He looks like a baseball player. Tall. Lanky. Clean cut. In fact, that was one of his dreams growing up in Rockville, Maryland. But when he was still in high school, a severe knee injury permanently benched him. Today, Tom Gannon-Miller steps up to the plate every day as manager of Protective Services, and he is as focused on his responsibilities as any ball player is on the ball.
Fourth Level of Defense
The Protective Services Department is the quiet, almost invisible, watchdog that maintains laboratory security 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Mr. Gannon-Miller likes to describe it as the “fourth level of defense,” following the officers at the gates (controlled by Ft. Detrick), the Department of Defense officers (from the Provost Marshal’s Office), and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) police officers, all of whom carry firearms. He is quick to point out that his officers do not carry firearms.
One of the primary responsibilities of Protective Services is the security of the laboratory freezers. “These freezers may contain lifelong research, and have a lot of money invested in them,” Mr. Gannon-Miller noted. Each freezer is equipped with a special alarm that is triggered whenever the temperature rises above a pre-set level, alerting the desk officer in Building 426. A Protective Services officer immediately investigates, and if it’s a “true” alarm, the officer contacts Facilities Maintenance and Engineering (FME) to repair the problem. If the problem can’t be fixed immediately, the researcher will be called for direction on how to handle the contents—or even to come in. And all this may be happening at 2 o’clock on a Sunday morning.
Biggest Challenge
Running a 24/7 operation is the biggest challenge Mr. Gannon-Miller faces. It all starts with having a reliable, competent staff. “On a regular job,” he commented, “if you have a bad day, you get to go home at 5 o’clock. Here, we’ve got to hope everyone shows up for the second shift.” Three officers are required for a shift, one to work the dispatch desk, where the alarms come in, and two to make rounds. Thunderstorms cause the worst problems because, according to Mr. Gannon-Miller, “thunderstorms cause freezers to die, and that causes a lot of alarms to go off.” So he has to keep his eye on the weather forecast to be sure there’s enough coverage when a storm is predicted.
In addition to 24/7 laboratory security, Protective Services is responsible for issuing ID badges and key cards, maintaining the lost and found, greeting and logging in visitors, and, most recently, fingerprinting. “Initially, we were just fingerprinting and doing background checks on all of my security officers, as well as the IT people,” Mr. Gannon-Miller said. Now, he said, fingerprinting is required for all summer students in the Werner H. Kirsten Student Intern Program (SIP). This year, that involved some 200 students, all of whom had to be fingerprinted within 6 weeks.
Vital Link to NIH Protective Services also provides a lifeline to NIH in Bethesda by operating the passenger shuttle service between the two campuses. “We have a lot of scientists who need to get down to Bethesda for seminars and meetings,” said Mr. Gannon-Miller, and this service is essential to meeting those needs. These shuttle runs are made four times a day with only two drivers, who together have driven over a million-and-a-half accident-free miles in their driving careers. “I’m really proud of my drivers; they’re just top notch,” he commented.
No Stranger to Laboratory Security Mr. Gannon-Miller brought nearly 25 years of experience in laboratory security when he joined SAIC-Frederick, Inc., three years ago. He began his career as a laboratory technician, and he saw firsthand what happens when the security system fails. After a long holiday weekend, he came into his lab only to find an enormous puddle of water on the floor of the freezer room and hundreds of samples ruined. Seeing a problem, he offered to solve it, by personally providing the security for his lab. “They paid me great money. I’d work as a lab tech during the day, and then, for about 3 weeks I served as a security officer [at night].”
His next job was for a security management company, where he set up the security for a new, state-of-the-art facility for the Jerome Holland Laboratory of the American Red Cross. In an interesting turn of fate, that management company was ultimately bought by McKesson BioServices, which for 3 years managed the repositories in support of the research programs of NCI, NIH, NCI/NIH contractors, and other groups. So when he made the move to SAIC-Frederick, Inc., he found some familiar faces.
