By Garland L. Thompson

WASHINGTON -- You may not have heard of Lt. General Joe N. Ballard, or have thought much about him. Consumers of daily news reports know there is something called the Army Corps of Engineers, vaguely connected with disaster relief and the regulation of work on waterways, but beyond that, its commander is off the average person's radar.

If that includes you, think again. This agency's work affects every area of the country, and this man's decisions affect every American's life, on a daily basis.

Try this on for size: Under its Civil Works program, the Corps of Engineers operates and maintains nearly 300 deep-draft harbors, 275 locks and 12,000 miles of navigable waterway. In plain language, that means Lt. Gen. Ballard's decisions affect ship- and barge-mounted delivery of raw materials, factory products and consumer goods throughout the land. His Corps has a say in whether and how deep channels will be dredged in estuaries and bays, and how much construction will be permitted along riverbanks.

The 383 lakes and 8,500 miles of levees managed by the Corps of Engineers prevent an estimated $26.8 billion in potential flood damage each year. Corps engineers and waterworks even mitigate the floods we do get, including the disastrous Red River floods in the Midwest, or the Mississippi-Missouri floods of the early '90s, and staffers and contractors turn out in droves to help alleviate the destruction floods and major storms cause. Since its flood-control programs began in 1928, the Corps estimates it has prevented $319 billion in flood damage for about $36 billion in up-front outlays.

How do they know? Computers. According to news releases, a new software package written by the Corps' Hydrologic Engineering Center in Davis, Calif., can reconstruct a flood event as though none of the Corps' flood-reduction reservoirs existed. Hydrologists then compare the stages of an unrestricted flood event to the measured reservoir regulated stages, factoring in the potential damage to the infrastructure in each flooded area. Readers also may be excused if they didn't know the Corps provides 24 percent of the nation's hydroelectric power from the 75 facilities it operates.

And last year, the Corps invested more than $500 million in environmental activities, including major restoration efforts in the Florida Everglades and the Pacific Northwest. But the Corps does still more than regulate and mediate in the wetlands and waterways. Some 38 of its lakes and reservoirs are open to recreational users, and under a new National Recreation Reservation Service initiative, the Corps, the U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management collaborate to provide reservation services for more than 20,000 family campsites, 192 cabins and group shelters for both camping and day-use activities. Boaters, are you listening? Campers? Hikers and other sightseers who enjoy America's wildernesses?

Finally Lt. Gen. Ballard's Corps is part of the Army, and he wants everyone to know it. In sweeping moves, he reorganized the Corps, consolidating divisions to more tightly focus command attention on his key objectives, a goal sought for 10 years. In addition, he gained Pentagon approval to participate in senior commanders' discussions and working groups planning for major military contingencies around the world. The Corps already is the engineering firm of first resort for some 60 federal agencies as well as the real estate agent and base construction manager for the Army and Air Force. Thus, it made sense, to this career soldier who served two tours in Vietnam, was executive officer for paratroops and worked in Korea and Western Europe, to have the Corps front and center when plans are made to deploy U.S. forces abroad.

A Strategic Vision statement by Lt. Gen. Ballard notes that the Corps is "The world's premier engineering organization. Trained and ready to provide support anytime, anyplace. A full spectrum Engineer Force of high quality, dedicated soldiers (500) and civilians," some 39,000, with an annual program budget exceeding $10 billion. For the military, the chief of engineers has responsibility for engineering, housing, construction, real property, natural resources and environmental programs, including environmental restoration of current and former defense installations.

Lt. Gen. Ballard, from Meeker, La., completed his bachelor's degree in electrical engineering at Southern University and was commissioned into the Corps. In addition to his master's degree in engineering management from the University of Missouri, he is a graduate of the Engineer Officer basic and advanced courses, the Army Command and General Staff College and the Army War College. He is a combat soldier and a registered professional civil engineer.