Today the ”International Joint Bio-terrorism Investigations Course” kicked off in #RACVIAC.
This Course has been organized with the support of the Defense Threat Agency (DTRA) from the USA. The Course is being conducted in person from 23 to 27 May 2022.
The primary goal is to provide mid-level officials responsible for deterring, detecting, identifying, and responding to a bioterrorism incident within their country with a broad overview of bioterrorism.
Furthermore, the Course objectives are to develop an appreciation for how partner agencies investigate bioterrorism incidents and the importance of information sharing and advance planning and to develop an understanding of the importance of conducting a joint investigation of bioterrorism incidents.
“I would like to express my appreciation once again to our partner, DTRA, in this activity. I would also like to thank all participants taking part in this Course dedicated to this extremely important and challenging subject matter. I expect you to take an active part and contribute to it to the best of your abilities. I wish you a very fruitful and productive Course”, stated MG (ret.) Jeronim Bazo in his Opening speech.
Mr Keith Falcetti from the US Defence Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA), in his Opening remarks, underlined: “The key thing about this Course, and if you’ve noticed, you are almost all public or law enforcement professionals, is that we in the United States have learned that when there’s a bio-terrorism incident it’s not just a question of the law enforcement investigating that incident and prosecuting a crime – there is a significant public health impact as well. And we’ve learned that if those two groups of individuals work together to investigate the incident or the crime and share the information then there will be a much better outcome not only for the law enforcement but for the public health whose responsibility is protecting your nations’ citizens”.
The Opening session continued with a “tour the table” where the participants had an opportunity to introduce themselves and institutions they represent and express their expectations regarding the Course.
All 5 days will be highly interactive and will include both the theoretical part delivered through presentations and a practical part which will include exercises, panel discussions, and scenarios which are utilized to reinforce the training principles and major topics of the Course.
