Army announces major realignment.

Under a realignment announced by the Army in January, five major Army commands will report directly to Department of the Army staff principals--

* The Army Criminal Investigation Command will report directly to a new staff officer on the Army staff, the Provost Marshal General.

* The Military District of Washington will report directly to the Office of the Army Chief of Staff.

* The Army Medical Command will report directly to the Surgeon General.

* The Army Intelligence and Security Command will report directly to the Army Deputy Chief of Staff, G-2.

* The Army Signal Command will be realigned under the Army Network Enterprise Technology Command, which will report directly to the Chief of Information Operations, G-6.

* U.S. Army South will complete its move to Fort Sam Houston, Texas, from Puerto Rico and will continue supporting the U.S. Southern Command, although it will report to the Army Forces Command under the realignment plan.

Preliminary decisions about the realignment of other major Army commands will not be released until the commands review the proposals. Proposed changes will affect U.S. Army Europe, U.S. Army Pacific, Eighth U.S. Army in Korea, the Army Forces Command, the Army Materiel Command, and the Military Traffic Management Command. The Army Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC), the Army Special Operations Command, and the Army Corps of Engineers will remain unchanged under the current realignment plan.

The realignments are a continuation of Secretary of the Army Thomas E. White's initiative started in June 2001 to assess all Army headquarters and supporting activities, properly align responsibilities, and eliminate redundancies. According to Secretary White, the realignment plan will incorporate better business practices and organizational concepts that have proven successful in major corporations. The realignments are designed to improve the control of resources and thereby provide tangible benefits to Army commands, installations, and soldiers and their families. Most of the initiatives will be effective during the next fiscal year after the affected organizations develop and submit implementation plans for approval.

Other decisions affecting Army agencies include the following--

* The Office of the Inspector General will integrate 10 Reserve component soldiers into its organization and consolidate its information technology activity with the Directorate of Information Management.

* The Army Legal Services Agency in the Judge Advocate General's office will eliminate one function and 22 personnel spaces, and the Judge Advocate General's School will eliminate 7 spaces.

* The Army Contracting Agency will eliminate 100 spaces. Further reductions are proposed over the next 3 years.

* The Simulation, Training, and Instrumentation Command (STRICOM)--now part of the Army Materiel Command--will be eliminated, and its acquisition functions will be transferred to the Army Acquisition Executive as a Program Executive Office. Research and development activities will be retained in the Army Materiel Command.

* The Logistics Integration Agency will eliminate 25 spaces. Consolidation will allow the agency to provide more integrated support to the Deputy Chief of Staff, G-4.

* The Army Physical Fitness Research Institute will be transferred from the Army War College to the control of the Surgeon General, and its personnel spaces will move to the Army Medical Command on 1 October.

* Command and control of the Army War College (AWC) will be transferred to TRADOC. The AWC's Peacekeeping Institute will be disestablished, and its missions and functions transferred to TRADOC. Twenty-six other spaces will be eliminated.

* Thirteen spaces in the Center of Military History will be transferred to Fort Belvoir, Virginia, to begin establishment of the National Museum of the U.S. Army.

* The Army National Guard Readiness Center will lose 164 spaces.

A study of human resources agencies, activities, and missions also has been completed. The Army will announce study decisions after the findings and recommendations have been briefed and approved.

The Army Test and Evaluation Command will assess the potential for consolidation and collocation of its headquarters and report recommendations in the spring.

Also as part of the realignment plan, the Army Central Personnel Security Clearance Facility, which grants security clearances for Army personnel worldwide, already has been realigned as a subordinate command of the Army Intelligence and Security Command.