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AOAC’s Threat Detection Technologies Town Hall Meeting Called “Monumental” More than 140 people from across the nation attended AOAC’s first Threat Detection Technologies Town Hall Meeting held on September 12 in Rockville, Maryland, USA. In attendance were representatives from DHS, CDC, DOD, FBI, USDA, FEMA, EPA, TSA, USPS, the United States Senate, and the White House. First responders from New York City, Boston, Chicago, Washington, DC, Colorado, Michigan, Virginia, and Maryland participated in the meeting. Test kit manufacturers were represented by Applied Biosystems and 20 other organizations. Representatives from food, water, and transportation organizations, and public health officials were also in attendance. Summing up the enthusiasm of the meeting, Frank Docimo, HazMat Officer for the Turn of River Fire Department in Stamford, Connecticut, USA, declared it “monumental.” The meeting, sponsored by the Department of Homeland Security, Science & Technology Directorate, was designed to provide a forum to give a collective and powerful voice for those directly involved in threat detection technologies on a strategy that will help DHS drive the future direction of the program. The meeting was moderated by David Ladd, Director, Hazardous Materials Emergency Response for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Department of Fire Services. Attendees voted on five articles of warrant, which will be included as part of a white paper proposing recommendations to guide DHS as it develops standards for chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and explosives (CBRNE) detection technologies. Examining each article of warrant, meeting attendees agreed by majority vote that DHS, in cooperation with other agencies, standardization organizations, and industry, should (1) expand its effort to coordinate the development of standards for CBRNE detection technologies and devices; (2) develop a program to qualify detection technologies and devices by an independent third party; (3) lead the development of guidelines and standards that lead to the implementation of training, proficiency testing, and certification of the operator in the use of qualified detection technologies; (4) lead the development of guidelines for the appropriate use and operation of qualified detection technologies, as well as interpretation and response by end-users; and (5) develop strategic guidance on standards for CBRNE detector technologies for use by relevant critical infrastructure sectors, key resources, and others. AOAC will develop a white paper, to be submitted to DHS S&T for review, based on the outcome of the town hall meeting in an effort to shape the future of the program to build an enduring national capacity for the development, evaluation, validation, and deployment of threat agent detection technologies. Full coverage of AOAC’s Threat Detection Technologies Town Hall Meeting is scheduled for the November/December issue of Inside Laboratory Management.
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