Threats to the United States and U.S. interests are evolving. Trends may shift in the type of threat or method of attack, but the underlying drivers remain constant. What may happen in one location could certainly happen in any location. As a nation, we must adapt to overcome these challenges, leveraging federal, state, local, and international partnerships. Collaborating allows us to foster creativity and innovation to address the many complexities facing response organizations and the broader homeland security enterprise.

 

Please join the Maryland-National Capital Region Emergency Response System and community partners as we “Reimagine the Threat Landscape,” exploring some of the emerging threats and how we should adjust our posture moving forward.

 

Specific topics covered include:

 

• • • • Analysis of January 6, 2021, events at the United States Capitol

 

• • • • Responder safety and health

 

• • • • Supply chain disruption for emergency services

 

• • • • The use of small unmanned aerial systems (sUAS) in public safety operations

 

• • • • Engaging public/private partnerships from an emergency management perspective

 

This event is being hosted virtually via Zoom webinar, registration is required.

To secure your participation in the event please complete and submit the registration form located below. 

Featured Speakers

 

Darrell Darnell is a homeland security and emergency management subject matter expert experienced in implementing, directing, and managing homeland security, emergency preparedness, business continuity, and campus safety and security programs.

He has served in senior positions within the Department of Justice, Department of Homeland Security, the White House National Security Staff, and was the first Director for the District of Columbia’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management.  In addition to those roles, he served as the Senior Associate Vice President for Safety and Security for The George Washington University, and Vice President for Venue Security for the Madison Square Garden Company.  He is a retired Master Sergeant (First Sergeant), United States Air Force.

He has served on leading government and professional advisory councils and committees such as the Department of Homeland Security National Advisory Council, FEMA National Advisory Council, Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS) Subcommittee, Chairperson, District of Columbia Homeland Security Commission, The Greater Washington Board of Trade Emergency Preparedness and Business Continuity Committee, and Executive Board Member, National Emergency Management Association.  Mr. Darnell has also testified before Congressional committees on homeland security and emergency preparedness issues.

Mr. Darnell has served as an adjunct professor at Prince George’s Community College, and the University of Maryland, University College-Asian Division.  He is an Affiliated Faculty Member for the National Preparedness Leadership Initiative (NPLI), a joint program of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, Center for Public Leadership.  He is a Subject Matter Expert (SME) for the Naval Postgraduate School, Center for Homeland Defense and Security Executive Education Program, and the University of Southern Mississippi National Center for Spectator Sports Safety and Security (NCS4).

Mr. Darnell is a published author providing commentary for the Journal of Business Continuity and Emergency Management, Inside the Minds, and other publications. He was profiled in the textbook, Contemporary Organizational Behavior: From ideas to Action, Elsbach, Kayes and Kayes, page 274-275. Pearson Education, Inc., 2016.

He holds a bachelor’s degree in Management Studies and a master’s degree in Applied Management, both from the University of Maryland, Global Campus.  He holds a Master of Business Administration, with a concentration in Cyber Security from the George Washington University.

 

Daniel McCoy is a Chief Officer with over 25 years of combined fire service experience within the National Capitol Region. Chief McCoy is currently assigned as the Deputy Fire Chief of Special Operations and Homeland Security with the District of Columbia Fire and EMS Department.  In this capacity he has provided administrative and operational oversight, leadership, and supervision of the Special Operations Division. His responsibilities consist of managing the following programs:  Special Operations, Homeland Security, Logistics and Equipment, Technical Rescue, Foam Unit, and Marine Fire/Rescue.  The Hazardous Material, Mass Casualty, and the Active Shooter programs are also included.

From January 2017 to April 2020, McCoy served as a Battalion Fire Chief where he provided supervision of personnel in the Special Operations Battalion.  His other responsibilities included commanding response teams, engaging community partners, protecting national landmarks, and coordinating responses with multiple agencies for WMD, CBRNE, active shooter, MCI, and urban search and rescue.

Chief McCoy has been the Incident Commander on multiple National Special Security Events (NSSE’s) and currently is the NSSE Fire Life Safety Subcommittee Chair for events within the District of Columbia.  He also serves as the Chair of the MWCOG Passenger Rail Safety Subcommittee (PRSS).

