AgroterrorismFourth International Symposium on Agroterrorism announced

FBI hazmat team during agroterror drill // Source: wordpress.com

The fourth ISA event is scheduled for 26-28 April 2011, at the Hyatt Regency and Westin Crown Center Hotels in Kansas City, Missouri

The Heart of America Joint Terrorism Task Force (HOA-JTTF) and the Kansas City Division of the FBI have identified the threat of agroterrorism as a major. The two organizations plan to bring together the public and private sectors, including government and law enforcement agencies at the federal, state, and local levels, academia, the scientific community; the health, medical, and veterinary professions and private industry, in an effort to identify the most significant issues relevant to terrorism incidents and threats involving the food and agricultural sectors. To help in this effort, the HOA-JTTF and the FBI have developed the International Symposium on Agroterrorism (ISA).

The inaugural ISA event was held 2-5 May 2005, in Kansas City, Missouri. The event brought together over 800 individuals from all fifty states and eight foreign countries. In addition to subject matter experts, prominent speakers included U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns, U.S. Sen. Pat Roberts, and FBI Director Robert Mueller.

The 2008 ISA event featured a topic related table top exercise that was very well received and which was, according to those participating, successful in both its execution and completion.

Cattle Network reports that the ISA is unique in its structure in that it provides an opportunity for the attendees not only to hear world-renowned experts describing relevant topics of concern, but also to interact one-on-one with industry professionals facing similar issues. The benefit of assembling representatives from such a variety of disciplines under a single roof demonstrates the need to understand the problem and work together to solve and prevent what could be a devastating or catastrophic situation.

The fourth ISA event is scheduled for 26-28 April 2011, at the Hyatt Regency and Westin Crown Center Hotels in Kansas City, Missouri. It will focus on the need closely to communicate and coordinate among private industry, law enforcement, government agencies, science, academia, and the health and medical professions in order to protect the global food supply. Topics to be discussed will include physical security, biosecurity, intelligence and information sharing, economic and trade concerns, and transportation issues.