THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Wednesday, July 27, 1994               TAG: 9407260342
SECTION: MILITARY NEWS            PAGE: A10  EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: BY CHARLENE CASON, STAFF WRITER 
DATELINE: CHESAPEAKE                         LENGTH: Medium:   68 lines

BASE BURGEONS AMID DRAWDOWN EMPLOYMENT HAS QUADRUPLED AT THE NERVE CENTER OF THE ATLANTIC FLEET - AND IT'S LIKELY TO GROW EVEN MORE.

In a time of personnel cutbacks, base closings and tightened brass-buckled belts, one military installation is growing faster than the cornfields at its borders in rural southern Chesapeake.

Its business: information - secret information.

Located on 3,700 acres straddling the North Carolina border, the Naval Security Group Activity Northwest is a high-security intelligence base that monitors radio and other communications traffic from around the world. It is the nerve center for the Norfolk-based Atlantic Fleet.

And it's a growing center. Employment has quadrupled in the past decade to 2,000 uniformed and civilian personnel. Forty-five more are expected by next summer from Charleston, S.C.

``We've really been the beneficiary of consolidation,'' said Capt. William Brinkmann, commanding officer. ``We've been identified in our area of bases as being able to withstand the drawdown, and we're picking up fragments of commands from up and down the East Coast.''

The base resounds with hammers and saws as the Navy works to accommodate the boom. A new medical center, family-services center, child-care center, swimming pool, chapel and Marine barracks are going up. There's even a bowling alley addition in the works and plans to buy more than 700 acres .

The tab so far is $20 million, and Congress has been asked to allocate $14 million more.

``We benefit the Navy by producing a product - information - in an information age,'' Brinkmann said. ``And our people need a high-tech, well-equipped infrastructure to do that job.''

One reason Northwest has a bright future, he said, is its location near the Norfolk headquarters of the U.S. Atlantic Command, which is responsible for all U.S.-based forces.

Northwest, established more than 40 years ago, saw a growth spurt in 1989 with the merger of the West Coast and East Coast Marine Security Force Training Schools. Ninety Northwest personnel now train nearly 3,000 Marines each year in worldwide internal security and armed response for the Navy.

It is the only school of its type in the world.

Other commands at Northwest include the Fleet Surveillance Support Command, Naval Satellite Communications Facility, Coast Guard Communications Master Station Atlantic, Electronic Warfare Operational Programming Facility and NATO Satellite Communications Facility.

Northwest should see this decade of growth wind up by about 1997, said Cmdr. Michael Lange, the installation's executive officer.

There's room for all the growth that's coming, he said, but officials must work around the woods and wetlands that make up much of the property. ILLUSTRATION: Map

STAFF

Photo

CARL CASON

Lt. Robert Gersh, left, and Lt. j.g. John Carson look at blueprints

for the Public Works Building at the Naval Security Group Activity

Northwest - a high-security intelligence base in southern

Chesapeake. Carson is overseeing the building's remodeling. So far,

$20 million has been spent to expand the base, and Congress could

allocate $14 million more.

by CNB