Front and Center: Security at Boston's Infectious Disease Research Lab

When controversy hit, Kevin Tuohey became the public face of a high-profile plan to study deadly diseases in Boston. To succeed, the security director would have to become part diplomat, part great communicator.

This is a tricky communications job Tuohey pulled off, at once saying it's an unfair assault, but also that what happened caused policy changes. Even opponents of the lab acknowledged his capability. "He strikes me as a guy who believes in this and is totally sincere," says Goodenough. "He's definitely knowledgeable and he's definitely following all of the rules and guidelines [for safety and security] to a T. He's careful. But what he does not acknowledge is human error. I'd love to sit with him and say, Don't you think they had the same checks and counterchecks on [space shuttle] Columbia? Isn't there room for error, and if so, why are we taking this chance?"

A Quiet Ground Breaking

After a long environmental review, federal officials approved the NEIDL and its system of safeguards at the start of this year. Tuohey succeeded. But there would be no ground-breaking ceremony.

In April, the Biosafety Level 4 site was a parking lot; by May, that was being ripped up. A dozen or more trucks and cranes filled the site. Steel pilings stuck up in a few spots.

Walking to the site, Tuohey announces "what an opportunity for the city this lab is." He crows about the estimated 660 jobs it will bring and the economic benefit, including affordable housing and job training programs, and mentions the need for an avian flu vaccine. After acknowledging a short-lived student sit-in protesting the NEIDL at the dean's office, he adds, "Frankly we get fewer and fewer questions about the biolab and more about development on Mass. Ave.," an important nearby thoroughfare.

Goodenough called Tuohey "careful." Another word for careful is politic, and through the meetings, defending the project, dealing with a nasty information war, and finally, doing damage control after a potentially debilitating gaffe, Tuohey has evolved into a kind of political creature. He is a partisan for the lab interacting with his constituents. He talks about being part of the neighborhood and how that means he cares. Though once he had no hometown, he's now worked and lived here for a quarter century and he says that his entrenchment helps him fulfill his role. "I have more breadth here than people"&mdash:he makes a tunnel with his hands and holds it up to his eyes&mdash:"who are responsible just for security."

He means this literally. After the tularemia episode died down, and it was clear that the Biosafety Level 4 Biolab project would break ground, BU Medical Center reorganized. Corporate communications and community relations now report to Tuohey. ##