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by Erin E. Thompson, USAICoE Staff Historian
12 APRIL 2006
On 12 April 2006, the 201st MI Battalion became the first interrogation battalion activated specifically to support the Joint Interrogation and Debriefing Centers (JIDCs) in Iraq and Afghanistan. The formation of this battalion signaled the Army’s desire and willingness to address the inconsistent and vague policies for prisoner interrogations in the Global War on Terror. Eventually the Army would activate four such battalions—two active and two reserve.
The Army established the Headquarters and Headquarters Company (HHC), 201st MI Battalion in October 1982 at Fort Monmouth, New Jersey, with additional organic elements activated in July 1987 at Vint Hill Farms Station, Virginia. Originally, the unit served as the only force projection SIGINT battalion in the Army, providing intelligence support for Army operations worldwide and maintaining its ability to collect, analyze, and employ electronic attack capabilities. The 201st participated in the defense of Saudi Arabia and the defense and liberation of Kuwait, earning the battalion a Meritorious Unit Commendation for its work in Southwest Asia from 1990–1991. The battalion also received an Army Superior Unit Award in 1993.
The HHC, 201st MI Battalion inactivated in October 2004 and remained in stasis until reactivated as part of the 470th MI Brigade on 12 April 2006, at Fort Sam Houston, Texas. The battalion’s mission consisted of screening and interrogating detainees during Operation ENDURING FREEDOM (OEF) and Operation IRAQI FREEDOM (OIF). At the battalion’s activation ceremony, Col. Richard Saddler, commander of the 470th, said: “The Department of the Army, based on the [Maj. Gen. George] Fay report and other weaknesses in how we conducted intelligence operations, recognized the need for dedicated interrogation battalions.” Saddler was referring to the 2004 investigation into the treatment of prisoners and detainees at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.
After the September 11 attacks and U.S. invasion of Iraq, Army interrogators relied on Field Manual (FM) 34-52 Intelligence Interrogation, published in 1992, for guidance on how to conduct such operations. However, the unclear status of detainees in Iraq and the inconsistent policies outlined in FM 34-52 led to abuses of prisoners between 2001–2004. After General Fay published his investigative report in 2006, the Army rushed to correct its mistakes. One of the first corrective actions was the creation of specialized interrogation battalions in April 2006. A few months later, in September, the Army produced FM 2-22.3 Human Intelligence Collector Operations. [See This Week in MI History #5 1-7 Sep] The remarkable improvement to Army policy on interrogation and intelligence operations during OEF/OIF is evidenced by the replacement of FM 34-52 and the establishment of specialized interrogation battalions like the 201st.
The 201st MI Battalion, commanded by Lt. Col. John Strycula, deployed in September 2007 and set up headquarters at Camp Cropper, Iraq, a detention center for high-value detainees. It also sent a detachment of soldiers to Camp Bucca, Iraq, the Army’s theater-level detention facility. Throughout its deployment, the battalion engaged with approximately 17,000 detainees in U.S. military custody. Its personnel returned to the United States fifteen months later in March 2009.
The unit deployed twice more, from 2010–2011 and again from 2012–2013, in support of OEF. These year-long deployments consisted of intelligence and debriefing support to the Combined Joint Interagency Task Force 435, whose mission was to drive counterinsurgency efforts in Afghanistan. The unit received a Meritorious Unit Citation for each deployment. As of 2023, the 201st MI Battalion is stationed at Joint Base San Antonio, Fort Sam Houston.
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| Date Taken: | 04.11.2023 |
| Date Posted: | 04.10.2023 10:50 |
| Story ID: | 442318 |
| Location: | US |
| Web Views: | 200 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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