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Monterey CA - February 2007

CHDS Sponsors First Annual Education Summit

The Center for Homeland Defense and Security (CHDS), along with The Department of Homeland Security’s Office of The Chief Learning Officer and the Office of Grants and Training, as well as the Critical Infrastructure Protection Program of George Mason University hosted the first Homeland Defense and Security Education Summit at GMU in Fairfax, VA on Feb 27th and 28th. The event was co-sponsored by the Naval Postgraduate School and Homeland Security/Defense Education Consortium.

Over 200 individuals attended the Summit, and more that 125 institutions of higher learning were represented, to include The Ohio State University, Texas A&M University, the University of Denver, the United States Military Academy, the Center for Domestic Preparedness, the FBI, and many others.

The summit was the largest gathering to date of educators and trainers focused primarily on homeland defense and security education, and the first-ever joint effort undertaking by the Department of Defense and the Department of Homeland Security. The primary goals of the event were to relate DHS and DoD homeland security education goals and objectives to academia; to provide researchers an opportunity to present their work; to showcase curriculum and programs; and, perhaps most importantly, to build and strengthen networks of homeland security educators.

A sampling of comments from many attendees indicates the Summit was an unqualified success:

The success has encouraged the sponsors to agree to hosting the Summit annually. They have also begun discussing collective goals for improving cooperation and academic support to homeland security in general. Some of the goals will include ensuring access to critical research questions, offering workshops for commonly taught homeland security topics, and developing a speakers’ program for access to key policymakers in DHS and DoD.

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