Fort George G. Meade

Fort George G. Meade is an active U.S. Army installation in Anne Arundel County, Maryland, located between Baltimore and Washington, D.C. Authorized by an Act of Congress in May 1917 as one of sixteen cantonments built for soldiers drafted for World War I, the post saw more than 400,000 soldiers pass through during that conflict and grew to more than 13,000 acres by 1941. Today the installation covers roughly 5,067 acres and serves as the nation's center for intelligence, information, and cyber operations. It hosts the headquarters of the National Security Agency, which moved to the post in 1957, as well as U.S. Cyber Command, established there in 2009, and the Defense Information Systems Agency.

Decades of industrial-style support activities left their mark on the post's soil and groundwater. A 1982 installation assessment identified waste-generating operations including vehicle maintenance, munitions degreasing, metal plating, dry cleaning, and pesticide handling, and later assessments documented landfills, a former furniture stripping facility, and fire training areas where foams now known to contain persistent chemicals were used. These historical practices have been associated with documented groundwater contamination at Fort Meade, and they have raised concerns about potential exposure for service members, families, and civilian workers who lived or worked on the installation.

1. Trichloroethylene (TCE): TCE is a chlorinated solvent that was widely used by the military for degreasing metal parts. At Fort Meade, TCE has been detected in groundwater associated with past vehicle maintenance, furniture stripping, and disposal activities. Long-term exposure to TCE has been associated in scientific studies with kidney cancer and other serious health conditions.
2. Mixed solvents and VOCs: Beyond TCE, a range of volatile organic compounds from degreasing, dry cleaning, plating, and landfill operations has been documented in soil and groundwater at the post. Prolonged exposure to certain industrial solvents has been linked in some research to neurological, liver, and blood disorders, although individual risk depends on many factors.
3. PFAS: PFAS, often called "forever chemicals" because they break down very slowly, have been found in groundwater at Fort Meade. The Army is currently investigating the extent of PFAS contamination, which may be related to firefighting foam use and historical plating activities. PFAS exposure has been associated in some studies with certain cancers, thyroid conditions, and immune effects.
4. AFFF: AFFF (aqueous film-forming foam) is a PFAS-containing firefighting agent used for decades in military fire training and crash response. Fire training areas at Fort Meade are among the operable units being addressed under the cleanup program, and AFFF use is considered a likely source of the PFAS detected in groundwater there.

EPA added Fort George G. Meade to the National Priorities List on July 27, 1998, making it a federal Superfund site. In September 2009, EPA and the Army signed a Federal Facilities Agreement that organizes the cleanup into roughly 20 operable units, covering fire training areas, landfills, and areas where pesticides and explosives were used or disposed of. EPA has signed Records of Decision selecting remedies for 11 operable units, and work to date has included soil excavation, groundwater monitoring, land use controls, and monitored natural attenuation. The PFAS investigation remains ongoing, and the next five-year review of the site is scheduled for September 2026.

Because remediation and monitoring at Fort Meade are still in progress, the full picture of past exposures may continue to develop. Veterans and family members who spent time at the installation may wish to follow EPA and Army updates on the cleanup, keep records of their service there, and talk with the VA or a healthcare provider about any health questions or potential exposure concerns.