History of Marine Cryptologic Support Battalion

The beginnings of the Marine Support Battalion can be traced to mid-1954.

In an exchange of correspondence among the Chief of Naval Operations (CNO), the Commandant of the Marine Corps (CMC) and the Director, National Security Agency (DirNSA), it was determined that the U.S. Marine Corps would furnish some 19 officers and 39 enlisted Marines for duty at the NSA (then located at the Naval Security Station (NSS), Washington, DC, and Arlington Hall Station (AHS), Arlington, Virginia) as the Marine Corps’ contribution to the Department of the Navy supporting the NSA. These personnel were not organized as a separate and distinct unit, but rather were carried on the rolls of Headquarters Battalion (HqBn), Headquarters Marine Corps (HQMC) primarily in Casual Company.