordinates | 38°53'51.2"N 77°02'20.9"W | ||
 |
| Building 94 |
 |
| WHCA location at Anacostia mid 70’s |
 |
| WHCA operations at Anacostia |
Construction of the Col George J McNally building was completed in 1991 and became the permanent home of The White House Communications Agency (WHCA).
 |
| Rear entrance to the WHCA facility building 399 |
When I arrived in WHCA in the mid-1960's, the term "Ranch" was the LBJ Ranch in Texas. Since then, we have had Santa Barbara and Crawford. Nixon was still the king of compounds, had three if you count Key Biscayne, San Clemente, and the other private retreat at Grand Cay, in the Bahamas. The WHCA budget to support Walkers Cay, Grand Bahama Island, and Grand Cay, along with the NASA sub-cable from the Cape to GBI was off the charts.
The large remote Detachments from the days of LBJ, Nixon, Reagan started to become flags for Congressional budget oversight. Those jobs and slots were justified based on disbursement of assets for quick response, and on paper were to eliminate TDY travel when the President went home for weekend! The permanent building leases, alarms, Long Lines, TTY, vehicles, maintenance, all added up and the original planned savings was almost non-existent.
There is little history on the actual budget for the Nixon compound built on Grand Cay with relay sites at Walkers Cay, Grand Bahama Island, and overseas cable head at Cape Canaveral. I would guess we spent more on the Bahamas retreat than actual costs of Key Biscayne. There was also another Coral Reef house owned by Bebe Rebozo in the Card Sound area that had many government "improvements". After Nixon and Key Biscayne and San Clemente, the budgets were under more oversight for future Presidents.
The White House Communications Agency is formally charged with providing telecommunications and other similar services to the President, First Lady, and staff.
It has existed since the1940's, when it had a trivial budget and a staff of 30 people.Today, late the White House Communications Agency has over 900 employees and over a $100 million budget.The initial attempts to conduct oversight of this 900-person, $100 million-a-year White House-directed agency were made by Congress 2 years ago in 1994. Those attempts were met with repeated delays and White House stonewalling. Early last year, after meetings with the White House Counsel's office, GAO, and the Department of Defense IG's office, Congress finally received the approval to have an IG investigation done going back 5 years.
WHCA has been a deep, dark hole over at the White House into which there has been spending nearly $100 million annually without any executive branch oversight. It has also become a pot of money devoted to many things-kind of a miscellaneous pot of money-that have nothing to do with telecommunications or the President.
The White House Communications Agency has had a totally unique mission, and the staff who serves there perform their duties exceptionally well and have done so for more than 50 years and for 11 Presidents, both Democrats and Republicans.
The DODIG’s report concluded that WHCA's budgets have gone largely unreviewed. Its annual performance plan has failed to meet DOD standards. Its acquisition planning has violated DOD regulations and resulted in wasteful purchases.
Finally, the DODIG concluded that WHCA is providing the White House with services and equipment which are outside way, outside of the scope of its mission of telecommunications support to the President of the United States.
Congressional hearings conducted on May 16 and June 13, 1996
Congressional Hearings complete Transcript
The following individuals testified
HENRY L. HINTON, JR., ASSISTANT COMPI'ROLLER GENERAL NATIONAL SECURITY AND INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS DIVSION
ROBERT J. LIEBERMAN, ASSISTANT INSPECTOR GENERAL FOR AUDITING, DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
COL. JOSEPH J. SIMMONS IV, COMMANDER WHITE HOUSE COMMUNICATIONS AGENCY
EMMETT PAIGE, JR., ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF DEFENSE (COMMAND, CONTROL, COMMUNICATIONS, AND INTELLIGENCE)
Oversight of the White House Communications Agency, was the topic of these particular hearings that grew out of a Department of Defense Inspector General's investigation and the efforts by Congress to have the General Accounting Office investigate the allegations of waste and mismanagement at the White House communications Agency.
The DOD IG’s audit review primarily focused on FYs 1991 through 1995, but we did examine some documentation dated as far back as 1967 and as recent as FY 1996.
There were several areas of concern identified and without further correction and White House commitment, the problems will continue:
- $577,000 worth of missing equipment will remain unaccounted for.
- $300,000 software packages will be purchased yet sit unopened.
- $294,000 will be paid for services never provided.
- $784,000 in illegal contracts will continue to be let.
- $4.9 million unusable communications trailers will continue to be purchased.
- $2.1 million maintenance contracts will continue to be sole sourced to WHCA friends in total violation of Federal contracting law.
- services quoted at $35,000 will be billed at $91,000, and those bills will be paid.