Jerica Shackelford serves as the Chief of Staff at DC Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency (HSEMA) where she oversees the critical administrative functions of the organization including the Finance, Human Resources, Grants, and IT bureaus. Additionally, she oversees the Resilience Bureau, which is responsible for the implementation of the District’s Resilient DC plan, hazard mitigation, critical infrastructure, and disability integration programs.

The Office of the Chief of Staff leads special projects that have an agency-wide impact. As part of that responsibility, Ms. Shackelford leads the agency’s initiative to rebuild its enterprise system – CORE DC. Through this project, Ms. Shackelford is spearheading strategic discussions to better integrate emergency and steady state programs.

 

During Ms. Shackelford’s eleven-year tenure at the agency, she served in several EOC positions managing a wide range of events and incidents. Her experience includes COVID-19, presidential inaugurations, dozens of NSSEs, first-amendment and severe weather events. Ms. Shackelford served as the EOC Manager on January 6, 2021. She received her B.A. in Communication from Texas A&M University and is currently pursuing a Master’s in Homeland Security from the Naval Postgraduate school.

Clint Osborn is the Chief of Operations for the District of Columbia Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency (HSEMA), responsible for the 24/7 joint all-hazards operations center, the intelligence fusion center, the emergency operations center, logistics and facilities, safety and security, and the District’s preparedness program. Throughout 2020 and 2021, he served on the Mayor’s Incident Management Team that handled all of the concurrent emergencies from COVID-19, to the extended summer heat season, the Justice for George Floyd protests, the January 6th siege of the US Capitol, and the 2021 Presidential Inauguration. He has served in his current role since 2018 and before that was HSEMA’s Chief of Preparedness where he was responsible for the District-wide emergency management preparedness enterprise. He is a member of the National Capitol Region Homeland Security Executive Committee’s Advisory Council and a co-chair of Regional Emergency Support Function 5: Emergency Management.

Prior to joining HSEMA, Clint was a principal emergency management consultant with Tetra Tech focusing on preparedness program development for emergency management agencies and transit organizations in UASI regions. His UASI regions included Atlanta, Houston, Dallas-Fort Worth, and the National Capital Region, where he focused on developing custom plans, training courses, and exercises. He began his career with Orange County (NC) Emergency Services as the emergency management specialist and before that as an EMT. If you ask him about it, he’ll tell you why he’s the Harry Potter of emergency management.

Clint received his undergraduate and graduate degrees from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, including a graduate certificate in community preparedness and disaster management. He is also a 2020 graduate of the District of Columbia’s Executive Leadership Program, hosted by George Washington University. Clint and his family live in DC and you can generally find them walking about the city, sampling the great restaurants, and enjoying the vast array of cultural opportunities within the District.

Craig DeAtley PA-C, is an Emergency Department Physician Assistant at a number of DC-area hospitals from 1975 -2020, Craig has also served since 2002 as the Director of the Institute of Emergency Management for the Medstar Washington Hospital Center. In that role, he also has emergency management responsibilities for Medstar National Rehabilitation Hospital and provides subject matter expertise leadership to the Medstar Health Care Corporation’s Emergency Management program. A former paramedic, EMS Supervisor and USAR Team Medical Team Coordinator for Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department for 35 years. He also until recently served as an Assistant Medical Director for the Fairfax County Police Department for 30 years. From 1975 – 2002 he worked at George Washington University School of Medicine in several positions including Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine, founder, and Director of the EMS Degree program.  During his professional career he has also served as a consultant to several state and federal government agencies, including ASPR, Homeland Security, and US Customs and Border Patrol, published more then 20 papers and 5 books and been the recipient of a number of awards including the American Academy of Physicians Assistant PA of the Year Award in 2002 and 2021 Virginia Governors EMS Excellence Award.

