March 28, 2008, the day we launched the NIMSAT Institute, will forever remain a historic day for several dozen researchers and partners from more than twenty public and private sector organizations from across ten states in the U.S. The Institute has been established with the goal of enhancing the resiliency of the Nation to natural and technological hazards. In working to enhance the coordination of public and private sector, NIMSAT seeks to contribute to the mission of saving human lives, strengthening the private sector supply chains that drive the national economy, and protecting the nation’s critical infrastructure and key resources that support our economy and our way of life. The mission of the NIMSAT Institute is to leverage the expertise of its national-scale partners and advanced supercomputing technologies to pursue an all-hazards approach to homeland security and disaster lifecycle management. We have begun conducting research and assessments of the maritime critical infrastructures along the Gulf of Mexico that are not only of paramount importance to the national energy security and economic vitality, but also are vulnerable to natural, technological and terrorism-related threats.

 

Our strategy is to partner with elected officials and private sector representatives across the nation to communicate this message to appropriate stakeholders. As a first step toward this goal, NIMSAT has partnered with Senator Mary Landrieu and James Lee Witt in hosting the NIMSAT Gulf Coast Conference (www.maritime-conference.com) in New Orleans, April 22-24, 2008.

 

In addition to James Lee Witt, Senator Landrieu, and Jeanne Meserve (CNN’s Homeland Security Expert), a host of notables, including the Governors of Louisiana and Mississippi, the heads of LRA and Mississippi’s recovery efforts, leadership of GOHSEP and Mississippi Emergency Management Agency (MEMA) will participate in the conference. Senior White House and DHS officials in attendance will include: Thomas Bossert, Special Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Senior Director for Preparedness Policy, and Col. Merrick Krause, Director of Infrastructure Analysis and Strategy Division (IASD), Department of Homeland Security. Also in attendance from DHS will be one representative, from each of the three branches within IASD - HITRAC (the DHS Threat-Fusion Center), NISAC (The Federal government’s primary center for homeland security-related modeling, simulation and analysis), and the R&D Branch, which represents the 17 CIKR Sectors’ R&D interests before the DHS Science & Technology Directorate. In addition, the conference will include private sector CXOs from Wal-Mart, CISCO, energy and utility industries, Gulf of Mexico port directors, and non-profit agencies including The Red Cross, United Way of America and the internationally renowned Fritz Institute.

 

It is expected that several hundred attendees will attend what will be the first Gulf South conference focused on the issues of critical infrastructure risk, protection and resiliency. We look forward to seeing you in New Orleans, and to your participation with the NIMSAT Institute.

 

Best Regards,

 

Ramesh Kolluru, Ph.D.

Executive Director