COD Homeland Security Training Institute to offer 'soft target' program

Marketwired

GLEN ELLYN - The College of DuPage Homeland Security Training Institute will offer for the first time a free on-site and streamed program focusing on protection from terrorism for "soft targets," including schools, sports arenas, shopping malls, amusement parks, movie theaters and other locations that attract large groups of citizens on a regular basis.

The program, paid for by a grant from Motorola Solutions, will take place from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. March 22 at the COD Homeland Security Education Center and will also be streamed via Eventbrite. There are seats for approximately 150 participants at the live event on COD's main campus in Glen Ellyn. "Since the events of Sept. 11, 2001, great efforts have been made to fortify hard targets in the U.S., such as government facilities, military installations and transportation systems," said HSTI Director Tom Brady. "This course is an outstanding opportunity for business owners, local and first responder units, and school administrators to learn how to keep their properties safe from terrorist groups who have demonstrated a complete lack of disregard for human life."

The one-day session will be taught by course instructors and anti-terrorism experts Mike Fagel and Jennifer Hesterman. An HSTI instructor at COD since 2014, Fagel's background includes law enforcement, fire rescue, emergency medical services and emergency management. He has also served the U.S. Department of Defense in a variety of capacities, including the construction of a FEMA organization from the ground up in the Middle East.

Hesterman (Colonel, U. S. Air Force, retired) is an academic author, instructor and counterterrorism expert specializing in domestic terror, transnational crime and the exploitation of the Internet by terrorists and criminals to obtain financing, recruit and conduct clandestine communications. Hesterman, who resides in the Middle East, is listed as one of only a handful of experts in the world on the terror-crime nexus.

To register or for more information, call (630) 942-3427. or visit www.cod.edu/hsti.