George S. Everly, Jr., Ph.D., A.B.P.P., F.A.P.A., F.A.P.M. is acknowledged as a pioneer in the fields of psychological trauma and disaster mental health. In 2016 he was rated the leading published author in the world on the subject of psychological crisis intervention by PubMed PubReminer.  Dr. Everly holds appointments as Professor in the Center for Humanitarian Health in the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Associate Professor (part time) in Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.  In addition, he has served on the adjunct faculties of the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the FBI’s National Academy at Quantico, Virginia. Dr. Everly is co-founder of the International Critical Incident Stress Foundation, a non-profit public health and safety organization. He was Senior Research Advisor, Social Development Office, Office of His Highness, the Amir of Kuwait, State of Kuwait. Prior to these appointments, Dr. Everly was a Harvard Scholar, visiting in psychology, Harvard University; a Visiting Lecturer in Medicine, Harvard Medical School; and Chief Psychologist and Director of Behavioral Medicine for the Johns Hopkins’ Homewood Hospital Center. He is the author of 20 books and over 100 papers. His online course Psychological First Aid has been rated one of the most popular online classes of all time.

Jeffrey T. Mitchell, PhD is Clinical Professor of Emergency Health Services at the University of Maryland in Baltimore County, Maryland.  He is a co-founder and President Emeritus of the International Critical Incident Stress Foundation. He holds a Ph.D. in Human Development from the University of Maryland. After serving as a firefighter/paramedic for ten years, he developed a comprehensive, integrated, systematic, and multi-component crisis intervention program called “Critical Incident Stress Management.”

 

Dr. Mitchell has authored over 275 articles and 20 books in the stress and crisis intervention fields. He is an adjunct faculty member of the Emergency Management Institute of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.  He is also a part time faculty member at Johns Hopkins University and he teaches the on-line Psychology of Disasters and the Crisis and Conflict resolution courses for the Florida Institute of Technology.  He is a reviewer for the Journal of the American Medical Association as well as Disaster Medicine. He received the Austrian Red Cross Bronze Medal for his work in Crisis Intervention in the aftermath of the Kaprum Train tunnel fire.  The Association of Traumatic Stress Specialists approved Dr. Mitchell as a Certified Trauma Specialist. The United Nations appointed him to the United Nations Department of Safety and Security Working Group on Stress.

 

Lt. Steven Thomas graduated from UMBC with a Bachelor Degree in Political Science and Sociology and the University of Baltimore with a Master Degree in Legal and Ethical Studies.  Lt. Thomas created innovative and highly successful programs to divert children with mental health challenges from the criminal justice system to the behavioral health system, so they get the assistance they need. He strengthened the communication between school officials, mental health agencies, the criminal justice system, and the police department.  Furthermore, he started a process to help adults with mental illness in the behavioral health care system, who were also charged with a crime.  The practice has had overwhelming success limiting recidivism.

He is an I.C.I.S.F. (International Critical Incident Stress Foundation) approved instructor and in 2019 received the ICISF Pioneering Spirit Award at their World Congress.  He is a Youth & Adult Mental Health First-Aid (MHFA) instructor, as well as a Maryland MHFA co-instructor for instructor training.  At the 2018 Mental Health First-Aid Summit in Washington DC he was named a “top 100” instructor in the nation.  He is the Anne Arundel County Police CIT Unit Coordinator, which was named 2020 CIT International Unit of the Year.

Andrea Davis has been in the field of crisis
management since 1999, starting in the non-profit
sector developing Y2K crisis response plans. Andrea went on to serve at the City and County of San Francisco and the US Federal Government as the Emergency Manager for the 12th District Federal Reserve Bank and as the External Affairs Director for the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Louisiana Recovery Office for Hurricane Katrina. While at FEMA, Andrea oversaw all media, intergovernmental and congressional activities for one of the U.S.’ largest disaster recovery efforts, with a total recovery portfolio of over $25 billion.

For the past ten years, Andrea has led global, enterprise-wide crisis management departments for multi-national, Fortune 50 companies-The Walt Disney Company, and the Walmart Corporation. Currently, she is the Founder and CEO of an SBA-certified, woman-owned, crisis management consulting firm, The Resiliency Initiative.

