squadrons and the 100 CG. In their place, USAFE activated the 603rd Regional Support Group as an independent group directly under Third Air Force. This in turn forced the redesignation of the 630 CS to the 603rd Communications Squadron. The end of 1995 saw USAFE clarifying the roles and missions of the numbered air forces. This resulted in a change that led to the alignment of three UK and one Norway Geographically Separate Units (GSUs) under the 100 ARW. Third Air Force issued an order, effective 24 May 1996, assigning all personnel formally attached to the 603 RSG and its subordinates to the 100 ARW for administrative control. For RAF Croughton this led to the inactivation of the 603 CS and the activation of the 422nd Air Base Squadron (422 ABS) on 1 August 1996. 21st century On 12 May 2005, the 422 ABG became a unit of the 501st Combat Support Wing (501 CSW) as part of an alignment of all major Geographically Separate Units (GSUs) in England. In 2012 a 2.5 gigabits per second data circuit was established to Camp Lemonnier in Djibouti, U.S. Africa Command's (AFRICOM) only permanent military base in Africa. In November 2013 Tom Watson MP, was reported as saying that there was: "an urgent need for "public scrutiny" of the activities at RAF Croughton. The US Air Force station is a major hub for American military and clandestine communications". It is reported to have been central to the monitoring of the mobile phone of the German Chancellor Angela Merkel. In December 2013 The Independent reported that the base was used to relay U.S. Central Intelligence Agency and National Security Agency communications, and it was a key intelligence facility in the UK. In 2014 byelaws were enacted by statutory instrument prohibited various activities in and around the base. National Review (an American publication) refers in a July 2015 story to: 'the Joint Intelligence Analysis Center (JIAC), an "intelligence fusion center" that Congress approved for construction at UK airfield RAF Croughton. The facility would bring together intelligence analysts from U.S. European Command (EUCOM), AFRICOM, and NATO under one roof, fostering a level of collaboration military commanders say is crucial to confronting Russian aggression and Islamic fundamentalism in Africa'. In 2016 the United States Department of Defense announced that a £200 million Joint Intelligence Analysis Centre would be built at the base, to house up to 1,250