Growing out of a small Navy Detachment with less than 30 Sailors, on November 1, 1995, U.S Naval Security Group Activity (NSGA) Denver stood up as an activity.

On September 30, 2005, NSGA Denver was administratively closed and was re-established on October 1, 2005 as the Navy Information Operations Command (NIOC) Colorado.   As Fleet Cyber Command/Commander Tenth Fleet started to evolve, NIOC Colorado was assigned as Commander Task Force 1080 and later redesignated as Commander Task Group 101.

NIOC Colorado is located is located in the Joint Service Admin Facility (JSAF) on Buckley Air National Guard Base on the eastern city limits of Aurora, Colorado.

Today, Buckley Air base is known as Buckley Garrison and is a Space Force unit that serves Active Duty, National Guard, Reserve and retired personnel throughout the Front Range community.  The Garrison falls under the direction of the Department of the Air Force and U.S. Space Force for its day-to-day operational mission supporting the National Defense Strategy.

The Garrison provides installation support functions for the resident air operations, space-based missile warning capabilities, space surveillance operations, and space communications missions.  It also provides Airmen and Space Professionals that deploy and are deployed in-place, to support Combatant Commanders in order to accomplish warfighting missions globally.

The Buckley Garrison supports a Joint, Total Force and coalition base in all but name.  This includes 3,500 active duty members from every service, 4,000 National Guard personnel and Reservists, four commonwealth international partners, 2,400 civilians, 2,500 contractors, and approximately 88,000 retirees, veterans and dependents combined. The base contributes nearly an estimated $1 billion annually to the local economy.

The 460th Mission Support Group (460 MSG) provides trained personnel to support Air Expeditionary Forces and Homeland Defense. The group is responsible for force protection, quality of life, human resources, contracting, logistics, base infrastructure and environmental stewardship support to the Buckley Garrison and personnel throughout the Front Range area.

The 460th Medical Group (460 MDG) supports military readiness to the Air Expeditionary Forces and Homeland Defense missions by ensuring base personnel are medically qualified for deployments and providing health care, life skills support, family advocacy, aerospace medicine, public health, bio-environmental engineering, optometry, ancillary services health and wellness services and dental care.

The Garrison is unique in that it supports more than 90+ base partners located both on base and in the local community. The Buckley Garrison hosts six major base partners: Delta 4 (Missile Warning Delta), 140th Wing, Colorado Air National Guard (COANG); the Navy Operational Support Center; the Aerospace Data Facility-Colorado; the Army Aviation Support Facility and the Air Reserve Personnel Center.

History:

Buckley Air Force Base was named after 1st Lt. John H. Buckley, a World War I flier from Longmont, Colo. In 1941 the city of Denver donated land to the War Department. A contract for $7.5 million and 700 structures was let in 1942 to build Buckley. The War Department transferred Buckley to the Colorado Air National Guard in 1946. The Department of Navy took over Buckley in 1947 and the installation was commissioned as Naval Air Station–Denver. Buckley NAS was subsequently decommissioned in 1959 and the COANG took charge of the installation again in 1960, designating it as Buckley Air National Guard Base. Buckley remained an Air National Guard base until Oct. 1, 2000 when the 821st Space Group became host and the base was renamed Buckley Air Force Base. The 460th Air Base Wing was activated Oct. 1, 2001, and assumed full control of the support mission in the Denver area. On Aug. 19, 2004, it was designated as the 460th Space Wing and added an operational space mission to its responsibilities. On July 17, 2020, the 460th Space Wing was re-designated as the Buckley Garrison.