Seventh District Command Center - Excellence in Command and Control
Story and photos by Lt. Cmdr. C.T. O'Neil, D7 Public Affairs
MIAMI -- The operations tempo is nearly as hot as the summer sun. Totaling more than 1,500 law enforcement and 6,500 search and rescue cases, the volume of work generated within the U.S. Coast Guard's Seventh District's 1.8 million square mile area of responsibility demands a command and control system that effectively and efficiently supports field units while providing timely and accurate information to the district commander.
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| MIAMI - A view from back to front of District Seven's high-tech command center. Coast Guard photograph by Lt. Cmdr. C.T. O'Neil. |
Housed on the eighth deck of the Brickell Plaza Federal Building in Miami, the District Seven Command Center is the nexus of information flow for the entire district. The result of two years of work, at an estimated cost of $1.5 million, the recently rehabbed command center is unique among command centers within the Coast Guard.
Equipped with a Cooperating Nations Information Exchange System, Integrated Voice Communications System, secure satellite communications, a Digital Imaging Table, the Coast Guard Command Control Computer (CGC2) and boasting the first, shore-side, Deepwater installation that supports C4ISR (Command, Control, Communications, Computer, Information, Surveillance and Reconnaissance) initiatives, a classified case file management system, and classified chat capabilities, the Seventh District Command Center redefines situational awareness.
Normally staffed by five people working 12-hour shifts, the command center was designed to easily accommodate more watchstanders to support surge operations such as disaster response, mass migration or other incidents of national significance.
"The command center was designed with surge capability in mind," said Lt. Cmdr. Jeffrey M. Smith, senior duty officer at the Seventh District Command Center. "We are able to embed an additional six watchstanders on the watch floor and provide each of them with classified and unclassified computers with no problems."
Two conference rooms are located within the command center. The wall separating the rooms from the watch floor feature large glass windows allowing participants to observe watch activities without adding to the background noise.
"The two conference rooms are set up for 32 plug-and-go Internet and Intranet connections as well as 32 classified workstations," said Smith. "There are also three offices for command center cadre and a fourth office for over-flow activity."At the head of the watch floor is, according to Smith, the Coast Guard's largest visual display system, consisting of 12, 49-inch screens that display tactical and current operations information. The larger of the two conference rooms also boasts a "two by two" video display wall with integrated video conferencing capabilities.
The layout of the center also lends itself to the efficient
management of the flow of information. Ergo-dynamic work surfaces maximized available space while helping maintain productivity. 
Lt. Dave Hatchett, Search and Rescue Duty Officer (SARDO) at the District Seven Command Center, views information disployed on one of the tri-panel monitors of the center's ergo-dynamic work surfaces during a recent 12-hour evening watch. Hatchett has been working in the District Seven Command Center for two years. Coast Guard photograph by Lt. Cmdr. C. T. O'Neil.
"Tri-panel monitors on a common mounting arm have drastically cut down on the real estate foot print of the command center while giving the watchstander's desk a 24th century look," said Lt. Neal Kite, C4ISR command center systems technical liaison for the Seventh District. "By having the monitors elevated off the work surface and in the same line of view, useable workspace is increased, fatigue is reduced and awareness is enhanced," he added.
But the command center's rehab is about more than just connectivity and space. The center's design also incorporated technological upgrades that enable it to continue operations in the hurricane prone city and to network and integrate with Department of Homeland Security (DHS) partners.
"The new command center features Joint Programs Operations Command Control and Communications (JPOC3)," Kite said. "The JPOC3 is electrically supported by three, uninterupterable power systems (UPS). One UPS supports the server room while the others support the command floor and conference room areas. When commercial power is lost the UPS can solely support JPOC3 operations at maximum power consumption for up to 20 minutes. However, our federal building has an emergency generator that engages within 15-to-30- seconds following loss of commercial power," said Kite.
"The district's JPOC3 also meets or exceeds TEMPEST (Tiny Electro Magnetic Pulses Emitting Secret Things) security standards," said Kite. "Both physical and data networking security standards have been implemented, including power and data distance separation and sound absorbing wall material and ceiling tiles. These measures allow the JPOC3 to be operated at the classified level."
Just as the space was designed for surge operations, the technology of the center was also developed with an eye to contingency operations.
"The JPOC3 was, as a whole, designed with surge ops in mind," said Kite. "When a hurricane comes through and we need to stand up an incident management team, the JPOC3 has the flexibility to adapt because the infrastructure was designed as such from the beginning. The conference rooms have the ability to host both CGDN, SIPRNET or broadband networking with capacity to spare."
The nature of operations in the Seventh District requires the ability to touch outside networks like those of our DHS and port partners as well as commercial internet sites for weather information and news reports. Kite said the integration of commercial broadband internet within the JPOC3 allows the command center to, "remain very flexible without compromising our own network security."
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The tri-panel monitors of the District Seven Command Center provide OS1 Jason Reynolds, Assistant Search and Rescue Duty Officer with MISLE case information, weather conditions and other data that helps coordinate and develop search plans. Reynolds has worked at the command center for seven months. Coast Guard photogrpah by Lt. Cmdr. C. T. O'Neil. |
"The normal watch complement for the command center includes a Command Duty Officer, a Search and Rescue (SAR) Duty Officer, a Prevention Duty Officer, and a Law Enforcement Duty Officer," said Smith. "All watchstanders are cross trained as SAR/law enforcement controllers and each person goes through a rigorous qualification period of 12 weeks for each position. Only E-7 and above are eligible for CDO qualification, which typically comes after one to one and a half years as a qualified watchstander."
"The CDO manages the watch floor as the team leader and performs senior level briefings, completes the daily operations summary and oversees all maritime homeland security issues," said Smith. "The SARDO oversees all SAR within the district while the Prevention Duty Officer is the SARDO's assistant and oversees the SARSAT alert system. The LEDO oversees all district law enforcement initiatives while the Maritime Intel Center Watch (MIC) handles case sensitive intelligence as it applies to current operations."
The marriage of state-of-the-art technology with rigorous training and qualification of
talented and dedicated personnel has produced remarkable results. The command center recently passed the Command Center Stan Team Assessment, the first district command center to pass the assessment with zero discrepancies, said Smith. In "real-world" applications, the mix of technology and skilled personnel has resulted in superior support for operations including the Super Bowl in Jacksonville, Fla., the meeting of the Organization of American States (OAS) in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., as well as numerous alien migrant interdiction operations and counter narcotic operations. 
MIAMI - A view from front to back of District Seven's high-tech command center. Coast Guard photograph by Lt. Cmdr. C. T. O'Neil.
Developed and designed to meet the increasing demands for vertical and horizontal dissemination of information in challenging battle rhythms, the District Seven Command Center is uniquely poised for success today and for continued success as our organization and mission demands grow and change in response to the threats against our nation's security and safety.
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