Secret Service building secret Democratic convention communications center in southern suburb

Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times file

WASHINGTON — A central communications center overseeing all security and public safety operations for the Democratic National Convention in Chicago this August is under construction in a secret location in a southern suburb in what was once a big retail store, the Sun-Times has learned.

 Why so far from the main convention locations of the Loop, where the delegates are booked in eight hotels; the McCormick Place complex, the site of daytime meetings and press briefings; and the United Center, where President Joe Biden will be nominated for a second term?

It’s called, in law enforcement lingo, “being off the X.”

“The X is the event,” Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi told the Chicago Sun-Times about the location. “You want to be far enough away from the event so that if something were to occur it doesn’t affect your ability to command and control your response.”

That communications outpost — funded by the Secret Service — is called the Multi-Agency Communications Center, and the build out of the facility started this month.

The center is being stood up as planning for the convention, Aug. 19-22, is kicking into higher gear with Saturday marking the 100-day countdown.

The outpost will be the central hub for about 60 agencies involved in designing or implementing convention security plans. Nearly 150 workstations are being built for representatives of military, police, fire, emergency management entities, transportation departments, communication companies and the Secret Service.

 The Secret Service is also building a command center at a location outside downtown Milwaukee, where the Republicans will hold their convention July 15-18.

 The Secret Service declined to discuss the costs associated with these communication centers, except to say the money is in the agency's budget.

 The spending for the outposts is separate from the $75 million that Congress approved for Chicago and Milwaukee each to cover extra security costs for equipment and police overtime resulting from the conventions.

 The communication hub costs are also not related to the $90 million to $100 million the Chicago Host Committee is raising to pay for staging the convention and related parties or the millions being spent by the 2024 Democratic National Convention Committee for staffers and event production consultants.

 Both conventions are designated as National Special Security Events, which means the Secret Service is the lead agency for designing, coordinating and executing security plan operations.

This designation is routine and is not related to the increasing number of demonstrations in the city against the Israel-Hamas war, which is devastating Gaza and looms as a potential disruptive force during the convention.

 Convention security planning has been underway for months — and takes in everything from protecting Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and former Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama when they are in town — to mapping strategy to deal with demonstrations to figuring out transportation logistics.

 Anyone stuck in the Loop traffic nightmare and road closures Wednesday when Biden was in Chicago for a fundraiser at the Palmer House Hilton got a taste of the intermittent delays expected this summer during the convention.

 Guglielmi, a former top spokesman for the Chicago Police Department, said “The Multi-Agency Communications Center, situated in a large, confidential location outside of the event area, acts as a central hub for all federal, state and local agencies involved in the operational security plan.”

This hub supplements and does not replace central commands run by each agency. The hub, with secure computer, telephone and radio lines, will be a center for collecting information and data the representatives of the 60 entities can pass along to their offices.

“This center is functional around the clock and ensures seamless coordination of the operational security plan, from protective movements to potential critical incidents. Complementing the Multi-Agency Communications Center is the Joint Information Center, which is tasked with facilitating public information and emergency communications, and the U.S. Secret Service’s Coordinating Center, which manages logistics and mission support functions specific to the U.S. Secret Service,” Guglielmi said.

 Since April, the Secret Service has been reaching out to residents and businesses likely impacted by convention security restrictions in order to help minimize the disruptions that will occur.

 On Wednesday, Secret Service representatives met with the Illinois Security Professional Association, a group representing private security firms.

 And on Tuesday, in a conference room at the Shedd Aquarium, the Secret Service briefed the Chicago Cultural Properties Security group, an organization that includes, among other institutions, the Museum of Science and Industry, the Field Museum, the Adler Planetarium and the Lincoln Park Zoo.