- $14.5 million in outstanding obligations will remain unvalidated.
There is a clear need for reform according to the DOD IG. Operational control of WHCA remains at the White House, and the White House is uncommitted to reform and unwilling to discuss change.
The DOD Inspector General reported on issues beyond those that were noted in their preliminary work.
For example, the Inspector General reported that WHCA's inventory of short-haul telecommunications equipment and services, such as circuits and maintenance, was neither complete nor accurate because WHCA failed to record some of the equipment and services, terminate the equipment from the inventory, or update costs. The Inspector General's April 1996 report found that WHCA had made little progress in correcting deficiencies identified in its earlier November 1995 report and the inventory remained auditable.
The DOD Inspector General's detailed examination identified $7.8 million in services (audiovisual, news wire, and stenographic services) and the procurement of camera equipment that the Inspector General found were outside of WHCA's mission.
For example, WHCA's Audiovisual Unit provides flags at presidential events, develops, and prints photographs of the President and First Lady, and mounts and frames photographs. WHCA also provides stenographic services for the White House Office of the Press Secretary. WHCA has tried unsuccessfully since 1971 to transfer funding for these services to the White House or the General Services Administration, but the White House has prevented the transfer.
Also, the White House deploys Department of Defense moneys to fund an elaborate frame shop in the basement of the White House, which frames any staffer's pictures. It funds stenographic services, audiovisual services, photos and emblems, podiums, and other non-telecommunications expenditures. WHCA's activities are undertaken pursuant to a number of laws and regulations.
These activities range from providing communications support, such as non secure voice, secure voice, and recorded communications, to other support, including automated data processing and construction of presidential podiums. The IG did not determine the cost of the activities or how they were funded and reported since the White House would not release the necessary documents.
The DOD Inspector General's detailed review disclosed that since 1991, WHCA had provided communications support to the Secret Service on a non-reimbursable basis and failed to report to the Office of the Secretary of Defense all costs for providing communications support to the Secret Service. WHCA had not charged the Secret Service for the support because a 1989 WHCA and Secret Service memorandum of agreement did not clearly delineate reimbursable and non-reimbursable communications support to be provided. As a result, from 1990 to 1995, the Secret Service did not reimburse DOD for annual communications support totaling $4.3 million and Congress was not informed of communications support totaling $3.2 million that WHCA had provided to the Secret Service. Because DOD absorbed costs of support to the Secret Service, the Secret Service's budget was augmented by $4.3 million.
The DOD Inspector General's detailed review disclosed that WHCA expended $4.9 million on a mobile communications system known as the Air Transportable Integrated Communications System (ATICS) that did not meet operational needs. According to the WHCA "Enterprise Architecture Document, February 3, 1995, WHCA had planned to use the mobile communications system to provide telecommunications support on most Presidential trips. WHCA specified that the mobile communications system must fit on C- 141 and C-5 aircraft but did not consider the additional equipment normally carried on the aircraft. As a result, the mobile communications system and all WHCA equipment needed to support the President do not fit on one C-141 aircraft. In addition, the design of the communications system does not allow WHCA personnel to operate efficiently.
Because it was determined that the communications system did not meet all operational needs, WHCA did not exercise contract options to purchase additional communications systems .DETAILS OF THE DOD IG AUDIT REPORTS
Finding A - About $7.8 million in services and equipment provided to the White House were not within the scope of the White House Communications Agency telecommunications mission as presently defined and should be funded by the Executive Office of the President.
Response: A Memorandum of Agreement between the White House Office of Management and Administration and Assistant Secretary of Defense, Command, Control Communications and Intelligence validated and expanded DISA's functional oversight over the White House Communications Agency to include responsibility for funding managing, contracting, and purchasing of audiovisual, news wire, and stenographic services and camera equipment to the Executive Office of the President. DISA will sample services provided to determine if these services are as provided for in the Memorandum of Agreement.
Finding B - The White House Communications Agency was not reimbursed for permanent support to the Secret Service, as required by law, and understated support costs to Congress by $3.2 million. The Secret Service did not reimburse about $4.3 million for support and, because DoD absorbed support costs, the Secret Service budget was augmented by that amount.
Response: This finding was addressed in a Memorandum of Understanding between the White House Communications Agency and the Secret Service was revised to specify permanent and temporary support provided to the Secret Service and which support is reimbursable or non-reimbursable. DISA will review the support provided to the Secret Service to make sure it agrees with the provisions of the revised Memorandum of Understanding. It should be noted that a change of the DoD Appropriation Act of 1996 has changed all support to the Secret Service to be on a non-reimbursable basis.
