Posted by Public Affairs
Secretary Napolitano just concluded a trip to Alabama, Arkansas and Georgia.
On Monday she visited Anniston, Ala. where she joined Congressman Mike Rogers at the FEMA Center for Domestic Preparedness (CDP) to tour operations and watch a Vapor Wake demonstration at Auburn University’s Canine Detection Training Center.
CDP provides advanced training for emergency responders and other state, local and tribal government officials. It is the only facility where civilian responders can train using actual nerve agents and the nation’s only hospital training facility dedicated solely to preparing the healthcare, public health, and environmental health communities for mass casualty events related to terrorism or natural disasters.
Auburn University’s Canine Detection Training Center is a training facility for bomb detection canines used by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and has trained a select number of canine teams in the Vapor Wake technique. The TSA National Explosive Detection Canine Team Program has grown from 200 teams in 2001 to over 800 teams in 2011.
The Secretary then traveled to Little Rock, Ark. to deliver remarks at the Clinton Center, home to the University of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service, as part of the Frank and Kula Kumpuris Distinguished Lecture Series—highlighting the importance of public service as we approach the tenth anniversary of 9/11. You can watch video of her remarks on the Clinton School website.
On Tuesday, the Secretary traveled to Glynco, Ga. and joined TSA Administrator John Pistole, and Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC) Director Connie Patrick for a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the new FLETC Intermodal Training Facility.
The first of its kind in the nation FLETC Intermodal Training Facility proactively addresses threats to homeland security by providing training in a hands-on, state-of-the-art environment to federal, state and local law enforcement. The facility includes an airport terminal and gate area, security checkpoints, a baggage claim, rental car area, a jet bridge to a life-size 727 aircraft, as well as a bus terminal, railway station, and subway station.
The FLETC Intermodal Training Facility will provide frontline law enforcement personnel at the Department of Homeland Security—as well as the 90 federal agencies that FLETC serves—with a realistic set of scenarios to help combat threats to various transportation modes.