MCC Adds A Bang to Fourth Celebration

Ah, the Fourth of July in Boston!  A staple of Americana when more than half a million revelers turn out to celebrate our nation's birthday!  And what a party it is, with Keith Lockhart and the Boston Pops, a fantastic fireworks show, and behind the scenes - MCC's Homeland Security team?!?!?

For the second year in a row, MCC is partnering to provide sophisticated electronic security to the Unified Command Center that will oversee operations and public safety for the Independence Day Celebrations at the Hatch Shell / Charles River Esplanade in Boston this Friday and Saturday.

The MCC folks involved are Associate Dean Neil Sheer and Professor Joe Kalus from the Radio Frequency Identification Program, and Terry Downes from the Program on Homeland Security.

Boston 4 Celebrations Foundation, Inc. ("B4") is again providing the financial underwriting and the management of the overall event.  The Massachusetts State Police again are in charge of public safety.  Forty-four agencies are involved, including "B4", the State Police, the Mass. Dept. of Conservation and Recreation (the successor agency to the MDC), City of Boston (including Boston Police - Fire - and EMS), the City of Cambridge (including police, fire and DPW), the U.S. Coast Guard, the FBI, the MBTA, and others.

All the concert and fireworks related operations will be managed from within the Unified Command Center (UCC), which is located away from the Esplanade.  Its actual location is not made public for public safety reasons.

Given the state of the national economy, the high unemployment rate, and the fact that July 4 falls on a Saturday (most people have Sunday off), an unusually large crowd is anticipated this year.  This will be true both for the July 4 concert and fireworks, and for the popular July 3 evening "dress rehearsal," which hosts about 200,000 people and is the exact same program as the Fourth except for the absence of fireworks.

MCC has been asked to design, build and operate an electronic credentials system that will allow speedy access to the UCC for properly authorized public safety personnel, while denying access to unauthorized persons.  MCC has played a lead role in this effort since its earliest days in the Fall of 2008.  The MCC RFID Lab, located on the Bedford campus, has been the location of the design system and its testing and improvement efforts.

Once again, MCC is working with its partners from the MITRE Corp. and RFIDGlobal Solution, Inc. to design, evaluate, build and operate the system. This year also features two new partners, as well - the United States Air Force Electronic Systems Center (from Hanscom AFB), and Fenwick Technologies are joining in the effort.  This will make for a broadly based group all working towards the same goal of keeping the event safe for concert goers and their families: academia (MCC), private organizations (MITRE, RFIDGlobal and Fenwick Technologies) and public agencies (the USAF and the Mass. State Police) from both the state and the federal levels.

So as you watch the cannons reverberate during the inspirational finish to the 1812 Overture, rest easy knowing the MCC team is behind the scenes helping to keep everyone safe!