PLAN ACCELERATED
Tech-heavy Hanscom AF Base to add high barbed-wire fence

By Kerry Drohan, Globe Staff, 9/27/2001

BEDFORD - In another sign of tighter security at local military
installations following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Hanscom Air Force
Base will soon be surrounded by an 8-foot-high barbed-wire fence, the Air
Force disclosed yesterday.

''A security fence has been planned for some time to cover areas not already
fenced,'' said Air Force spokesman Kevin Gilmartin. ''Based on the obvious
security concerns, we have accelerated our plans.''

Gilmartin said workers from Roads Corp. of Billerica are expected to begin
the work ''very soon.'' He declined to detail the extent of the fencing or
when it would be finished, but said it would complete the perimeter of the
846-acre base, home to the Air Force's Electronic Systems Center. The base
employs about 8,000 people, including 1,400 military personnel.

Hanscom has not housed combat aircraft since flight operations ceased in
1973. The base is primarily a research and development facility, where the
Air Force works with MIT Lincoln Labs and the Mitre Corp. in developing
''command and control'' systems, ranging from large airborne radars to
smaller, computer-based information systems.

Like other military bases around the country, Hanscom declared an alert the
morning of Sept. 11 and released nonessential personnel, Gilmartin said. All
workers returned on Sept. 13, under tighter security that includes beefed-up
patrols around the perimeter and at the base's two entrances.

Built in 1941, the base trained pilots and was responsible for the air
defense of Boston during World War II. It housed various military research
facilities and evolved into the Electronic Systems Center in the early
1960s.

There is already a perimeter fence around Hanscom Field, the civilian side
of the complex that borders Bedford, Lincoln, Lexington, and Concord.

''Command and control systems play a critical role in combat,'' Gilmartin
said. ''The electronic equipment that we develop ... is used by commanders
to make decisions and then transmit decisions to troops in the field.''

This story ran on page A24 of the Boston Globe on 9/27/2001.
© Copyright 2001 Globe Newspaper Company.
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