2/25/05 Contact: Mitch Emmons, 334/844-5964 (emmonmb@auburn.edu)
David Granger, 334/844-9999 (grangdm@auburn.edu)

AU TO PARTICIPATE IN STATE’S HOMELAND DEFENSE TRAINING

AUBURN – Auburn University will participate in a $1.1 million contract from the state of Alabama to provide homeland defense training to emergency responders and other agencies.

Auburn’s participation will be through its license to use the Joint Conflict and Tactical Simulation (JCATS) software. Developed by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, JCATS is the mainstay simulation program used in the U.S. Government’s homeland security training. Until recently, JCATS has only been available to the U.S. military, the Secret Service and the Department of Energy, according to Paul Waggoner, director of AU’s Canine and Detection Research Institute (CDRI). The CDRI provides first responder training through its facilities in Anniston to a variety of law enforcement and government agencies.

AU presently is the only university licensed to use JCATS, said Patrick Aguillard, vice president of operations for the east Alabama-based firm Emergency Response Training Inc. (ERTS).

“Auburn, in collaboration with ERTS, was the first to modify and employ JCATS for civilian homeland security-related command and control training,” Aguillard said.

Through the contract with the state of Alabama, AU and ERTS will assist the Alabama Emergency Management Agency in developing and implementing a series of functional, full-scale simulation and discussion-based training exercises. The focus will be on response to and recovery from events involving weapons of mass destruction, Aguillard added.

The training will be conducted through several regional exercises, according to Aguillard. Auburn is serving as a sub-contractor in this effort being led by IEM Inc., a Baton Rouge, La.-based homeland security and emergency consulting firm with offices in Washington, D.C., Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., Salt Lake City, Bel Air, Md., Atlanta and Anniston.

IEM announced receipt of the Alabama contract on Feb. 16.

Auburn University is a pre-eminent land-grant and comprehensive research institution with nearly 23,000 students and 6,500 faculty and staff. Ranked among the top 50 public universities nationally, Auburn is Alabama’s largest educational institution, offering more than 230 undergraduate, graduate and doctoral degree programs.

(Contributed by Mitch Emmons.)

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