Finding C - The White House Communications Agency managers did not maintain control over repair parts inventories and contracting officer's representatives did not document maintenance data.
Response: DISA will review the management of maintenance operations and verify that the White House Communications Agency has fully implemented the existing maintenance management system, turned in excess repair parts, updated lists of equipment under maintenance contracts, and used vendor service reports to assess the cost-effectiveness of maintenance contracts.
Finding D - The White House Communications Agency lacked accountability for non-expendable property on hand and had excess expendable supplies valued at about $226,000. Property valued at about $577,000 was not accounted for and is at risk for potential waste or loss.
Response: DISA will evaluate the White House Communications Agency's procedures for receiving property and recording it in the property book. DISA will also perform tests necessary to determine if information in the property book is accurate and current.
Finding E - The inventory of base communications equipment and services is neither complete nor accurate. Consequently, the inventory could not be audited, and White House Communications Agency could neither review and revalidate communications requirements nor assess the cost effectiveness of configurations for equipment and services.
Response: DISA will determine if the White House Communications Agency has implemented efficient and effective procedures to conduct a complete ana accurate inventory of short-haul equipment and services and to maintain required inventory records.
Finding F - The White House Communications Agency paid for leased long-haul telecommunications circuits and equipment that were no longer needed.
Response: DISA will ensure that the White House Communications Agency terminates unneeded long-haul circuits and equipment and establishes a review and revalidation program for equipment and services.
Finding G - The White House Communications Agency did not validate bills for long-haul telecommunications equipment and services before verifying that the bills were accurate.
Response: DISA will verify that the White House Communications Agency has established effective bill validation procedures to make sure that payments would not be made for terminated services or services ordered but not installed.
Second Report: Report No. 96-100, April 29, 1996:
Finding A - DISA exercised limited administrative, financial, and operational oversight responsibility for the White House Communications Agency.
Response: This process has been streamlined in the March 1996 Memorandum of Agreement that I signed, specifying the oversight responsibility for the White House Communications Agency. DISA will evaluate procedures established to ensure that DISA provides the required administrative, financial, and operational oversight of the White House Communications Agency.
Finding B - The White House Communications Agency did not comply with contracting and payment procedures and did not establish duties and responsibilities to ensure the most cost-effective methods of leasing telecommunications equipment and services.
Response: The White House Communications Agency is holding discussions with the Defense Information Technology Contracting Office (DITCO), an operating unit of DISA (regarding contracting support) and with the Defense Finance Accounting Service - Pensacola (regarding payment functions). Interim procedures have been established with the U.S. Army Information Systems Command to ensure that a formal contract is in place before communications vendors provide telecommunications equipment and services to WHCA. DISA will monitor these actions for proper implementation and later follow-up to see if the actions correct any reported deficiencies.
Finding C - The White House Communications Agency could not validate outstanding unliquidated obligations totaling $14.1 million for telecommunications equipment and services. Of note, the $14.5 million figure has been reduced to $4.5 million today.A March 1996 memorandum of agreement between the White House Office of Management and Administration and the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Command, Control, and Communications and Intelligence again assigned these functions and the associated funding to WHCA.
The DOD IG’s audit was performed in two phases, with two reports, because of the volume of audit tests required to review all WHCA activities, the lack of previous coverage, and the need to report initial audit results in a timely manner. We had a positive working relationship during the audit with WHCA and the other organizations involved, and the DOD IG obtained access to all information that was requested.
OVERALL ASSESSMENT
The audit found that WHCA did a superior job in accomplishing its operational mission of supporting the Office of the President. It also found no evidence of theft, or gross malfeasance, and management controls were generally adequate. However, the audit did identify areas that needed improvement and opportunities to cut future operating costs. Some of the problems that were identified, such as duplicate payments, unneeded circuits, and invalid unliquidated obligation balances, are similar to what we have found at many other DoD organizations. WHCA funds the contract for the stenographers, they do not control the stenographers. In addition to developing and printing photographic film, WHCA pays for camera equipment used by the White House photographers. We estimated that providing such services and equipment that are not usually considered telecommunications cost the DoD about $7.8 million in FY 1995.
CONCLUSION
In conclusion, both a comprehensive audit and a more formal, explicit delineation of responsibilities were long overdue for WHCA Although management controls were generally satisfactory, there were deficiencies in several areas that needed attention. More systematic oversight is important in the future to assist WHCA in being as efficient and effective as possible. The DOD IG will work closely with DISA and WHCA to make sure that the problems found in the audit get fixed.
