Newswise — Prof. Michael Greenberger, JD, the director of the University of Maryland Center for Health and Homeland Security, (a former assistant US Attorney General) is available to comment on today’s incident. If interview, here is what he would say:

“Since Christmas Day 2009, the U.S. and Western Europe have been inundated with intelligence that these kinds of things will happen. We have been lucky so far, i.e., Times Square bombing headed off before any damage. It was just a matter of time before these kinds of incidents came to fruition. Now we have two challenges; (1) stay calm; (2) for deterrent effect do everything possible to identify the perpetrators; and (3) make sure our intelligence apparatus is at a heightened state of alert. Finally, this proves what many have been saying, Baltimore is so close to the DC governmental center that it and Maryland are a likely target.”

Prof. Greenberger has been interviewed locally and nationally for years on matters related to homeland security.

While in the Justice Department, Prof. Greenberger was responsible for supervising a number of counterterrorism programs. In May 2002, Professor Greenberger became the founding director of the University of Maryland Center for Health and Homeland Security (CHHS), which now has a staff more than 70 professionals working on a broad range of homeland security and emergency response issues for federal, state and local government agencies, as well as medical researchers. More information about CHHS can be found on the Center’s website, www.mdchhs.com. Professor Greenberger also teaches a seminar entitled "Homeland Security and the Law of Counterterrorism" at the School of Law.

Professor Greenberger currently serves as the Chair of the Maryland Governor’s Emergency Management Advisory Council (GEMAC).