Colonel McCord began his career with a number of diverse military assignments, including tactical level infantry combat in the Pacific theater in World War II. His first Army Intelligence assignment was in 1950 as a student at an Army Russian language school. He graduated sixth in a class of fifty-five and was chosen as a student for the Army's elite two-year Foreign Area Specialist Training Program in Russian Studies at Regensburg, Germany. In 1954, he served as an Operations and Case officer in Detachment 35, an intelligence collection unit based in Austria. He was involved in the debriefings of Soviet military personnel defectors and in other operations developing intelligence on the Soviet forces.
In 1956, he served as the principal U.S. Army Intelligence analyst, estimator and spokesperson in the preparation of U.S. National Intelligence Estimates (NIEs) on Soviet military capabilities, plans, and intentions. These NIEs were used to formulate U.S. national military and diplomatic plans and policies, and to develop our military capabilities during that period. In 1959, COL McCord commanded the key U.S. Army HUMINT collection and CI unit in Berlin, Germany, Berlin Station, 513th MI Group, U.S. Army, Europe. His unit was the first to report the impending construction of the Berlin Wall and continued to operate successfully behind the wall after construction was complete. His guidance and decisiveness regarding intelligence and CI operations against Soviet targets overcame the Soviets' efforts to limit Allied access into a free West Berlin.

COL McCord was selected to attend the U.S. Army War College. He was selected as the primary Defense Intelligence Estimator (DIE) on Soviet Ground Forces in 1963, then served in Vietnam from 1965 to 1966 , 1st Field Force and HQ MACV , Chief of Intelligence Division, J2. In 1966, he became the Deputy Chief, U.S. Military Liaison Mission (USMLM) to the Commander, Group Soviet Forces Germany (GSFG) and was subsequently chosen by the Commander-in-Chief, USAREUR, to be Chief, USMLM, in 1967. By the end of this assignment, although still serving as a US Army Reserve (USAR) officer COL McCord was selected by the Department of the Army for promotion to the rank of Brigadier General. However, due to pressing family considerations, COL McCord had to request removal from the promotion list and retirement from Active Duty. At the time of his retirement he was serving with great success in a General Officer position-Assistant Chief of Staff, G2, Headquarters, U.S. Army, Pacific Command. He retired 31 July 1969 as a Colonel (Promotable to Brigadier General), Military Intelligence.

In July 1970, COL McCord continued to serve in MI as the Senior Civilian Intelligence Operations Advisor and Assistant to the Commander, 500th MI Group, USARPAC, and later as the Senior Civilian Advisor, Special Intelligence Studies and Advisory Group, Headquarters U.S. Army Intelligence Command, Fort Holabird, Maryland.

In 1973, he became the Chief, Security Branch, and later the Assistant Deputy Director, Office of Counterintelligence and Security, DIA, Department of Defense. From 1975 until 1980, COL McCord took the unusual step of volunteering for a two-level civilian grade reduction in order to work as the Senior Interrogator, U.S. Army Element, in Munich, Germany. In his last position COL McCord was in
charge of the Soviet émigré debriefing program under INSCOM at Fort Meade where his work played a vital role in the 1983 Interagency Intelligence Memorandum on Soviet War Management. COL McCord was inducted into the United States Army Military Intelligence Corps Hall of Fame.

Bio courtesy M. McCord

We also recommend the following external references/websites:

• Col. Thomas F. McCord inducted into the US Army Military Intelligence Hall of Fame https://ikn.army.mil/icon_websites/ikn_internal/HOF/mccord.htm

• 1966 USMLM declassified history at HQ US Army Europe History Web Site (large document):
  http://www.history.hqusareur.army.mil/Stationlist/Unit_History/uh1966.pdf

• 1967 USMLM declassified history at HQ US Army Europe History Web Site (large document):
  http://www.history.hqusareur.army.mil/Stationlist/Unit_History/uh1967.pdf

• 1968 USMLM declassified history at HQ US Army Europe History Web Site (large document):
  http://www.history.hqusareur.army.mil/Stationlist/Unit_History/uh1968.pdf