Andrea’s passion is volunteer service which led to her selection as the Inaugural Emergency Manager of the Year by the International Association of Emergency Managers in 2018 and her induction into the Women’s Hall of Fame for Emergency Management in 2013. Andrea is currently serving as the Board Chair for the NW Arkansas American Red Cross and a founding member of the Arkansas Tiffany Circle.

Eric Alberts is a dedicated Emergency Manager who is passionate about the field he works in and protecting those he serves.  He began his career in Emergency Management in 2002.  Eric has responded to emergencies and disasters of all different types and sizes to include a terrorist attack, 5 hurricanes, tropical systems, a special communicable disease, pandemic, a shooting in a hospital, severe weather, wildfires, multi-type vehicle accidents, mass casualty incidents, hazmat incidents, threats, etc.  He is currently the Senior Director, Emergency Management for Orlando Health, Inc. healthcare system in Central Florida.  A position he was promoted to in June of 2019 after serving as the Corporate Manager, Emergency Preparedness since February 2017; prior to that he served as the Manager, Emergency Preparedness starting in February 2010. He serves a total of 2,425 licensed beds within 9 hospitals (two of which are the level 1 trauma centers for adults and pediatrics), 5 free standing emergency departments, 1 large cancer center, 3 ambulatory care centers, 3 skilled nursing facilities, 1 athletic training center, 4 medical helicopters, numerous corporate ancillary and support facilities, 20,000 employees, and directly leads and manages 5 full time employees.

Eric obtained his BS degree in Criminal Justice from Fairmont State College in West Virginia.  Eric is certified as:  Certified Emergency Manager (CEM), Certified Homeland Protection Professional (CHPP), Certified Emergency Disaster Professional (CEDP), Corporate Crisis Management Certified (CCMC), Certified Healthcare Emergency Professional (CHEP), Certified Hospital Emergency Coordinator – Level 2 (CHEC-Level 2); Florida Professional Emergency Manager (FPEM), Florida Professional Emergency Manager – Healthcare (FPEM-HC), and Emergency Management Specialist (SEM).  He also has achieved the Master Military Emergency Management Specialist (MEMS), All-Hazards Liaison Officer Specialist, & Master Military Emergency Management Specialist Instructor designations from the State Guard Association – MEMS Academy.

Eric is also a Health and Medical Co-Chair of the Central Florida Regional Domestic Security Task Force and Chair of the Central Florida Intelligence Exchange Executive Steering Committee.

Eric is very proactive in the Emergency Management field and continues to look for lessons learned and improvements to emergency response systems.

Allegra Tartaglia created the Non-Governmental Services Branch at the Maryland Department of Emergency Management and is the Branch Manager setting the vision nationwide to include private and nonprofit into all phases of an emergency. An experienced stakeholder engagement practitioner, Ms. Tartaglia was previously the Business Engagement Manager and Private Sector Liaison at MDEM, responsible for growing the Private Sector Integration Program (PSIP) and creating the Maryland Business Emergency Operation Center (MBEOC).

During her three years at MDEM, Ms. Tartaglia has achieved many accomplishments: speaking at the 2021 Amsterdam International Water Web (AIWW), the 2021 National Homeland Security Conference, and the 2019 FEMA’s National Preparedness Symposium. Ms. Tartaglia has been acknowledged by Governor Larry Hogan with a Governor’s Citation for outstanding public service to the State of Maryland for the COVID-19 Pandemic and is the first female under 30 to have followed Maryland Comptrollers and Governors to have been a recipient of the Maryland Retailers Association Louis B. Goldstein Public Service Award. Mrs. Tartaglia has been published in the Fall 2020 Journal of Critical Infrastructure: “Case Study: Public-Private Partnerships in Maryland,” and is in the process of authoring a book
on the same topic.

Prior to joining MDEM Allegra was the Disaster Specialist for The Pittsburgh Foundation where she was responsible for establishing the Emergency Action Fund for national and local crises and The Pittsburgh Foundation Emergency Preparedness Standard Operating Procedure for continuity of operations and employee safety.

