The Symposium on 21st Century Threats and Integrated Emergency Operations was held December 12, 2016, at George Mason University’s Founders Hall, which brought together more than 300 public safety professionals from across Commonwealth of Virginia and the National Capital Region. The goal of the Symposium was to provide a venue for public safety professionals to discuss best practices and lessons learned for the first responder community.
Societal risks to threats are ever increasing; today’s world is more dangerous, complicated, and immediate than ever before. Given the ‘tectonic shifts’ in the nation’s political climate, the nexus between security and sociocultural respect presents a variety of policy and administrative challenges.
By integrating law enforcement, fire services, and emergency medicine, first responders are better able to efficiently and effectively respond to and prevent against an evolving scenario of atypical emergencies and complex attacks, including active shooters, riot violence, multi-site marauding, the use of fire and explosives as weapons, and weapons of mass destruction.
Per Thomas Anger, a prominent attorney and emergency medical technician from Ohio, “The Symposium was a veritable of who’s who of devoted public servants. Each speaker, from members of the London Fire brigade to the former Surgeon General of Israel, provided an insightful fascinating, and unique examination of the threats facing our world.”
The Symposium was made possible by recent, collaborative partnership between the Schar School of Policy and Government’s Centers on the Public Service and the Arlington County Fire Department along with the Virginia Department of Emergency Management.
Noteworthy guests included General Michael Hayden, Deputy Secretary Curtis Brown, and State Coordinator Jeffery Stern.
For more information, please contact Dr. Tonya Neaves, the Project Leader, at tneaves@gmu.edu.