Homeland Defense and Security Education Summit

Feb. 27-28, 2007
George Mason University
Fairfax, Virginia

On February 27 & 28, the George Mason University campus in Fairfax, Virginia, hosted a conference for educators involved in the fields of Homeland Defense and Homeland Security. The Education Summit was organized by the Naval Postgraduate School Center for Homeland Defense and Security, the Homeland Security/Defense Education Consortium, the Department of Homeland Security (Office of Grants and Training, and Office of the Chief Learning Officer), and the Critical Infrastructure Protection (CIP) Program.

The estimated 200 participants represented colleges, universities, military academies, and training programs; Federal, state, and local government and law enforcement offices; and private sector organizations. The  participants gathered to

• Discuss and debate the current state of Homeland Security and Defense Education;
• Provide researchers with an opportunity to present their work in these fields;
• Provide academic institutions the opportunity to share, by academic level (associates, bachelors and graduate) highlights of their programs, issues, and challenges;
• Evaluate current responsiveness to the practitioner communities’ academic requirements;
• Hear the views from top policy authorities on the future direction of Homeland Defense and Security; and
• Discuss research and accreditation issues.

The Education Summit featured several keynote addresses. On the opening day, the keynote speech was presented by Rear Admiral Jay Cohen (Ret.), Undersecretary for Science and Technology at DHS. Cohen discussed the role of education in homeland security and in helping to develop a culture of preparedness. Other DHS personnel spoke about internal DHS programs and opportunities for homeland security training and education.

On the second day, the keynote address was presented by Hon. Peter Verga, Acting Assistant Secretary of Defense for Homeland Defense and Americas’ Security Affairs. Verga discussed the security environment (threats and hazards); the role of the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense; education and training within DoD; the importance of interagency education; educational needs of the future DoD workforce; and a proposal for a National Security Education Consortium.

In addition to the various speeches, the conference also included break-out sessions, workshops, and panels, including one moderated John McCarthy, director of the CIP Program. Throughout the Education Summit, participants shared their opinions regarding the idea of Homeland Security as an educational discipline (and the related cross-disciplinary demands of the subject matter). When asked to identify core competencies of a homeland security professional, the educators included National Security, Infrastructure Protection, Intelligence, and Emergency Management, among others.

The end of the conference featured a keynote address from Rear Admiral Daniel B. Lloyd, Military Liaison to the Secretary, DHS. Lloyd spoke about the need for a common homeland security/defense lexicon among law enforcement and military organizations that provide civilian support functions. Lloyd also discussed the importance of interagency cooperation and the need for common metrics to measure the success of U.S. deterrence, preparedness, response, and recovery activities.

In addition to the substantive debates, one of the conference organizers took the opportunity to announce a change in its organization. The Homeland Security/Defense Education Consortium (HSDEC) announced that it would soon be changing its management structure, to shift from a military-led organization to a nonprofit, civilian-led organization. The new HSDEC structure expects to be fully operational by October of 2007, and its future events include holding meetings to define curricula / core competencies for homeland security and defense educational programs. The HSDEC website will make this information publicly available, and will also provide an opportunity to hold Q&A with various subject matter experts. The HSDEC website is found at http://www.hsdec.org.