Camp David Catoctin Mountain, Md.
| |||
| |||
Elevation
|
1,900 ft. (579.1 m)
| ||
Location
| |||
Location
| Frederick County, Maryland, USA | ||
Range
|
Appalachian Mountains
| ||
Coordinates
|
+39.648333N -77.466667 W
| ||
November of 1965 to Camp David
 |
| Entrance to the Presidential Retreat (1942) |
 |
Main Entrance to Camp David |
 |
| Marine Guard Post at the Entrance to Camp David |
 | ||
| Aspen Lodge after renovations (1970) |
 |
| Aspen Lodge Bedroom |
 |
| Aspen Lodge Living Room |
 |
Aspen Lodge (1970) President Nixon with Russian Premier Brezhnev |
 |
| Camp David Mess Hall (1965) |
 |
| Hickory Lodge (1956) As one of the permanent staff assigned to Camp David, we were allowed to use any of the recreational facilities as long as the President or any VIP's would be visiting. The most popular facility used by the staff and their families was the swimming pool and bath house which was located near the Mess old mess hall and barracks. The pool also had a built-in trampoline where the kids loved to play. |
 |
| Camp David swimming pool (1966) |
.jpg) |
| The pool bath house (1965) |
 |
| Staff Swimming Pool (2014) |
 |
| Aspen Lodge with new swimming pool (1969) |
Camp David was as dry as a Navy ship during my first years there. (Not that beer sometimes didn't occasionally find its way in). The bar in Hickory was instituted in '59 or '60
 |
| The lounge in Hickory Lodge with dance floor |
 |
| Fully equipped bar in Hickory Lodge |
The daily interface with NSF was frequent, they ran the Senior Petty Officer Mess (S.P.O.M.) which was the bar in Hickory, and also were in charge of the Medical Unit. There was a long-time icon, MCPO Adams who was in charge of the Medical Unit, and his "other assigned duties were to administer the rules and running of the bar in Hickory. They had a fully stocked bar, typical bags of chips, and a supply of Stewarts Infrared sandwiches that could be purchased. Draft beer was probably as cheap as $.25 a glass, and mixed drinks might have been $.45 each, a typical sandwich another $1.25.
This was
established as a NO CASH bar. Long before our Smartphone payment system was
even dreamed . Each visit you would check out and initial a "Chit"
which would be put in the register. Now remember, there were about 50 WHCA people,
and Marine Security Detachment of 35, and another 50 NSF troops that all had
access to the bar in Hickory. When you would be walking your rounds making Communications
checks, it was not uncommon to meet MCPO Adams, (a.k.a. Doc Adams) on one of
the trails. You would have the traditional courtesy of greeting and then he
would repeat your name (no name tags) and tell you $14.85! That would be your
current balance to date for the month. At the end of each month, you were required
to go to the S.P.O.M. or his office and make payment.
I
want to say, I think the only accepted method of payment was CASH! He knew to
the penny what every person on the entire complex owed on their accounts. Of
course, this was just one of his "other" assigned duties. I don't
think I ever saw him in the Medical Unit building, he did have a very good
staff that took care of regular "sick call" at 0800 each morning.
(This was in the 1967-time frame) "Doc" was a legend. Total class act and bartender supreme. there was another obscure rule. You could not buy
a round in the S.P.O.M. for your coworkers unless it was a published
"Promotion Party". I always wondered if this was a way to monitor
"drinking habits"
Marine One landing at Camp David
 | ||||||||||||||||
Army One (1967)
| ||||||||||||||||
It was November of 1965 when my experiences with WHCA began, I was assigned to Cactus which was the codename for the microwave installation at Camp David, and I would also work at another microwave location near Mercersburg Pa. This site was known as Cannonball and was a microwave relay station. I would travel to Cannonball for a week at a time and spent a total of eleven weeks there over a year’s period of time. This worked out very well because in March of 1967 I was transferred permanently to Cannonball.
We rented an apartment in the
Homestead apartments in Blue Ridge Summit Pa., that was next to the Post
Office. The entrance to the apartment is pictured below to the left of the Post
Office. We only lived there for a short period of time until Government Housing
at Camp David became available.
 |
| The Old Post office in Blue Ridge Summit Pa |
Behind the old
Blue Ridge Summit, USPS Office there was a two-story white house pictured in
the background was a WHCA rental where Don Cammel lived for over 3 years. Don
remembers that there were four single WHCA guys, and they convinced Mrs.
