PICATINNY ARSENAL, N.J. - Throughout the Democratic National Convention Aug. 25 - 28, Picatinny's Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center's Testbed Emergency Operations Center supported the Colorado Emergency Preparedness Partnership.
The partnership was responsible for providing enhanced situational awareness and information sharing to the many agencies responsible for overall security during the convention and better prepared them for emergency situations.
"The New Jersey Business Force, along with the New Jersey Institute of Technology, approached ARDEC (in July) and asked us to help facilitate the NJBF Business Emergency Operations Centers here at our EOC," said Eugene Olsen, Homeland Defense Systems project manager.
The Colorado Emergency Preparedness Partnership is a newly established private and public sector collaboration enterprise based in Denver.
"ARDEC's EOC is such a modern state-of-the-art facility that the CEPP relied on its technology to provide them with real-time information several thousand miles away," Olsen said.
"Resources such as NC4 National Incident Monitoring Centers and "CYBERCOP" secure communications portals helped provide the staff of the Denver Office of Emergency Management Operations Center with the information and knowledge they needed to help protect the thousands of spectators, media, law enforcement and government officials who attended the convention," said Amanda Keeshan of ARDEC's EOC team.
NC4, with Incident Monitoring Centers, helps improve situational awareness of business and government by providing round-the-clock, real-time, proactive incident information, personalized, geo-relevant alerts and coordination services.
CYBERCOP is a secure web-based environment that helps relate sensitive information to first responders, homeland defense and law enforcement officials.
"While there were no specific terrorist or security threats against the city of Denver or convention attendees, there were protests and riots in years past which are a cause for concern," said Olsen.
"There was a small concern this year when the band 'Rage Against the Machine' held a small concert near the convention and the group encouraged fans to walk to the convention to present their grievances" he said.
"It didn't amount to much because the fans were told that if they were not true protestors they should move to the back of the group and they would not be pepper sprayed. Nearly everyone disbursed after that."
Olsen said that the testbed EOC proved to be a valuable asset to the project especially to the CEPP.
"Denver-based businesses and organizations were well informed of DNC venue activities, both planned and unplanned, and were able to make timely, coordinated decisions to protect citizens and property. All agencies agree that the business EOC concept has proven itself to be a viable solution for integrating public and private sector resource and information sharing during emergency preparedness planning and response."
Due to time-zone differences, the staff at Picatinny worked from noon until midnight all four days of the convention without any major struggles.
Olsen said that there were some lags in the system but nothing that raised a cause for concern. "The reason for a testbed EOC is to work out any flaws in the system to help better prepare in the event of an actual emergency."
ARDEC's EOC, which opened in May, serves as a developmental battle lab providing warfighters and first responders with interoperable, "world class" decision-support technologies to meet America's 21st century security challenges. With a focus on developing dual-use (civil/military) technologies, the testbed EOC provides a unique environment for maximizing resource and information sharing, strengthening unity of effort, and building trusted relationships.
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