Inauguration security center to go live Saturday

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(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-01-17 10:03

WASHINGTON - Five 8-foot-square monitors and four flat-panel televisions hang on beige walls in the windowless room. A few flicker with images from news programs and street maps of downtown Washington.

All will light up on Saturday when the central hub for inauguration security goes live.

"This is where the commanders from the different agencies that have helped us to design the security plan will sit together and be able to coordinate their efforts on any incident that were to occur during the inauguration," Secret Service spokesman Malcolm Wiley said.

The multi-agency command center, run by the Secret Service eight blocks from the White House, will have more than 100 officials from 58 federal, state and local agencies overseeing what is likely the largest security operation in inaugural history.

It is the only command center in the Washington area where officials will monitor inaugural activities and public areas via live video feeds from the FBI, Metropolitan Police Department, National Park Service, District of Columbia Transportation Department, National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency and others.

The command center begins operation at 8 a.m. EST Saturday and, barring major problems, will shut down at 4 p.m. Wednesday.

Under the plan, if the Metropolitan Police Department needs to speak to someone at the Federal Aviation Administration, those officials are already in the same room. And each person there will have a list of radio frequencies so that one agency can easily communicate with another in the field.

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said he plans to be there and in a few other command centers on Tuesday. Chertoff and other senior government officials have seats in a conference room next to the security command center.

The command center has monitors that can display anything from street maps to newscasts, situation reports and live camera feeds. Desks are set up with a couple dozen telephone lines and chairs for about 100 people bringing their own laptops. There's a so-called "burn bag" at every desk for disposal of classified information -- and a list of nearby fast-food options.

Wiley said if all goes well, and there are no major incidents, the command center will remain relatively quiet -- phones ringing every so often and quiet conversations. But if something happens, he said, the tone of the room "can ramp up dramatically."

Intelligence officials have said there are no specific threats regarding the inauguration, although the high visibility of the event, the presence of dignitaries and the significance of swearing in the first black president make it a target.