Warrenfeltz, (Warrenfeltz Realty in Cascade) to rent to four single military
guys. She dealt with a lot of Ft Ritchie folks and was cautious, but the owner
Robley Brown met with three of them and they convinced him they would take care
of his property. He was a great landlord, if they wanted to paint or upgrade a
room, and he would supply the materials. The rent was to include lawncare where
he would come cut the grass and trimming. They all used the lawnmower which he
kept in garage, and he lowered the rent by $25 a month in the summer. The
garage was not usable for a car, but they were able to store a lot of
"stuff" in there....remember a few Bell Boxes as storage containers
for treasures. Back porch had a spare refrigerator for the beer drinkers with
an "Honor Coffee Can" on the top. The local beer distributor would
stop every two weeks and leave a few cases and take money out of the can and
leave a receipt.
Across the street from Mrs Warrenfeltz Realty (her office was in a
converted back porch) there was a liquor store right on the State Line between
MD and PA. The prices competed with the Fort Ritchie Class VI store. The PA
State Police would watch people coming out the front gate of Fort Ritchie and
stop and liquor store. Drive ½ miles toward Blue Ridge Summit and then stop
them. Pennsylvania law was very strict on "Out of State" liquor, only
1 or 2 bottles of Federal Taxed booze could be brought into PA, and they also
only allowed 399 cigarettes without State Tax Stamps. That meant if a Military
person purchased two cartons of cigarettes and did not open one pack and smoke
at least one, they were illegal and would confiscate the tobacco products and
access a heavy fine. One soldier, knew the drill, opened a pack and smoke one,
but forgot he had an open pack in his jacket pocket! After about 2 years of
battle, they backed off, but clearly, they were picking on Military people
living in area.
Roger Zabkie
told me a story that around 1959 or 1960 he and another sergeant were ringing
out a newly installed lead-shielded cable. Since it was not color-coded the
technique was to terminate one end on a frame then ring out the other end pair
by pair. About halfway through the procedure they began getting strange
results, so they started walking along the cable’s path from the tower down to
the switchboard room, where the main distribution frame was located, eyeballing
the cable to try to determine the problem.
The cable was laced down on a Western Electric tray from the mainframe to where it disappeared into a passageway on its way to the tower. The tray was almost as high as the concrete ceiling, behind the switchboard operating position, and there, right smack in the middle of one of the tray’s crossmembers, was a hole.
That’s a bullet hole, says the sergeant. Can’t be said Roger. But he, being a veteran of WWII and Korea, knew a bullet hole when he saw one. How could a bullet hole have penetrated a steel cable tray and a lead-shielded cable there in one of the most secure pieces of real estate in the country?
Well there was a loaded M2 carbine mounted on the wall next to the switchboard, ready to defend a very secure facility from who knows.
As the story eventually came out, a bored young switchboard operator was killing time on a slow Sunday afternoon by fondling the carbine. When the switchboard lit up, he set the butt down on the floor and the gun fired a round into the ceiling. He tried to hide the event and might have gotten away with it except for the defective cable, as well as that he was overheard talking about it in his sleep a week or two after our discovery.
He
was of course shipped out to a new assignment as was the practice of any WHCA indiscretions. And the carbine was subsequently relocated to the
crypto room with the other firearms.
Don Cammel has an early memory of
life at Camp David. he arrived in 1967 and at that time, the 12 most junior
personnel lived in a barracks arrangement on Camp David. It was not a
traditional barracks or rooms, but one large room divided into 4 cubes with a
series of dividers and wall lockers. There were 4 troops to each cube, with the
4th cube as the recreation room with television, pool table and other
recreation items. He arrived with a duffle bag and a suitcase, his total
possessions at that time, and didn't own a car. Anytime anyone was going
anywhere off Camp, he would invite himself to ride along! There was lots of
time to use the other recreational facilities after hours and on weekends as
long as there was not an "official" visit.
On one Saturday morning, he put on a straw hat to shield the sun, and walked out the "back gate". He soon found himself in one of the largest patches of wild raspberries you could imagine. He discovered they were very sweet and ate quite a few. he then started collecting them in a plastic bag, with the overflow into his straw hat. It was very peaceful, and suddenly, he was approached by an older couple. The attitude was, he was infringing on their "private patch" of wild raspberries, and Oh, by the way, you shouldn't be in this area! Very friendly folks.
When I arrived in WHCA in 1965 and at that time
COL Jack Albright was our Commander, (retired as a MG) and he brought with him,
SGM Richard McCoy. The two of them looked at all the aging troops that had been
there forever, and decided to start recruiting young troops like me directly
out of their AIT training at the various schools. This effort was a huge risk,
but turned out to work very well for several years. There are probably about
30-40 troops from that time period that stayed in WHCA for their entire career.