Security from the Ground Up
Mr. Gannon-Miller recalled that, in setting up the security for the Jerome Holland Laboratory, “We started from the ground up. When we first moved into that building, they didn’t even have tile in the hallways.” However, the expertise he had gained during his years at McKesson BioServices proved invaluable when it came to setting up the security at the Vaccine Pilot Plant, built in 2004-2005 for the National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) Vaccine Research Center. “That’s the most significant thing we’ve done…because that’s no small undertaking,” he said of the 126,900-square-foot facility. The VPP, as it is known, also requires 24/7 coverage, so Mr. Gannon-Miller hired a supervisor and nine Protective Service officers. “It all starts with having a good staff,” he commented, adding, “If I didn’t have such a good supervisor [at the VPP], I’d be running two 24/7 operations at the same time.”
When He Sees a Need, He Fills It
In addition to hiring—and retaining—good staff, Mr. Gannon-Miller has made significant improvements in the Protective Services Department in his three years here. When he first arrived, he saw an immediate need to cross-train personnel on the dispatch desk. This change eased the burden of having 24/7 coverage because more people were able to cover the desk. Equally significant was the impact on the bottom line: overtime was all but eliminated by the increased coverage.
He is a firm believer of written procedures and has devoted a significant portion of his time to establishing and writing standard operating procedures (SOPs) for his department. His philosophy: “If you make a mistake and there’s not an SOP written on it, that’s not your fault, that’s my fault.” Now, with over 80 procedures written for the NCI-Frederick campus, and over 30 written for the VPP, Mr. Gannon-Miller is doing everything he can to minimize mistakes.
Always Wanted To Be a Teacher When he’s not managing the Protective Services Department here, he’s fulfilling another dream—managing the classroom as a substitute teacher at Meadow Hall Elementary School in Rockville. “I always wanted to be a teacher. That was my dream, to be a teacher and coach,” he said. After taking some education courses at Johns Hopkins, he decided he didn’t want to teach full-time, so he tried substitute teaching. And, he said, “I just fell in love with that. I can pick and choose the jobs.” He also coaches his 16-year-old daughter’s softball team at St. Maria Goretti High School in Hagerstown. The biggest challenge there, he laughed, is convincing some of the outfielders they won’t break their nails if they play closer in.
“We’re here to serve the people on base.”
Mr. Gannon-Miller didn’t hesitate when asked what one message he would like to communicate about Protective Services. “Customer service,” he answered. “I want people to understand Protective Services is customer service–oriented.” His annual Open House in the spring and Chili Cook-off in the fall are ways he encourages open communication with his department. He’s quick to provide special services to fill specific needs. For example, when one department was short-staffed because a person was out on disability, telephone calls were temporarily transferred to the dispatch desk. Another department requested that a Protective Services officer check a specific room twice a day. Mr. Gannon-Miller responded by writing an SOP for that specific room check. If someone works late into the evening and would like an escort to the parking lot, a Protective Services officer will provide that service.
Mr. Gannon-Miller summed it up this way: “If you need something, give us a call, and we’ll do our best to do it.”
Nancy Parrish
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National Cancer Institute at Frederick
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National Cancer Institute at Frederick
Sue Fox
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Center for Cancer Research
National Cancer Institute at Frederick
Photography Department
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National Cancer Institute at Frederick
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He looks like a baseball player. Tall. Lanky. Clean cut. In fact, that was one of his dreams growing up in Rockville, Maryland. But when he was still in high school, a severe knee injury permanently benched him. Today, Tom Gannon-Miller steps up to the plate every day as manager of Protective Services, and he is as focused on his responsibilities as any ball player is on the ball.
Protective Services also provides a lifeline to NIH in Bethesda by operating the passenger shuttle service between the two campuses. “We have a lot of scientists who need to get down to Bethesda for seminars and meetings,” said Mr. Gannon-Miller, and this service is essential to meeting those needs. These shuttle runs are made four times a day with only two drivers, who together have driven over a million-and-a-half accident-free miles in their driving careers. “I’m really proud of my drivers; they’re just top notch,” he commented.