Hostile Event Preparedness Education

The Gate 15 Team is a small team with a BIG impact. Our team delivers value to our partners and clients every day in the areas of threat and risk analysis, preparedness activities such as exercises, and operational support.

In the Spring and Fall of 2022, we are delighted to host a series of webinars designed to give participants an understanding of Hostile Events and the Hostile Events Attack Cycle. The series includes our baseline Education on Hostile Event Preparedness (which focuses on the different types of hostile events with an emphasis on active shooter and active shooter preparedness), Fire as a Weapon, and an overview of the Hostile Event Attack Cycle, the process threat actors go through while planning and executing an attack. The sessions complement each other.

Gate 15 provides intelligence and threat information services and products to inform situational awareness, preparedness planning, and to penetrate the decision-making cycle to help inform time-sensitive decisions effecting operations, security, and resources. We also support organizational planning, training, and exercises to include workshops and the full range of discussion-based and operational exercises, developed and executed in a manner consistent with the Homeland Security Exercise and Evaluation Program (HSEEP). For operational support we augment your team with our team whereby you gain the advantage of a Gate 15 teammate supported by our team and collective experience, networks and expertise.

For many years, we delivered, to a myriad of organizations, across multiple sectors and industries, our Hostile Events Preparedness Series (HEPS). HEPS is an acronym for Gate 15’s approach to preparing people and organizations for Hostile Events and stands for our Hostile Events Preparedness Series. HEPS is intended to give organizations a complete preparedness solution to addressing the threat of a hostile event.

• What Are Hostile Events? We use the term “Hostile Event” to encompass a variety of events involving the killing or attempt to kill in public, where actions can be taken to prevent or reduce additional deaths or injuries. This includes active shooter incidents, workplace violence and workplace attacks, lone actor and low-tech terrorism, complex coordinated terrorist attacks, and other related activities.
• What is Preparedness? Preparedness is a deliberate process to ensure organizational readiness to respond to potential incidents. Gate 15 promotes use of the FEMA Preparedness Cycle, a best practice approach to ensuring progressive development and continuous improvement. The Cycle includes the following steps: Plan; Organize & Equip; Train; Exercise; Evaluate & Improve; repeat. When possible, we utilize the Homeland Security Exercise & Evaluation Program (HSEEP) methodology for exercises and our Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) approach to continuous improvement.

The sessions are offered at no cost, and certificates of completion (which can be used to obtain credit) will be issued upon request. We recommend that interested persons sign-up for all three sessions, however, the sessions can also be beneficial as single events.

Spring 2022

During the Hostile Event Preparedness Session, participants will:

• Recognize types of Hostile Events, to better prepare for and react to an event
• Recall event statistics and profiles of perpetrators, to better prepare for and react to an event
• Identify indicators of potential violence, to possibly avert a hostile event from occurring 
• Take proper actions during a hostile event, to increase the chance of survival if an event occurs
• Identify the basics of an Emergency Action Plan (EAP), in order to begin development of an EAP
• Identify the components of Hostile Event training and exercises, in order to develop a training program appropriate for your organization
• Identify resources available, to take the next steps in Hostile Event preparedness

During the Fire as a Weapon Session, participants will:

• Recognize Fire as a Weapon hostile events
• Better prevent, prepare for, and react to an event
• Identify safeguards to prevent Fire as a Weapon attacks
• Identify preparations to mitigate the harm of a Fire as a Weapon attack if it occurs
• Take proper actions during a Fire as a Weapon hostile event, to increase the chance of survival if an event occurs
• Identify resources available, to take the next steps in Fire as a Weapon preparedness

During the Hostile Event Attack Cycle Session, participants will:

• Recognize types of Hostile Events, to better prepare for and react to an event
• Identify indicators of potential violence, to possibly avert a hostile event from occurring
• Identify the phases of a Hostile Event
• Provide mitigation strategies to help in the development of a training program appropriate for your organization

Speaker Information

• Damian Wilk is a Senior Risk Analyst with Gate 15. He is a retired Battalion Fire Chief with the District of Columbia Fire & EMS Department. As an officer in the Fire Department, Damian responded to countless acts of violence. As a chief with Special Operations, he worked closely with local and federal law enforcement. He was trained and equipped to respond to acts of terrorism. Damian supported security teams, bomb squads, and SWAT teams. Since retiring, he has developed and presented training for the US Department of Homeland Security operation centers; training exercises for federal, local, and state bomb squads; and workshops and webinars for Information Sharing and Analysis Centers and Organizations. Damian has a BS from the University of Maryland. He has also completed numerous National Fire Academy, Emergency Management Institute, and Maryland Fire and Rescue Institute courses.
• David Pounder is Gate 15’s Director of Threat and Risk Analysis. He advises on both physical and cyber security issues. Dave spent over 20 years in the Army as an Intelligence and Security Officer, specializing in counter-terrorism, force protection, and counterintelligence efforts as well as serving in the private sector for leading financial institutions responsible for information security and mobile applications. Dave twice served in senior command positions responsible for both counterintelligence operations and investigations. He has briefed Senior Army Leadership on intelligence and security issues and operations to include General David Petraeus and General Martin Dempsey.