Although we were all members of various branches, it was very rare to see one
of our coworkers in uniform. Most folks with the exception of the Command HQS
were on a first name basis and rarely addressed anyone by rank.
We were prohibited from displaying
the standard Military vehicle sticker on our POV's? Most of our troops used the
facilities at nearby Fort Ritchie and Fort Dietrick for Commissary/PX, and
medical appointments. We had this very small gold and black sticker about
2" x ¾" with the words, "CAMP THREE" would be attached to
your windshield behind the mirror. This was very difficult to view without
really studying the vehicle. When approaching the sentry at the Main Gate, we
often were delayed. Eventually the "Camp Three" stickers were
replaced with traditional Military Base decals. The only difference was these
were not affixed to our vehicles, but laminated and placed on the dash.
On the flip side, there was a
statement that authorized the sticker to not be permanently attached to the
vehicle. Many bases you would show it, and they were alert backup, and it was a
long day.
This was the only time we were ever taken to an army
post to qualify with any type of firearm.
It was the only time that I had the privilege to salute Mr. Fontaine
because he was in uniform. Two things I
can remember happening, first we never qualified with a rifle again,
and WHCA returned to a permanent assignment for those who chose to stay.
As I think back, there
are so many old times that had some really specific jobs that kept them out of
the front line with photo ops and airport arrivals, but they were all just as
important. I think of the folks like me, and Terry Fields at Cannonball, Louie
Bean at Corkscrew and Jim Hammond at Cowpuncher ran their own show and had an
important job, but how do you explain you were assigned to the White House
living in Mercersburg PA, or Boonsboro,
MD working on top of a mountain.
At that time WHCA was a tour
unlike any other for most of us. But the
DCSU Missions asked our personnel to take on responsibilities encountered by
very few Military personnel. As these National Missions & Threats evolved,
our outstanding DCSU personnel evolved with them and routinely performed
significant Emergency Actions with little regard for their (and family)
personal situations. How we took it all for granted while serving...a proud
Hand Salute to my former Comrades who served in DCSU, the Detachments, the COG
sites and the CCTs of the early 70’s.
When Det 3 from Cadre/Creed
qualified Don Cammel remembered that he was proud of his score of 141, the
highest of any of DCSU's finest. All the raw scores were turned into the Admin
section and they discovered that you needed 140 to qualify. He was the only
person that qualified. Real problem here...so they administratively added 40
points to everyone's score at DCAU so they would all qualify and printed the
Orders. his score was not changed. Fast forward about a month, and he got
called in by MAJ John F. DuGuay, the DCSU CDR and was told that he was being
sent to the FBI indoor range in DC for remedial training. Of course after a
couple of months nothing happened, and he never went for his remedial training.
Over the years we had loads of fun with the air
transport crews and sky marshals all because we were carrying concealed weapons
against air travel regulations. With every other flight being hijacked to
Cuba, I can understand why they were so touchy.
We lived in the off-site Quarters at Camp David
for over a year in 66/67. We referred to these quarters as the wagon
wheel, WHCA personnel consisted of four enlisted guys living there, as well as
the CO of DCSU who Maj. Duguay the rest was all U.S. Navy personnel. They were pretty nice for Government Quarters
and fairly new at the time, we lived in unit 6A and at the time there were ten
units built in a circle. Only E-5 and above were eligible and you waited
for openings based on rank. Foxville Gardens is only about 2 miles from
the front gate at Camp David. Just up Manhattan Rd. from the Wagon
Wheel used to be a trailer park that was also maintained by the Navy and
available to anyone on a space available basis.
Shortly after we moved into housing at Camp David, our son Robert was born in Waynesboro, PA on April 28, 1966.
Shortly after we moved into housing at Camp David, our son Robert was born in Waynesboro, PA on April 28, 1966.
 |
| Christmas (1966) Joanne and Don |
 | ||
Don and Bob, Christmas (1966)
|
The games tailed off when we moved to LeMasters and
the guys either got married or were discharged, but the poker games continued
in San Clemente and Key Biscayne with the guys and pinochle when we socialized
with the families. Cards passed a lot of time for us, and it was a very
enjoyable way to get to know the people that you worked with. They did
like to party.
When I returned home from Punta Del Este in March of
1967 we relocated to PA where I would be assigned to a microwave relay
facility known as Cannonball as the
NCOIC.
