The National Center for Biomedical Research and Training was established in 1998 as the Academy of Counter-Terrorist Education. Jennifer Hughes, NCBRT public affairs manager, said the center provides a national training program to prevent and prepare for terrorism and other all-hazard events, including man-made and natural disasters. NCBRT Director Thomas Tucker said priority for training typically goes to the top-61 cities declared by the Department of Homeland Security as the biggest targets for terrorism. Baton Rouge made the list of top five cities most vulnerable to terrorist threats in a study released this month. The study was mainly funded by the DHS. But Tucker said Baton Rouge will not receive any special attention because of the center’s location. “Baton Rouge and Louisiana have the same rules on requesting training,” Tucker said. “We try to make sure that everybody has a reasonable shot at this training.” The director said city and parish police organizations have participated in tactical operations training courses that address technical aspects of planning and implementing law enforcement responses. “Our mission is to train America to be prepared for terrorism and other disasters,” Hughes said. The NCBRT affects University funding. The center contributed 11 percent of total University-sponsored funding through secured agreements, according to its 2007 Annual Report. Hughes said many NCBRT courses relate to planning within a community or getting a whole jurisdiction to work together in an emergency. More than 17,000 students enrolled in NCBRT classes in 2008, including public safety officers, government and community leaders, agricultural industry personnel, emergency planners and responders, healthcare professionals and many others, Hughes said. Each class is designed for particular workforce concentrations. The NCBRT was created in a partnership with the National Domestic Preparedness Consortium and is funded by the DHS. Other members of the consortium include New Mexico Tech’s Energetic Materials Research and Testing Center, Texas A&M’s Engineering Extension Services and National Emergency Response and Rescue Training Center, the Department of Energy’s Nevada test site for counter terrorism operations support and the Center for Domestic Preparedness. The members are funded annually through congressional appropriation, Tucker said. The NCBRT received $21,126,600 in federal funding in 2007. With the influence of the LSU School of Veterinary Medicine, the ACE began to focus on bioterrorism threats until it became the NCBRT in 2002. Tucker said former Vet School deans helped develop biological weapons in military organizations during the Cold War era. These deans affected the creation of bioterrorism, agroterroism and food safety courses for the NCBRT program. The NCBRT also offers programs in community planning and communication, public safety and medical and public health.
Courses range from awareness-level community preparedness to those only for law enforcement officers. In addition to training students, the program also trains instructors to teach the courses. NCBRT courses were offered in 2007 in all but four states: Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota and Nebraska. Tucker said course content is tweaked based on the city where the class is being taught. “There may be a city that has some kind of unique threat of terrorism of its own,” Tucker said. “[Instructors] try to tailor it once they’re on site.” Tucker said the NCBRT recruits instructors from around the nation. “Each of our instructors are clearly an expert in their field,” Tucker said. He said none of the instructors live in Baton Rouge. The average instructor is 52 years old with 22 years of experience. “So when they go into a classroom, they automatically have some credibility,” Tucker said. Tucker said there are typically four to six instructors in a class of about 30. Tucker said the courses train for real life situations. For example, most people who have tried on personal protective gear are not prepared to work in the suit in an emergency situation, he said. “Unless you train in the suit, and you try to use those tactics and techniques in the suit, you don’t understand how limited you’re going to be,” Tucker said. He said protective gear is cumbersome, hot and difficult to maneuver and communicate through. Courses are paid for by NCBRT’s federal grants, Tucker said. He said they are offered at no cost to the students, but employers must cover losses acquired while their workers are in training. Hughes said the NCBRT will offer a campus emergency course this year. It will be available to campus leaders, faculty governance, student governance, campus public safety departments, campus health services and campus public affairs.
—-Contact Emily Holden at [email protected]