The center, located in a former conference room near Thompson's office, is outfitted with computers, satellite videoconferencing capabilities, telephones and computer mapping tools that allow officials to track the movement of medical supplies and emergency personnel. It has its own ventilation system, meaning officials could stay in the center even if the rest of the HHS headquarters were contaminated and had to be evacuated.
"It's the most modern command center any place in the world today," Thompson said.
The command center's television screens can pick up 4,000 channels, and including video screens on one wall that allow for teleconferencing with up to 10 people.
Thompson said he envisioned long-distance conferences with officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md., the FBI, CIA and other federal agencies.
The center is being staffed 24 hours a day, seven days a week, in case of an emergency.
HHS said that the center was built on time and under budget -- it was built in just 59 days and cost $3.5 million, $1 million less than Congress appropriated. The leftover money will be used to improve crisis communications in other parts of HHS, officials said.
Thompson said he hopes the center will help combat perceptions that HHS has not done enough to prepare for bio terrorism.
"I would just like to point out that the Department of Health and Human Services, as far as bio terrorism [is concerned], is very well prepared," he said.
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