IB Consultancy - Experts & Thought Leaders

The event to provide a forum for armed forces, government agencies, civil first responders to discuss crucial challenges of CBRNe threats For the second year in a row IB Consultancy, is calling for papers to be presented during the Non-Conventional Threat (NCT) CBRNe USA 2016 conference. NCT CBRNe USA 2016 will take place in Washington DC, 3 – 5 May 2016, providing a forum for armed forces, government agencies, civil first responders and the industry to discuss crucial challenges of CBRNe threats. NCT Innovation Stream The submissions for the Call for Papers will be part of the Innovation Stream, which is running in parallel with the Conference Stream. Innovative companies, as well as academic/governmental research institutes, think tanks, companies, end-users, are kindly invited to submit abstracts to the NCT Scientific Committee, presenting their latest research results, best practices and/or innovative ideas within the following topics: 1. Countering WMD Proliferation and CBRN Terrorism 2. Next Generation Biodefense Solutions 3. Development of new technologies and products for Decontamination Application Deadlines The deadline for the submission of the abstracts is the 15th of February 2016. Accepted candidates will be asked to send their final Paper by the 3rd of April 2016. The NCT Scientific Committee, chaired by Mr. Guy Roberts, Principal Consultant at IB Consultancy and former Deputy Assistant Secretary General for Weapons of Mass Destruction Policy at NATO, will select proposed presentations based on the following criteria: relevance, novelty, soundness, potential impact and practical interest to the CBRNe community. “We are excited to welcome again the most novel researchers and practitioners to Washington DC to present their ideas and research results in the field of CBRN. The valuable papers presented in our previous edition demonstrated the significant contribution of innovative projects in countering emerging CBRNe threats which was confirmed by the outstanding feedback of attending delegations to last year’s presenters” said Ilja Bonsen, Managing Director of IB Consultancy. The NCT CBRNe USA conference will provide a forum to discuss current and imminent themes in the field of CBRN, focusing on the American perspective on the requirements of international CBRN defense, CBRN operations in a military environment, threat mitigation and decontamination, international threat reduction, critical infrastructure and urban security – challenges for CBRN detection, nuclear and radiation monitoring and surveillance, mass diagnosis and forensics, as well as CBRN preparedness and protection.