Experiences at Cannonball
| |||
| |||
Type Of Activity
|
Experiences while at Cannonball
| ||
Location
| |||
Location
|
Mercersburg Pa
| ||
Date of Activity
|
Mar 1967 to Jun 1970
| ||
Coordinates
|
+39.648333N -77.466667 W
| ||
I spent many days and nights at Cannonball in the mid 60's. Two Microwave repairmen stationed at Camp David went TDY for a week at a time to Cannonball a microwave repeater tower which was located on a 2600 ft peak (Cross Mountain) near Mercersburg Pa. On Monday morning they would leave Camp David with enough groceries for a week’s stay in a concrete silo. There were no windows in the nine-floor structure so unless you went down to the entrance and went outdoors you had no idea of what the weather was like outside. There were two people permanently assigned to the facility (Terry Fields and Al Jensen) and when they went home in the evening, they were left without transportation at night, so keeping yourself occupied was a real challenge. Nobody knew what went on during nights and weekend when the guys were left alone and to this day almost nobody has incremented themselves.
 |
LeMasters Pa (1967) |
The telephone system utilized at Cannonball tower was a 1A1 Key System since I knew nothing about the 1A1, and I was responsible for the installation and repair of new and existing equipment I attended training at the AT&T Training Center in Lemoyne PA.
 |
| Typical Six Button Rotary Dial Telephone Set |
 |
| 1A1 KSU Key Service Unit |
.jpg) |
| The old Post Office in Blue Ridge Summit PA |
The election also featured a strong third party effort by former Alabama Governor George Wallace. Because Wallace's campaign promoted segregation, he proved to be a formidable candidate in the South; no third-party candidate has won an entire state's electoral votes since.
The U.S. Secret Service came into existence nearly 150 years ago, but the agency as its known today was essentially created June 5, 1968 — the night Sen. Robert F. Kennedy was shot at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles.
That policy changed after Kennedy's assassination. In 1968 with the assassination of a major presidential candidate, the Secret Service began to protect all of the major presidential candidates.
After Kennedy's death on June 6, the Secret Service was hurriedly called upon to protect the men who were still running for president in 1968. And then, of course the White House Communications Agency (WHCA) would be called upon to support the Secret Service details assigned to all of the candidates. The situation was exacerbated because there was no criterion for choosing who else would receive Secret Service protection. WHCA was then assigned to provide communications for the Secret Service Protection Details!
WHCA’s role in the support of the Secret Service
WHCA immediately assembled multiple equipment packages that could be immediately deployed anywhere in the US. Utilizing one or two men teams the candidates schedules were confirmed and teams of people were dispatched to meet up with the Secret Service advance agents.
Each equipment package contained an FM base station usually on Baker and Charlie frequencies for the Secret Service Command Post (CP) and hand held units to be used for the motorcade and speech site. Many times the CP was located in the same hotel that the candidate was staying. Telephone lines were ordered and installed in the CP for routine communication. There would also be an EOD (Bomb Squad) member assigned from a local military installation to sweep the hotel, motorcade route and speech sites for any explosive devices. There were many threats called in but nothing was ever found.
The communications teams would take down the FM radios when the event concluded, collected all of the equipment and would be assigned a new location and the next event. Nobody was assigned to a particular candidate but would work with all of them.
On August 5 1968 the Republican National Convention took place in Miami Beach FL, and even though there were demonstrators, there were no violent incidents. I was at Fort Bliss Texas on a WHCA recruiting trip when Richard Nixon surprised everyone by choosing Maryland Governor Spiro Agnew as his running mate.
WHCA would provide communications support to the USSS assigned to the various protection details working with the major candidates and their staff.
 |
| 1968 Republican convention in Miami |
 |
| 1968 Democrat Convention in Chicago |
 |
| The Chicago Police prepare for demonstrations |
 |
| Police clash with anti war protesters in Grant Park |
04 Oct 68 Newark NJ - George Wallace
 |
| Gov. George Wallace at a rally in Atlanta GA |
 |
| Gov. George Wallace at a rally in Newark NJ (1968) |
.jpg) |
| Spiro Agnew speaks at a campaign rally in Raleigh NC. |
+copy+-+Copy.jpg) |
| Spiro Agnew speaks at a campaign rally in Raleigh NC. |
 |
| VP Hubert Humphrey campaigns in Los Angeles CA |
+copy.jpg) |
| VP Hubert Humphrey campaigns in San Francisco and San Jose, CA |
31 Oct 68 Burbank CA – Richard Nixon
In the meantime Richard Nixon was scheduled for a campaign stop in Long Beach CA for a rally on Oct. 30th. The Long Beach site was out of range for FM radio coverage so radio base stations were installed at the Long Beach airport and installed remote circuits back to the CP that was installed in the Century Plaza Hotel. After the speech Nixon would spend the night at the Century Plaza. The next day Nixon made a trip to the NBC Studios in Burbank to appear on Laugh In and utter those immortal words “Sock it to me!” Since Nixon resided in southern California he was coming home to vote.
