On Thursday 1 November 2007, the IISS will hold a discussion meeting on the topic of "Atlantic Storm" from 10-11.30am. The speakers are:
Daniel Hamilton (Center for Transatlantic Relations, SAIS Johns Hopkins);
Tara O’Toole (CEO of the Center for Biosecurity of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center);
Tom Inglesby (COO and Deputy Director of the Center for Biosecurity of UPMC); and
Brad Smith (Senior Associate, UPMC).
“Atlantic Storm” was a ministerial-level exercise simulating a series of bioterrorist attacks on the transatlantic community conducted on 14 January 2005. The exercise was designed, organised and convened by a team from the Center for Biosecurity of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (PA, USA), the Center for Transatlantic Relations at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies of Johns Hopkins University (Washington DC, USA), and the Transatlantic Biosecurity Network, a group of medical, public health and security experts from Europe and North America. The group challenged the summit principals, all of whom were current or former senior government officials, to address important strategic issues, such as attaining situational awareness in the wake of a terrorist attack, coping with limited medical resources, deciding how to manage the movement of people across borders, and communicating with their citizens. More background detail on the exercise can be found in the article below.
Subsequent to the main event, the team conducted a similar version of the exercise with 28 Members of Congress. The findings were then assembled and briefings have been conducted for the White House, with Vice President Cheney, and extensively at the State Department, Department of Homeland Security, the Department for Health and Human Services, as well as with other senior officials on both sides of the Atlantic. More information, including the team’s complete biographies can be found at
www.atlanticstorm.org. A previous exercise the group conducted, Dark Winter, played out in a similar format the impact of a covert and widespread smallpox attack on the United States, was conducted before 9/11 and was the subject of 9 different congressional hearings.
The team are eager to provide a briefing of their findings for colleagues in London and to discuss the implications of biosecurity challenges to the United Kingdom, the United States and other allies. They are particularly interested to hear about British approaches to “resilience” and related concepts.
This meeting will take place on the Fourth Floor at Arundel House, 13-15 Arundel Street, Temple Place, London, WC2R 3DX.
Due to restricted space, the event is strictly first-come first-serve. If you would like to attend, please RSVP Raffaello Pantucci on Email:
pantucci@iiss.org or Tel. 020 7395 9128
