A new fiber optic line that stretches from northern Virginia and into Washington, D.C., and will provide shared communication capabilities throughout federal, city and county governments is just weeks from completion, according to an Arlington County official.
The new line, to be completed by the end of the month, will enable military officials at Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall in Arlington, Virginia, to communicate with its geographically-separated third installation, Fort Lesley J. McNair, located in Washington, D.C., according to Arlington County Chief Information Officer Jack Belcher.
"I think this will foster better cooperation between emergency medical services across agencies in the NCR," said JBM-HH Commander Col. Mike Henderson. "We already have effective interoperability between agencies in the NCR. This will just make it better."
The nearly-completed fiber optic line provides for a "wholly government-managed telecommunications infrastructure" that will connect JBM-HH's Fort Myer to Fort McNair, according to Arlington County's Director of Networking Nathaniel Wentland during a June 13 brief to government and county officials at Fort Myer.
Moreover, the project provides shared telecommunications capabilities between Fort Myer and Arlington County, Arlington County to Washington, D.C., and Washington, D.C., with Fort McNair, according to Belcher.
Belcher characterized the new infrastructure as "historic."
"We've worked for 30 months to define an interjurisdictional effort that connects JBM-HH to Arlington County via Connect Arlington," said Belcher. "This has allowed, for the first time, for a federal agency to connect across the Potomac River to the District of Columbia, and from D.C. to Fort McNair."
The fiber optic line will allow for shared video, audio and other digital information feeds, including an increased bandwidth, for the joint base, according to Belcher.
In other words, military leaders at Fort Myer can receive a 24-hour-a-day video security signal from Fort McNair, for example, thereby enhancing the installation's force protection measures.
To that end, the pooled resources will enable emergency responders at Fort Myer, Arlington County, Washington, D.C., and Fort McNair to quickly share information--a critical capability for emergency response and management, according to JBM-HH Fire Chief Russell Miller.
"It's a lot of added capabilities; it's a conduit to provide additional information and fast information," said Miller. "That's huge for emergency responders and emergency management. This will tie everything together."
The initiative has involved the cooperation and planning of a multitude of government agencies and officials, including Arlington County's network agency ConnectArlington; DCNet, Washington, D.C.'s citywide communications network; the Department of Homeland Security's National Capital Region network; the U.S. Army and Arlington County.
"I don't think this would have been a success if these partnerships weren't in place already," said Henderson. "This really defines our mutual aid agreement and makes it stronger."
Ultimately, the shared optic line goes from Fort Myer, around Arlington National Cemetery, through the Pentagon Reservation, into Arlington County, across the Potomac River and into D.C. The final piece to the project's completion is connecting about two city block's worth of the line from D.C. into Fort McNair, according to Belcher, who added that the project will also ultimately save taxpayer dollars by reducing a need for commercial telecommunications services.
"That link goes through sacred ground," said Belcher. "So now you've got a transit that goes all the way around [the National Capital Region] and is fully owned by the government. That means JBM-HH is no longer dependent on a commercial provider for this capability."
The shared line will also enable more flexible and timely emergency management and response operations by allowing emergency responders from any of the organizations and governments involved in the project to share information from multiple locations. For example, JBM-HH could theoretically move its Emergency Operations Center from Fort Myer to Arlington County's Emergency Operations Center, thanks to the shared interjurisdictional telecommunications capability.
"We viewed this from the purpose of emergency management, but then we realized we could use this for the purpose of co-location," said Belcher. "It's nice to talk about these things, but now it's a reality."
Later this month, JBM-HH will participate in a signing ceremony to solidify a memorandum of agreement to complete the project.
The Pentagram will continue to follow this story as updates become available.
Contact Pentagram Editor Jim Goodwin at james.m.goodwin3.civ@mail.mil.
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