This episode is one I recorded while at APEX at the Naval Postgraduate School. So, for those that missed the conference, you’re in for a treat, and those that heard Noel speak, we found a way to hit areas a presentation just can’t take you.

When my editor was listening to this podcast, he asked how long Noel and I have known each other. I told him we’d met the day prior. I bring this up because when conversations flow the way this one did, I find the content resonates on a deeper level, and the impact is that much more meaningful.

If you’d like to get in touch with Noel, you can find him on FB at Quiet Terrain and on Twitter @TroopInContact.

In today’s conversation, I wanted to bring us past the political rhetoric and tribal narratives surrounding immigration and border security and take an honest look at the issues we face. We’ll discuss securing our borders, addressing humanitarian concerns, and a path forward to move from outdated immigration policies and how to bring them in line with the realities of a changing world.

Today’s episode is with John Comiskey and Mike Larranaga where we’ll be talking about climate change and the homeland security challenges that arise from this complex issue.

So with that, let’s jump right into our discussion on climate security.

This team was part of the first cohort of Advanced Thinking in Homeland Security, also known as HSx. They came together to address the delay in public health alerts of communicable disease outbreaks. They specifically focused on accessing real-time health data and crafted five recommendations to enhance disease detection within the United States.

The best way to understand the breadth of this project is to get right to it and start my conversation with the team of One Health Alert System.

But a bit of a background first. What prompted funding towards training and educating the countries' emergency responders and government leaders? Shortly after the end of the Cold War we entered into the country’s next era of conflict – one of terrorism. This era was heralded in with the 1993 World Trade Center attack and the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah building in Oklahoma City. These events prompted the government to pass the Anti-terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996.

After the attack of September 11^th and the creation of the Department of Homeland Security, this increase of funding for tactical training was expanded to include building the critical thinking capacity within the homeland security enterprise.

In 2002 we saw the establishment of the Homeland Security Centers of Excellence. Then in 2003, additional funding was allocated to expand education even further. One of these undertakings occurred at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California.

So, let’s take a walk into the past and hear about the origin story of the Center for Homeland Defense and Security.

In this episode, Dan and I talk about how that’s been going, integrating lessons learned, and briefly touch upon the newly released Community Lifelines.

This is the third episode in our 3-part series looking into school shootings. In Part 1, we looked at the data collection platform – K-12 School Shooting Database. In the following episode, we discussed various stages related to policy and tactical considerations and we delved into pre-hospital and hospital care strengths and areas for improvement.

In this episode, I'm joined by Douglas Berglund and Jennifer Harper. Our conversation focuses on current efforts that have been identifying and offering prevention and preparedness solutions for schools and districts to aid in developing their crisis or emergency operations plans.

These programs aren’t solely focused on an active shooter situation; rather, they assist in identifying intervention points to help troubled youth before an incident occurs; solutions for reunification of children and parents following an incident; and, strategies to provide mental health resources to schools, communities, and emergency responders.

In this show, we talk with Lt. Steve Simonds, Jim Morrissey, and Dr. Carol Cunningham about the school shooting, the tragedy, that occurred at Great Mills High School in Saint Mary’s County, Maryland on March 20, 2018. We also talk about training and intervention during and immediately following these events, then we take a look at differing components of our pre-hospital and hospital care systems and how they have to adapt.

Part 1 in the School Shooting Series

Today’s episode is the second show dedicated to you and centers on your personal health and fitness. Our guest is one of the top Pilates and fitness instructors – Mr. John Garey.

John has been involved within the fitness industry his entire life. Starting long before he attended New York University where he received master’s degree in Physical Education and continuing throughout his career. John has traveled across the globe to train instructors from the very basic to advance techniques in Pilates, he operates a Pilates and fitness center in Long Beach, CA, and has an online fitness platform.

We’re joined by Phillip Osborn, CHDS Master’s program alum from cohort 0701/0702. Phillip retired from homeland security investigations with ICE as a Supervisory Special Agent, and today he’s an adjunct professor addressing cybersecurity. Phillip spent nearly 20-years working on cyber crimes and shares some simple steps to improve your security while operating in an insecure cyber environment.

We hope this podcast becomes a forum to discuss, debate and educate listeners in a wide range of homeland security topics developing dialoging and networking opportunities among CHDS Alumni.