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State, local leaders pitch for facility
By Connie Paige, Globe Correspondent | July 31, 2008
Now that the state has formally proposed locating a new Cyberspace Command at Hanscom Air Force Base in Bedford, local and state officials are preparing for top brass from Washington to visit the site this summer.
The officials are trying to entice the Air Force into picking Hanscom for the facility, which - with its mission to control cyberspace for waging war and protecting military computer networks - dovetails with many local industries.
"We have our shoes polished, and we're at ready," said Sara Mattes of Lincoln, chairwoman of the Hanscom Area Towns Selectmen Committee, which represents the four towns the base straddles and has played a key part in the lobbying campaign.
Local and state officials say the Air Force could benefit from using Hanscom, with its existing information systems, nearby defense laboratories and research and development centers, and information technology leaders working in the area in defense and commercial markets.
That was the argument used in a formal proposal sent by the Patrick administration to Washington in time to meet a July 1 deadline, according to retired Air Force Brigadier General Donald J. Quenneville.
In a recent interview, Quenneville, executive director of the Defense Technology Initiative, a Waltham-based industry group helping to coordinate the state's efforts to land the command, said Air Force top brass have said they will visit Hanscom this summer.
Plans for the visit are not yet firmed up, but the Patrick administration is "continuing to work with the Air Force," said Kofi Jones, spokeswoman for state Secretary of Housing and Economic Development Daniel O'Connell.
Quenneville said a preferred location and several alternates for the command site are set to be chosen this fall. He said he believes the final determination on whether the preferred location is appropriate will come after a required environmental review. The command is scheduled to open in September 2009.
The Air Force is choosing the preferred location on the basis of separate proposals submitted by as many as 17 other states, Quenneville said.
The Massachusetts proposal emphasizes that Hanscom already has the Electronic Systems Center, the cyber command's designated acquisition arm, and that it makes sense to locate them together in one spot.
Moreover, the proposal says, Massachusetts provides access to information technology leaders like Raytheon and General Dynamics that will partner with the Air Force in developing the cyber command mission, and has the MITRE Corp. and Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Lincoln Laboratory cyber researchers headquartered nearby. The state also offers Harvard University, MIT, and the University of Massachusetts system, which "will educate and train the future cyber warrior," the proposal says.
The marketing plan also touts the Hanscom area as having sufficient network capacity, power supply, transportation infrastructure, and other features to provide "extremely low susceptibility to natural disasters."
Mattes, on seeing the Air Force's call for data in the proposal, joked that she "never thought New England weather would be a plus."
"But it's true we have no earthquakes or forest fires, we haven't had tornadoes, and the effect of hurricanes is minimal," she said.
Mattes said the Hanscom area committee, which represents Bedford, Concord, Lexington, and Lincoln, was instrumental in developing the proposal. The panel, comprising representatives from the towns' boards of selectmen, planning boards, and conservation commissions, had longtime, well-organized relationships among local and state officials, businesses, and the military and civilian personnel at Hanscom to cull from. Much of the technical data in the proposal came from a broad-based campaign five years earlier to save Hanscom from closure, she said.
"We had the brains in place to pick up and run; we had already documented the ability [of the area] to absorb and grow," she said. "It was a question of pulling that out, dusting that off, reconvening the usual suspects, and taking it from there."
State Representative Jay R. Kaufman, a Lexington Democrat, said it's the kind of community input the military's top brass looks for. "As was the case with base closures, being able to demonstrate 'We want you' is important, and that's what they have done," he said.
The state has a $14.7 billion defense technology and homeland security industry, according to a University of Massachusetts Donahue Center study. The command could reap up to 540 new jobs and $32 million in new wages, as well as millions of additional dollars in new economic benefits, according to the Patrick administration.
"We have a very strong proposal," Kaufman said. "In a rational world, we would be picked. There is no place in the country, perhaps in the world, where you have the same concentration of technology, talent, and expertise in the military, industrial, and academic community."
Bedford Selectman Mike Rosenberg said no direct financial advantage would go to the individual towns, but they would benefit from the cyber command.
"The real significant benefit to Bedford and other area towns is in human capital," he said. "The kinds of highly knowledgeable and committed people this would draw to the region who have great intellectual resources . . . are from a culture that gives back" to the community.
Lexington Selectwoman Jeanne K. Krieger said having the site close by would "be good for Lexington and the local economy."
Quenneville said the June resignations of Air Force Secretary Michael W. Wynne and Chief of Staff General T. Michael Moseley should have little effect on the Air Force's plans.
"The Air Force mission is going to carry on, and something as significant as [the Cyberspace Command] is not going to change" because of the leadership churn, he said.
Connie Paige can be reached at cpaige@globe.com.
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