Twenty-four homeland security professionals graduated from the Center for Homeland Defense and Security Emergence Program on Aug. 21, completing cohort 2502.
Representing agencies and disciplines from across the homeland security enterprise, the graduates came to CHDS to explore emerging threats, strengthen their leadership skills and learn alongside professionals working beyond their usual fields.
That exchange of perspectives is central to the Emergence experience. Through classroom discussions, collaborative work and personal reflection, participants examine complex homeland security challenges while building relationships that extend across agencies and jurisdictions.
For Tiffany Armstrong, an Emergency Planning Specialist with the District of Columbia Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency, the experience also created space to recognize the value of her own work.
“It made me do a lot of self-reflection,” Armstrong said. “It helped me become more comfortable being uncomfortable, and encouraged me to be the change that I want to see.”
Participants put that growth into practice through the program’s principal deliverable: the Change Initiative. Each student identifies a challenge within their organization and develops a practical approach to addressing it. The projects allow students to apply what they learn at CHDS while producing work that can benefit their agencies and communities.
Armstrong’s initiative addresses continuity during a major disruption. She developed a devolution plan designed to help her agency maintain essential operations if its primary location or personnel become unavailable.
The plan includes a designated “go team” and increased cross-training so employees understand what to do, when to do it and how to do it during a crisis.
Armstrong, who also serves as the agency’s continuity of operations manager, said the initiative responds to an immediate need. Most employees work from the same location in a busy urban area. If that site becomes unusable, the agency must still be able to fulfill its role as the “heartbeat of the city.”
Christopher Faidley, a Special Agent with the FBI’s San Antonio Division, came to Emergence to examine developing homeland and national security threats and work with professionals outside the FBI.
“Emergence provided a huge opportunity to work with people who have expertise in different areas of national security,” Faidley said. “All these different agencies bring something to the table, and it’s going to take future leaders to learn how to meld those together to address complex problems.”
That interagency perspective was among his most important takeaways from CHDS. Faidley said emerging threats will require agencies to combine their capabilities rather than work independently.
“A program like this allows you not only to network with people within different agencies, but also to get your mind thinking about creative ways to address problems or future problems,” he said.
Faidley’s Change Initiative proposes a weeklong orientation for new special agents, intelligence analysts and task force officers assigned to the San Antonio Division. The program would introduce employees to how the division assesses and investigates crime and national security threats, helping bridge the gap between centralized training at Quantico and daily work in San Antonio.
Armstrong, Faidley and the entire Emergence 2502 Cohort are now equipped and ready to lead change across disciplines, agencies and their communities.
Emergence 2502 participants:
- Elizabeth Adams, Senior Emergency Response Specialist, MDERS – Ridgely, MD
- Steven Alvarez, Sr. Security Specialist, The Walt Disney Company – Mission Viejo, CA
- Tiffany Armstrong, Emergency Planning Specialist, DC Homeland Security Emergency Management Agency – Oxon Hill, MD
- Samuel Arsenault, Emergency Coordinator, Health and Human Services/Food and Drug Administration – Boston, MA
- Derek Baker, Fire Captain, City of St. Paul Fire Department – St. Paul, MN
- Bridgette Baldwin, Assistant Emergency Management Chief, U.S. Coast Guard – Buffalo, NY
- Paul Brown, Special Agent, United States Secret Service – Alexandria, VA
- Christopher Faidley, Special Agent, FBI – Austin
- Taylor Fuqua, Public Information Officer, City of Richmond – Richmond, VA
- Karen Haro, Emergency Management Coordinator, Los Angeles County Office of Emergency – Los Angeles, CA
- Rachel Jimenez – Program Analyst, FEMA – Washington, DC
- Cynthia Loya, Border Patrol Agent, DHS/CBP – Heber, CA
- Thomas Miller, Firefighter, FDNY – New York, NY
- Christopher Murphy, Detective, Metropolitan Transportation Authority Police Department – Levittown, NY
- Matthew Parsels, Captain/Paramedic, Canyon County Paramedics – Boise, ID
- Ramer Pelayo, Special Agent, FBI – Los Angeles, CA
- Jon Rinesmith, Deputy Chief, Schriever Fire & Emergency Services – Colorado Springs, CO
- Jake Santarelli, Patrolman, Hamilton Police – Massachusetts – Hamilton, MA
- Derrick Schmier, Lieutenant, California Highway Patrol – Grass Valley, CA
- Aubree Sepler, Intergovernmental Affairs Specialist, FEMA – Washington, DC
- Jacob Sullivan, Paramedic (Per Diem), Billings Fire Department – Billings, MT
- Marcos Valerio, Emergency Manager / Project Manager, Dewberry Engineering Inc. – Miami, FL
- Natasha Wethal, Supervisory Transportation Security Officer, Transportation Security Administration – Milwaukee, WI
- Yulia Yakovleva, Detective, NYPD – New York City, NY
