Command center goes high-tech
By Will Hoover
Advertiser Staff Writer
The world's largest combat command now has a technological facility equal to its geographic span.
Jeff WIdener • The Honolulu Advertiser
"In the military, this is as high-tech as it gets anywhere," Army Maj. Gen. Ron Lowe told a press contingent visiting the normally restricted areas inside the new
Journalists got a rare opportunity to visit the top-secret Pacific Command Joint Operations Center, underground at the new $152 million Nimitz-MacArthur Pacific Command headquarters at Camp Smith. At the center, military officials can track every person and vehicle in Pacific Command.
$152 million Nimitz-MacArthur Pacific Command Center yesterday at Camp Smith. "Bill Gates might have something that compares with it, but ... "
The facility's high-tech communications capability dramatically increases the command's capacity to focus on all 105 million square miles in its area of responsibility — an expanse equal to more than half the Earth's surface.
Its Joint Operations Center can monitor military activities, video-teleconference with Washington and far-flung military leaders, and track every person and vehicle within the Pacific Command.
The six-story, 274,500-square-foot structure sits across the road from the old headquarters building, which began as a 1,650-bed hospital in 1941. In 1957, the deactivated hospital became the headquarters for the joint forces Pacific Command, and it will continue to serve Marine Forces Pacific and other command support activities.
In the past two weeks, 1,200 service members have packed up their desks and moved from the old complex to the new. For Lowe, the command chief of staff, the contrast between the two is hard to fathom.
"When the other building was constructed, the electronic infrastructure was the telephone," Lowe said as he showed off the new facility's Command Conference Room. "We've got about 12,000 data channels that have been built into this headquarters."
The nerve center for so much high-tech power is found in the underground Joint Operations Center, a 1,500-square-foot, split-level auditorium straight out of "War Games" — except that the Hollywood version could barely fake what this one does for real.
Backed by a high-definition screen 35 feet long by 7 feet high, Col. Robert Clinton, Operations Center director, highlighted some of the top-secret control room's wizardry.
"One of the unique capabilities we have here on the floor is that we integrate both the intelligence and operations information," said Clinton. That includes coordinating a staggering array of military, political, legal, medical or weather-related data from all parts of the world and projecting it in graphic form quickly and comprehensively.
"This allows us to seamlessly and quickly get the complete picture of what's going on throughout the world," Clinton said.
From there, the processed information goes directly to Adm. Thomas Fargo, commander of Pacific Command, for evaluation.
"We never lose contact with the commander," Clinton said.
Amazing as the new command center is, the facility has pulled off an even more astounding feat: Lowe said it came in under budget.
Reach Will Hoover at 525-8038 or whoover@honoluluadvertiser.com.