NCT CBRNe USA 2015 was this year’s place to be for meeting the country’s leading decision-makers NCT CBRNe USA 2015: Setting a benchmark for high-quality CBRN events of the future Giving an alternative to old-fashioned CBRN forums where stakeholders meet the same people and colleagues over and over again each year, NCT events are renowned for their high quality when it comes to international CBRN forums and to creating an interactive, intercultural CBRN community. However, NCT CBRNe USA 2015, the most recent member of the NCT CBRNe event series organized in cooperation with the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START), established a whole new level of event quality. Taking place at the Sheraton Reston Hotel from April 29 to May 1 in the Washington DC Metropolitan Area and therewith the heart of the United States, NCT CBRNe USA 2015 was this year’s place to be for meeting the country’s leading decision-makers. Including two live demonstrations, workshops with leading CBRN researchers and scientists, as well as an outstandingly high-level conference program, NCT CBRNe USA 2015 attracted the ‘crème de la crème’ of the US CBRN community: from Ambassador Bonnie Jenkins (Department of State) to Brig. Gen. JB Burton (U.S. Army 20th CBRN Command), CDR Franca Jones (Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for CB Defense) and Carmen J. Spencer (JPEO-CBD), the high-level of attendance was unprecedented for a public CBRN event. Interactive training and display of the Fairfax County Hazardous Material Response Team The concept of NCT CBRNe USA 2015 was highly interactive: starting with a display and introduction of one of the country’s most sophisticated local Hazardous Material Response Teams (HMRT), the Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department, delegates were able to touch base with the whole response team. Captain Mark Nash from the Fairfax HMRT gave outstanding insights in their response SOPs and available equipment. He explained their detection and monitoring capabilities, dressing capabilities, sampling, evidence collection and their approaches and equipment for the decontamination of personnel and citizens – for many delegates an outstanding opportunity to get a first-hand overview of the sophisticated capabilities of first responders dealing in first place with a CBRN incident. NCT CBRNe this year had two live demonstrations, workshops with leading CBRN researchers and scientists, as well as an outstandingly high-level conference program The Conference And ‘Innovation Stream’: A Place For Networking Of Outstanding Quality And Diversity The following two-day conference and workshops followed this interactive principle by assembling each single U.S. Department involved in CBRN response and respective homeland security activities (DoD, HHS, DHS, DoS, DoE). They brought with them their expert agencies such as NNSA, EPA, JPEO-CBD, ECBC, DTRA, and FDA. Political leaders such as His Excellency Prof. Dr. Aung Kyaw Myat (Deputy Minister of Science and Technology of Myanmar) and Senator Michael Balboni then lifted the whole event to another level and could be met in person on a coffee throughout the event at the VIP lounge. Topics discussed included the State Department’s international CBRNe threat reduction activities, measures introduced to help mitigate the risk of nuclear terrorism such as NNSA’s Office of Nuclear Smuggling Detection and Deterrence (NSDD), DTRA’s capability development for CBRN defense and the JUPITR ATD Program in Korea. However, stakeholders primarily dealing with CBRN issues are still the nation’s Armed Forces, most of all the U.S. Army’s 20th CBRN Command represented by Brig. Gen. JB Burton. Together with the presentation of CDR Franca Jones (Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for CB Defense) and Lt. Aaron Jozsef (U.S. Coast Guard), his presentation gave an outstanding introduction into CBRN defense approaches as well as the respective transformation of requirements for CBRN defense on the battlefield. Topics discussed included the State Department’s international CBRNe threat reduction activities, measures introduced to help mitigate the risk of nuclear terrorism In addition, representatives of local first responders from Florida, Minnesota, Virginia, Maryland, Washington DC, New Jersey and many others shared their expertise and case-studies either as speakers or attending delegates. This included overviews of the Cities Readiness Initiative (Stephanie Anspaugh-Naples, Florida Department of Health), the role of Public Health Laboratories in CBRN Crisis Management (Maureen Sullivan, Minnesota Department of Health), and CBRN response capabilities on the local level such as in Montgomery County Battalion Chief Christopher Feder (Montgomery HMRT). State of the Art of such civil CBRN response measures available was shown off in an outstanding live-demonstration of the ASPECT Program (Airborne Spectral Photometric Environmental Collection Technology) by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). For 90 minutes, EPA showcased for the first time live the transmission and analysis of data received from their respective aircraft based in Texas and thereby offered attending delegates to sit down with them behind their computer and simulate a live CBRN incident scenario. Political leaders, military experts and local first responders were joined by outstanding researchers in the event’s ‘Innovation Stream’. For these workshops, leading scientists from all over the world were nominated after a call for papers from an official committee including representatives from DoS, HHS, the Homeland Defense and Security Information Analysis Center (HDIAC) and the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START). Within an interactive workshop setting they gave an outstanding overview of how science and research can assist in international CBRN response and risk management. Political leaders, military experts and local first responders were joined by outstanding researchers in the event’s ‘Innovation Stream’ From ISIS use of social media to preparedness for the next infectious disease, scenario-based training or the rapid detection of processed uranium in food, the array of presented studies was big. The line-up of more than 40 speakers in both the conference and the ‘Innovation Stream’ was rounded up by Dr. Ellen Jorgensen from Genspace, a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting citizen science and access to biotechnology. Giving an introduction during the conference of what DiY biohacking can offer, she provided another stand-point of how science now provides potential terrorists with new opportunities, but how it can contribute to better preparedness, public health and response. Establishing Innovation And Quality In Public CBRN Shows: Mission Accomplished! By assembling leading politicians, Armed Forces, civil first responder agencies and diverse researchers in an innovative networking setting, NCT CBRNe USA 2015 accomplished its mission to establish a new kind of events that actually introduces international actors and ground-breaking experts in order to create a larger and interactive CBRN community. Communication is key, which is why the open exchange of expertise within a wide array of qualified and innovative experts, decision-makers and procurement stakeholders is necessary to better fight the threat of CBRN in the future. With its very first edition, NCT CBRNe USA 2015 already has an outstanding track record within the internationally successful NCT events series.

Prominent topics to be discussed will be national and international CBRN threat reduction programs With NCT CBRNe USA 2015, taking place from April 29 to May 1 at the University of Maryland/ Washington D.C., approaching fast, the conference program becomes very concrete and a number of new speakers is confirmed including the following: Speakers: Brig. General James Burton, Commander, US Army 20th CBRNe Command, USA Edward Gabriel, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (PD-ASPR), HHS, USA Dr. Gerald L. Epstein, Deputy Assistant Secretary for CBRN Policy, DoHS, USA Christopher Feder, Battalion Chief, Montgomery County Hazardous Materials Response Team, USA The complete speaker line-up, including further representatives from DoS, DTRA, JPEO-CBD and many more can be found together with the conference program on the website. Participants From Across The World: NCT CBRNe USA 2015 is the 12th edition of the worldwide #1 CBRNe event series and will be organized with START, the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism. The two-day conference – including concurrent innovation streams discussing state of the art approaches and research papers in the field of CBRN – will also include a large exhibition and will welcome delegates from all over the world. Prominent topics to be discussed will be national and international CBRN threat reduction programs, CBRN response SOPs, state of the art projects in biosafety and standardization, risks of CBRN terrorism to densely populated areas and infrastructure, as well as first lessons learned from past incidents including the Ebola Outbreak.