Allegra also has experience with foreign governments having worked with the Ministry of the Environment of Brazil to reduce carbon footprint for the 2019 Brazil Climate Action Plan and the Italian Civil Protection Department with volunteer and donation management operations for the 2016 Central Italy Earthquakes. Ms. Tartaglia holds a Master of Arts in International Development from the University
of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public and International Affairs and a Bachelor of Arts in History and French from Loyola University New Orleans.

Scott Plank serves as CEO of MissionGO, where he oversees a team that is setting a new standard for next-generation transportation logistics. Scott’s team is working to deliver improved reliability and reduced costs by leveraging the power of unmanned systems.

Scott also serves as CEO of War Horse Cities, which he founded in 2010 to pursue his passion in exploring how built environments can magnify our lives and relationships. War Horse develops a diverse range of projects, including entertainment venues and a portfolio and pipeline of over 850 apartments, 80,000 square feet of office, 150,000 square feet of retail and philanthropic public service programs driven by this philosophy. Scott began pursuing his love and curiosity for cities by studying Urban Planning at the University of Maryland, years of world traveling, and eventually financing thousands of multi-family homes at Freddie Mac from 1995 to 2000.

As his brother, Kevin Plank, began selling Under Armour t-shirts in 1996, Scott joined in 2000, also dedicating himself to Making All Athletes Better. It was at Under Armour where Scott learned that a place is more than just a jumble of bricks. Our buildings are as important to our personal and professional mission as a computer or a sewing machine. He learned that customers and teammates need inspiring environments: playing fields, gyms, stores, and offices. By 2010, Scott’s leadership across the organization was broad and impactful; being responsible for half of the company’s then 7,000 employees, a robust retail platform of 100 stores, 2 million SF of real estate, e-commerce, expansion into China, and a third of the company’s revenue, and half of its profits.

Scott also began to diversify his portfolio by investing in his love for the entrepreneur and tech companies. In 2006, as Scott became an early start-up investor in Transplant Connect. He worked to actively support innovative technologies increasing the viability and improvement to the organ transplant supply chain. His passion for this work continues today with MissionGO.

 

 

 

Philip J. Palin is the son and grandson of grocers, a former college president, and serial entrepreneur who has served as a Supply Chain Resilience subject-matter-expert with the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, Department of Homeland Security, FEMA, and with several states and cities. He has researched and engaged a wide range of extreme events including the 2011 Triple Disaster in Japan, Superstorm Sandy in 2012, Hurricane Haiyan (Yolanda) in 2013, Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria during 2017, and most named storms during the 2018 and 2019 hurricane seasons. In 2020 he was involved in pandemic response and preparedness, especially focused on flows of food and medical goods. During 2021 he worked with public and private parties in North America, Europe, and East Asia to assess and reduce friction in demand and supply networks. Phil works with federal, state, local and private sector leaders to prepare for and respond to complex wide-area catastrophic events involving dense populations. He is the author of several books and articles, including Out of the Whirlwind: Supply and Demand After Hurricane Maria and He Looks at the Earth: Catastrophe, Recovery, and the Cascadia Earthquake. Phil is the author of the self-study course on Supply Chain Resilience available online from the Center for Homeland Defense and Security at the Naval Postgraduate School. Phil is often introduced as a “researcher and writer.” NBC News has identified him as, “One of the world’s leading experts on getting supplies to catastrophe survivors.”

 

 

 

Heather Issvoran has been the bridge between Federal, state, local, and tribal homeland security practitioners and officials with global thought leaders on resilience, homeland security, and emergency management for two decades. Ms. Issvoran scours the country ensuring the Center enrolls the very best candidates for its executive and graduate programs. Her responsibilities include contract support for strategic communications, agency outreach, student and alumni relations, recruitment, and public affairs. She supervises and coordinates Center communications on the national level for print, broadcast, and web-based media, working closely with both the Naval Postgraduate School and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security leadership on these endeavors. Ms. Issvoran leads a strategic communications operation and department that shares, shapes, and demonstrates the impact and success stories of CHDS students, faculty, staff and alumni and reaches out to a national audience of academics and practitioners.

In her previous position in contract support for the Center as the Director of Program Operations, Ms. Issvoran enhanced and streamlined program operations while working with government partners to accommodate additional programmatic goals.