The Role of WHCA NCO's

 

The Role of NCO’s the in WHCA
WHCA is a Joint Service Command serving the President
Type of Activity	Presidential Communications
Location
Location	Worldwide
Date of Activity	March 25,1942 to Present
Coordinates	38° 50′ 34″ N, 77° 0′ 58″ W

The White House Communications Agency was originally formed in 1942 as the White House Signal Detachment. The detachment was activated under the Military District of Washington during the Franklin D. Roosevelt administration to provide normal and emergency communications in support of the President of the United States. It provided mobile radio, teletype, telephone, and cryptographic services in the White House and at Presidential Retreat at Shangri-la, now known as Camp David.

In 1954, during the Eisenhower administration, the detachment was reorganized under the office of the Chief Signal Officer, Army Signal Corps and renamed the White House Army Signal Agency. In 1962, the signal agency was transferred to the authority of the Defense Communications Agency until 1991when the Agency was reorganized to the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) with administrative oversight of WHCA’s activities. WHCA is under operational control of the White House Military Office.

WHCA’s scope has expanded and evolved over the past 80 years from a small team of 32 personnel working out of the basement of the White House to a self-supporting joint service command of nearly 1,200 personnel while serving 15 Presidents of the United States.

 

      

Army Signal Corp 

 Military Aides Office  

 DISA
                    

The ‘Voice Of The President’

As their motto states, personnel at WHCA collectively serve as the “voice of the president.” But the agency’s name is somewhat misleading,

Communications’ is part of the agency’s name, but it’s not just Communications people, they also have transporters, logisticians, carpenters, sheet metal workers, multimedia specialists, and military intelligence and finance leaders, in addition to the communications leaders.

Every location the president goes to, even if it’s in Washington D.C. WHCA has to provide the President same communication capabilities as in the White House. Wherever the boss goes, it’s WHCA’s job to make sure that whatever he can do in downtown Washington, D.C., he can do in Siberia, if he chooses to go there.

The non-commissioned officers working in the White House Communications Agency, whose no-fail mission is to enable the nation’s top leader to communicate with the government, military, and world, whether that be in the Oval Office or on the other side of the globe.

WHCA’s Roadrunner is present today in every Presidential Motorcade worldwide  providing all necessary communications links back to Washington DC.      

WHCA may be a ‘communications’ agency, but it does so much more. The startling diversity is a necessity for an organization that must do almost everything in-house for both security and quality reasons. Service members at WHCA build every Presidential podium, outfit, and man every motorcade communication vehicle, operate the President’s Teleprompter, and transport the necessary equipment wherever its needed worldwide.

As a result, the majority of WHCA’s personnel are assigned as needed to travel teams that are deployed whenever one of the three principals, the President, Vice president or First Lady is at an event away from the White House. WHCA also supports members of the White House Staff and during presidential elections they support all USSS details protecting candidates. The teams are responsible for determining everything that is required voice, fax, internet, and satellite links; computers, printers, and copiers; cameras, microphones, lights, and transmission equipment; and the iconic presidential podium, then transporting it to the site, setting everything up, executing during the event, taking everything down, then resetting for the next trip. It makes for a constant rhythm of travel, often with little to no advance notice, and with the expectation of nothing less than perfection.

The role of WHCA’s NCO’S past and present

The non-commissioned officers working in the White House Communications Agency, whose no-fail mission is to enable the nation’s top leader to communicate with the government, military, and world, whether that be in the Oval Office or on the other side of the globe.

These NCO’s are usually clad in suits, so they blend into the bevy of staff members, reporters and security personnel who surround the President of the United States during his day-to-day activities. Yet it is this unique uniform that camouflages the Soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines of WHCA, a joint unit headquartered at Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling in Washington, D.C.

NCO’s are tasked with providing everything the President, Vice President and First Lady need to deliver their message anywhere at any time, whether it be secure voice, FM mobile while supporting the USSS with the motorcade and security communications, also providing the lectern, lighting, Teleprompter, and sound needed for a Rose Garden news conference; live video for the world’s press from Air Force One while flying over the Pacific; or the satellite connections to operators who answer calls from citizens and foreign leaders alike in the White House.

Today’s Command and Control vehicle codename Roadrunner

Integral to WHCA’s mission are its noncommissioned officers and petty officers, all of whom have responsibilities that exceed those of their peers elsewhere in the military, and what are the NCO’s responsible to do for this organization?

One example, in 1968 during the Presidential election, and after Robert Kennedy was assassinated, it was then that the USSS was assigned to protect all Presidential candidates. WHCA formed communications packages so that one NCO could support the secret service protection details at every stop. They would leapfrog from one location to another for weeks at a time setting up the mobile communications for the motorcade and at speech sites. All while supporting a sitting President and Vice President. This practice continues to this day.

Another example, would be when you see the Vice President of the United States on the road, every support person, with the exception of his military aide, are all enlisted personnel who are setting up all necessary communications for success. His mobile communications for the USSS and motorcade, all his audio and visual support, the lectern you see him stand behind, that is all the work of enlisted personnel behind the scenes making everything happen.

 Vice President Agnew in Newport Beach at a fund raiser(1969)

The NCO’s are definitely the backbone of WHCA as they run the vice-presidential communications program in its entirety, but they are in every corner of WHCA  making the mission happen, and their impact is monumental. The President cannot communicate to the world without the agency providing him the means to do that, and noncommissioned officers at WHCA make that happen. Nowhere else in anyone’s career are you able to say the stakes are this high. It takes a lot of responsibility, but that’s something you already carry with you as an NCO in WHCA.

WHCA can support the leader of the greatest nation in the world with no-mistake, no-fail missions anywhere, anytime, that says a lot about WHCA’s corps of noncommissioned officers. The tempo is not like in other units where you deploy, you come back, and you reset. The tempo is always fast paced. At any time, there might be a phone call that says, Go to such-and-such place, and you might not even get a day’s notice. During campaign season, WHCA’s NCOs are traveling constantly. It’s a lot of hard work and 16-hour days.

A WHCA NCO, center, is greeted by President Ford after installing the ramp phone for AF1. (1976)

But it is not the glamorous life some see it is, the job is not the designer-suit, caviar-eating, five-star-hotel life everybody thinks it is, forget the five-star hotel; you may not even see the hotel!

WHCA’s in the business of customer service, and its customer is the President of the United States.

WHCA Vehicle Placard

I traveled extensively during the nine years that I spent with WHCA both in the U.S. and overseas. I would support two Presidents and First Families, two Vice Presidents, but also some key members of the White House Staff.  During the 1968 and 1972 Presidential elections I helped the Secret service support all of the national candidates. There were many trips for training and maintenance to the sites and equipment permanently installed to support the daily activities at Camp David, Cannonball, San Clemente and Key Biscayne. I also participated in four major overseas trips including President Nixon’s historic trip to China.