+copy.jpg) |
| Richard Nixon at a campaign rally in Long Beach CA |
 |
| Richard Nixon on Laugh In with Dan Rowan and Dick Martin |
I received a call from the USSS agent in charge of the protection detail assigned to Gen LeMay to let me know that there was a speech on Nov 3rd in Anaheim. I met with the advance agent at Gen Le May’s residence in Bel Air to discuss the details of the arrival, the subsequent speech and the motorcade to Bel Air. The CP would be set up in the Holiday Inn in Anaheim, just a short distance from the speech site and within walking distance to Disneyland.
 |
| Gov. Wallace and Gen. Le May in California |
.png) |
| Gen. Le May’s home in Bel Air |
On election eve both Democrat and Republican parties had rallies, Nixon’s was at the Century Plaza Hotel and Humphrey was, down the street at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. I had equipment scattered everywhere and it wasn’t until two days later before I had collected it and could head for home.
The election on November 5, 1968 proved to be extremely close, and it was not until the following morning that the television news networks were able to call Nixon the winner. The key states proved to be California, Ohio, and Illinois, all of which Nixon won by three percentage points or less. Had Humphrey carried all three of these states, he would have won the election. Had Humphrey carried any two of them (or just California), George Wallace would have succeeded in his aim of preventing an electoral college majority for any candidate, and the decision would have been given to the House of Representatives. Nixon won the popular vote with a plurality of 512,000 votes, or a victory margin of about one percentage point. In the Electoral College Nixon's victory was larger, as he carried 32 states with 301 electoral votes, to Humphrey's 13 states and 191 electoral votes and Wallace's five states and 46 electoral votes.
 |
| Richard Nixon at a campaign rally in Philadelphia just prior to the election |
With Richard Nixon the new president, WHCA had new challenges at San Clemente and Key Biscayne where he purchased residences and permanent communications had to be installed for the security personnel assigned at these locations.
%20copy.jpg) |
| At home in LeMasters PA |
.jpg) |
The Crosses (1968) |
 |
Bob with proud Papa holding Kathie (1969) |
18 May 69 to Norfolk VA for technical training of an HF Radio System
I was sent to the Naval Training Center in Norfolk VA for training on the URT-23, which was a single sideband HF radio transceiver. WHCA was in the Process of adding this system to all overseas packages and needed qualified technicians. I was there for ten days and for the first time since I was assigned to WHCA I was required to wear uniforms. WHCA would widely use these whenever long range communications were required and would be included in the CCT’s standard equipment package!
 |
Don, Bob with Kathie (1970) |
We were in the middle of several major construction projects at the Tower that kept us busy the remainder of the year. First Project was to resurface the access road on Cross Mountain leading to Cannonball. There were also plans to add guard rail in multiple locations along the access road. This was really appreciated by all of who had to plow snow in the winter time as there had been several close calls in the past.
We also completed construction on an 80 ft tubular tower with a new Log Periodic HF antenna to increase our capabilities as the Remote Transmitter site For Cactus. We also installed a 4 port Multi-coupler that would allow us to use several transmitters to simultaneously use this new antenna.
The final and largest project was the shock mounting of the entire tower! Several things took place, steel reinforced walls were added to the elevator shaft on all floors and the Air Handling (AC) units were all remounted on an angle iron platform and hung on springs from the ceiling on all floors. The final step we needed to do was to temporarily move all of our operational equipment so a platform could be built and suspended by very large springs on every floor. Once the new suspended floor was completed we then reinstalled all of the equipment on the platform. All this was completed while the traffic on our microwave routes was uninterrupted.
 |
| Agnew Fund raiser in Phoenix AZ |
When the projects were completed I started to travel again, this time supporting the Vice President. It was early 1970, when we found out that four of the microwave towers, including Cannonball were going to be closed. All of the people were to be assigned to Camp David, San Clemente CA., or Key Biscayne FL. I was assigned to San Clemente.
Mr. Cross, Can you contact me, I’m Pierre Fontaine’s daughter
ReplyDeletemariarocks47@gmail.com
Great post, and great website. Thanks for the information! white linen dress
ReplyDeleteYour content is nothing short of bright in many forms. I think this is friendly and eye-opening material. I have gotten so many ideas from your blog. Thank you so much. Unique domain blog comments
ReplyDelete