Newswise — Nearly two years after 9/11, are American cities better prepared to handle terrorist attacks than they were on September 10, 2001?
At a major national conference on Thursday and Friday, July 17 and 18, in San Francisco, mayors and other government officials, academic experts, and technology leaders from across the country will examine this and many other questions surrounding the state of homeland security during the Mayor's Technology Summit: Homeland Security, Safety and Economic Development. The conference is jointly hosted by San Francisco Mayor Willie L. Brown, Jr., and the Center for Competitive Government at Temple University's Fox School of Business and Management in Philadelphia.
"The City and County of San Francisco are delighted to host the Mayor's Technology Summit," said Mayor Willie Brown. "I am confident that the information shared by some of the nation's top political, academic and technology leaders will result in innovative partnerships that address many of the issues facing our cities today."
A noontime welcoming luncheon and opening session is set for Thursday, July 17, at the Argent Hotel, 50 Third Street.
Fresh on the heels of the highly controversial Council on Foreign Relations' Independent Task Force Report on Emergency Responders asserting that the U.S. is grossly unprepared for another terrorist attack, the Mayors' Summit will explore how public-private partnerships can work effectively to ensure better preparedness.
"Homeland security issues influence everything we do. Our civic leaders, especially in America's major cities, are now faced with the greatest challenge of doing more with less," said M. Moshe Porat, dean of Temple's Fox School. "Through this Summit, our goal is to engage leaders from the public and private sectors and demonstrate, through leading-edge research and best practices, the capabilities of technology as a conduit for coping with these issues."
The Council's report cites the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's severe under-funding of state and local governments' emergency response training systems, which are expected to spend $26 to $76 billion during the next five years. The task force is calling for an additional $98.4 billion, an amount the Department of Homeland Security contends is overstated.
"Effective homeland security is placing substantial cost pressures on local governments at a time when traditional revenue sources are static or shrinking," stated Simon Hakim, director of the Center for Competitive Government at Temple's Fox School. "Technology and innovative management can help mayors provide emergency services more effectively and more efficiently and offer basic solutions to longer-term problems."
The Mayors' Summit will showcase the "best practices" of mayors and technology executives who are pioneering technologically innovative projects. The Summit also will serve as a forum for discussion between the public and private sectors to explore effective cost-saving systems through the implementation of e-government technologies.
Following the opening luncheon on Thursday, the Summit will adjourn to the Marine Corps Memorial, 609 Sutter Street, for a series of interactive presentations on homeland security by leading technology experts from government and the corporate sector, including the Seattle Police Department; U.S. Department of Defense; Battelle, one of the world's largest independent, nonprofit research and development organizations in biological and high-explosive technology; and Cisco Systems, Inc.
That evening, former Secretary of State George P. Shultz will be the featured speaker at an invitation-only reception at Moose's Restaurant from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m.
The Summit continues on Friday, July 18, at the Bechtel Conference Facility, 50 Beale Street, beginning at 8 a.m., with remarks by Lewis W. Loeven, III, CIO and executive director, department of telecommunications and information services, city and county of San Francisco, and Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels. Subsequent sessions include presentations on American cities at the forefront of homeland security, best practices in infrastructure, and technology priorities in economic development.
Mark Forman, administrator, Office of E-Government and Technology, Office of Management and Budget, will be the keynote speaker at the luncheon scheduled for noon at The City Club of San Francisco, 155 Sansome Street, 10th floor.
In the closing session at 5:30 p.m. at the Balcony of the Great Rotunda of City Hall, 1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place, Mayor Brown and Dean Porat will summarize lessons learned from the conference and the next steps to building effective public-private partnerships.
An online version of this release is available through the Office of News and Media Relations website at: http://www.temple.edu/news_media/jc0307_58.html.
Here is the complete summit agenda:
Thursday, July 17:
12:30 - 2:00 p.m. Opening Luncheon and Welcoming Remarks Argent Hotel " Metropolitan Room, 50 3rd Street Simon Hakim, director of Center for Competitive Government M. Moshe Porat, dean, The Fox School of Business and Management Mayor Willie L. Brown, Jr., City of San Francisco
1:45 - 2:15 p.m. Presentations on Homeland SecurityMarines' Memorial Club and Hotel, 609 Sutter Street
Seattle Top Off Exercise Bret Wingstrand, Assistant Police Chief, Seattle Police Department 2:20 - 3:05 p.m. Department of Defense (DOD) Table Top ExercisePeter Verga, Principal Deputy,Assistant Secretary of Defense for Homeland Defense, PDASD (HD) Lt. Gen. Emil "Buck" Bedard, Deputy Chief of Staff,Plans, Policies and Operations, Headquarters, Marine Corps Retired Lt. Col. Randy R. Smith, DOD, USMC, Branch Head, Critical Infrastructure Assurance Branch - Security Division; Plans, Policies and Operations Department, Headquarters,U.S. Marine Corps, and Department of Defense Team
3:05 - 3:15 p.m. Break
3:15 - 4:15 p.m. Battelle Memorial Institute's Homeland Security InitiativesSPEAR (Statewide Program for Emergency Assistance and Response)Program
Retired Gen. Charles Wilhelm, USMC, Vice President and Director for Battelle, Office of Homeland Security
4:20 - 4:50 p.m. Presentation- Real-time Inter-Agency and Inter-Jurisdiction Collaboration: Doing More with LessCharlie Giancarlo, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Cisco Systems, Inc.; President, Cisco-Linksys
6:30 - 7:30 p.m. Reception " Moose's Restaurant, 1625 Stockton Street, Invitation OnlyReflections on Homeland SecurityGeorge P. ShultzFormer Secretary of StateThomas W. and Susan B. Ford Distinguished FellowHoover InstitutionFriday, July 18:
8 - 8:30 a.m. Breakfast - Bechtel Conference Facility, 50 Beale Street " Photo ID mandatory Lewis. W. Loeven, III, CIO and Executive Director, Department of Telecommunications and Information Services, City of San Francisco
Mayor Greg Nickels, Seattle
8:30 - 9:45 a.m. Presentation- Business Continuity, Cyber Terrorism & Homeland SecurityModerator -- Dianah Neff, CIO, City of Philadelphia Curtis Levinson, National Secure Technology and Homeland Security Practice Leader, SBC Communications,
James Sudderth, Project Manager, Counter Terrorism Operations Support,Bechtel Group, Inc.
9:45 " 10 a.m. Break
10 - 11:30 a.m. American Cities on the Forefront of Homeland SecurityIntroduction/Moderator: Mayor Patrick McCrory, Charlotte, North Carolina Charles A. Hansen, Chairman and CEO, Hansen Information Technologies John Abraham, Officer, Safety Coordinator, Seattle Police Department, (Voyager)
Noon - 2 p.m. Lunch " The City Club of San Francisco, 155 Sansome Street, 10th FloorMark Forman, Administrator Office of E-Government and Technology, Office of Management and Budget
2:30 - 5 p.m. Technology Priorities and Economic DevelopmentJohn Antenucci, President and CEO, PlanGraphics Ed Burns, President, State Government Solutions, CIBER, Inc."Integrated Monitoring Security Systems Mayor Jeremy Harris, Honolulu
Manny Menendez, Executive Director, Office of Economic Development, Honolulu
5 - 5:15 p.m. Final Remarks Dr. Simon Hakim Lewis W. Loeven, III
5:30 - 7:30 p.m. Closing Reception and RemarksCity Hall Rotunda Balcony - 1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett PlaceMayor Willie L. Brown, Jr., San FranciscoM. Moshe Porat, Dean, The Fox School of Business and Management, Temple University
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