High-tech bunker monitors convention security 24/7

Computerworld - Framingham, Mass. -- For the first time in 26 years, the Massachusetts State Emergency Operations Center -- an underground bunker built during the height of the Cold War -- this week began round-the-clock operations. The purpose was to ensure the security of the Democratic National Convention by means of newly deployed IT systems.

The facility, built in 1963 as the nation's first underground EOC designed to withstand a nuclear blast, gained the ability to communicate in real time with hundreds of businesses in and around Boston. It also initiated the use of a Web-enabled medical emergency management system.

Yesterday, the final and most security-intensive day of the convention, <i>Computerworld</i> was given access to the facility, located 30 feet below a nondescript plot of land on state Route 9. The EOC was aglow with wall-mounted large-screen displays showing real-time data feeds on potential security incidents, reports from the U.S. Secret Service and state law enforcement agencies and live video feeds from police helicopters and fixed cameras positioned around the city.

Peter Judge, a spokesman for the EOC, said representatives from more than 30 state and local agencies have been staffing the center around the clock since July 25. "We're able to handle and manage any DNC-related emergencies that cascade beyond downtown Boston," Judge said. "We're like the '411' for community emergency managers."

The convention marked the first time that the EOC included a representative from the Northeast Disaster Recovery Information X-Change (NEDRIX), a private-sector organization of more than 1,000 security and disaster recovery officials from businesses of all sizes throughout the Boston metropolitan area.

The Mass. State Emergency Operations Center monitors all security-related incidents throughout the state, with a particular focus last week on the Democratic National Convention in Boston.

"Preparing for the convention has almost been like preparing for a mini-Y2k," said Glebus. "There's been six months of heavy preparation under way in the private sector, and we're still working on data protocols."

NEDRIX has rolled out a Web-enabled tool called EnvoyProfiles that allows corporate security executives to send and receive alerts and collaborate online, rather than having to rely on e-mail. And the EOC has deployed its own Web-enabled command-and-control application known as Web-EOC. The Web-EOC screen this week displayed reports of suspicious packages and rowdy protesters.

Johanna Meyer, the center's geographic information system manager, took reports streaming in through the Web-EOC application and plotted event locations on a large-screen map display powered by a 3TB image archive that officials have been building for the past six months. Protesters and march organizers who gathered on the streets of Boston were unaware that state police helicopters were feeding live digital video to the EOC. Their actions, and those of thousands of pedestrians and highway commuters, were captured by a multitude of fixed cameras that were linked to the EOC specifically for convention security operations.