The Annual CHAMPIONS edition includes a review of the ‘ASTORS’ Award Winning products and programs, highlighting key details on many of the winning firms products and services, includes video interviews and more.

It will be your Go-To source throughout the year for ‘The Best of 2020 Products and Services‘ endorsed by American Security Today, and can satisfy your agency’s and organization’s most pressing Homeland Security and Public Safety needs.

From Physical Security (Access Control, Critical Infrastructure, Perimeter Protection and Video Surveillance Cameras and Video Management Systems), to IT Security (Cybersecurity, Encryption, Data Storage, Anti-Malware and Networking Security – Just to name a few), the 2020 ‘ASTORS’ CHAMPIONS EDITION will have what you need to Detect, Delay, Respond to, and Mitgate today’s real-time threats in our constantly evolving security landscape.

It also includes featured guest editorial pieces from some of the security industry’s most respected leaders, and recognized firms in the 2020 ‘ASTORS’ Awards Program.

2020 ‘ASTORS’ Excellence & Government Award Recipients Also Include:

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

Excellence in Homeland Security

• • COVID-19 Efforts to Safeguard Law Enforcement & EMS

• The CDC has provided Law enforcement and EMS who must make contact with individuals confirmed or suspected to have COVID-19 with guidance to help safeguard their health while performing their duties.

• Different styles of PPE may be necessary to perform operational duties. These alternative styles (i.e. coveralls) must provide protection that is at least as great as that provided by the minimum amount of PPE recommended.

• Law enforcement who must make contact with individuals confirmed or suspected to have COVID-19 should follow CDC’s Interim Guidance for EMS. 

• To Learn More, please visit the CDC’s answers to frequently asked questions about law enforcement and COVID-19 by clicking this link.

U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS)

Excellence in Homeland Security

• • DHS Blue Campaign

• The Blue Campaign is a national public awareness campaign, designed to educate the public, law enforcement and other industry partners to recognize the indicators of human trafficking, and how to appropriately respond to possible cases.

• Blue Campaign works closely with DHS Components to create general awareness training and materials for law enforcement and others to increase detection of human trafficking, and to identify victims.

• Located within the Office of Partnership and Engagement, the Blue Campaign leverages partnerships with the private sector, Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO), law enforcement and state/local authorities to maximize national public engagement on anti-human trafficking efforts.

• Blue Campaign’s educational awareness objectives consists of two foundational elements, prevention of human trafficking and protection of exploited persons.

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology (S&T) Directorate

Excellence in Homeland Security

• • DHS S&T COVID-19 Response

• The COVID-19 pandemic is a global threat with life and death consequences, the enormity of which many of us have never seen before.

• It is also a scientific challenge in need of innovative solutions and S&T is using every tool at its disposal to join the fight; including harnessing the knowledge of it’s experts on technology deployments, international collaboration, scientific breakthroughs, and support for America’s frontline workers.

• S&T has focused its efforts on laboratory research and providing valuable resources to inform the broader response community and help keep front line responders safe.

• Highlights of S&T’s response efforts can be found in our Battling the Invisible Enemy report. 

DHS S&T Chemical Security Analysis Center (CSAC)

Excellence in Homeland Security

• • Chemical Security Analysis Center Chemical Agents Reactions Database (CARD)

• CARD, a chemical synthesis and chemical informatics centric data system (e.g. boiling point, melting point, toxicity, or spectroscopic information) containing both unclassified and classified data, is accessible from a classified website maintained on a server hosted by the Department of Defense.

• The website is available to appropriately cleared personnel from DHS, Department of Justice (e.g. FBI), other United States Government interagency offices, and state and local agencies, and provides information on how chemicals of interest could be produced.

• There is a detailed description of how each chemical is prepared to include information relevant to each step, the reagents and reactants that are needed and the conditions necessary for the reactions to take place, such as time, temperature, mixing—like a recipe.

• If law enforcement were to discover a table full of labeled chemicals in a clandestine laboratory, they would put these names as a list in CARD to find out what the suspects are making – illicit drugs, poisons, or warfare agents. 

• CARD can be used the other way around. If police find an illicit drug or a warfare agent, they can search in the website to see what chemicals can be used to make it.

• For example, if police capture a suspect with a vial of sarin gas (a nerve agent that can kill in minutes after inhalation), they can use CARD to determine which chemicals are used to make it. Police can then search the suspect’s illicit lab for those chemicals and obtain further evidence of wrongdoing. 

Federal Protective Service in Collaboration with the Argonne National Laboratory

Best Risk, Crisis Management Solution

• • Modified Infrastructure Survey Tool (MIST) – COVID-19 Telematics Capabilities

• DHS’s Federal Protective Service (FPS) provides integrated security and law enforcement services–including conducting security assessments and detecting and mitigating threats–to over 9,500 federal facilities. To accomplish this mission, FPS leverages the Modified Infrastructure Survey Tool (MIST), a joint solution developed in partnership with Argonne National Laboratory.

• Argonne and FPS have continuously sought ways to improve the tool’s ability to assess, detect, and mitigating threats, and this year, no threat was more pervasive in this country than COVID-19.

• To confront the threat that COVID-19 posed to the FPS workforce, MIST was enhanced to allow FPS Headquarters and FPS Management to track and display each federal building affected by COVID-19, and to analyze local hospitals and EMS facilities in relation to federal buildings and office locations.

• Additionally, the map capability within MIST was expanded to allow for many additional layers, allowed FPS a granular understanding of the number of facilities impacted by the virus, and much more. 

• Ultimately, the new COVID-19 telematics capabilities offered FPS decision makers the ability to make better informed decisions on moving personnel and security equipment to best protect people and property, while ensuring safety of their staff. 

DHS S&T National Urban Security Technology Laboratory (NUSTL)

Excellence in Public Safety

• • Hoist Rescue Gloves for Aerial Rescue

• Rescue helicopter hoist operators need gloves to protect the hand that guides the hoist cable during rescue descents and ascents, using a significant amount of force to mitigate the cable swinging for situations from hurricane evacuations and dive rescues to rescuing stranded hikers on a mountain side, missions vary and no two are ever alike.

• A partnership between S&T and Higher Dimension Materials, Inc. (HDM) resulted in an enhanced rescue hoist glove with increased flexibility, durability, and dexterity.

• The glove design uses cushioning materials offering protection to the thumb crotch (purlicue) area, the index and little finger, and a leather guard to alleviate inconsistent glove performance when wet,” said Jones-Holt.

(See the enhanced Hoist Rescue Glove in action. Courtesy of DHS Science and Technology Directorate and YouTube.)

New York City Emergency Management

Excellence in Homeland Security

• • New York City Emergency Management (NYCEM), under the guidance of Commissioner commissioner of NYCEM is Deanne Criswell, a former FEMA official and head of OEM for the city of Aurora, CO, is responsible for oversight and development of the city’s emergency management plans.

  • NYCEM regularly tests plans by conducting drills and exercises, and responds to emergencies to ensure that other agencies not only follow these plans, but to foster communication amongst the responding agencies.

• • NYCEM also operates the city’s Emergency Operations Center (EOC) where city, state and federal agencies join representatives from the private and nonprofit sectors to coordinate complex responses to emergencies and disasters.

  • The agency also developed and runs the Notify NYC emergency alert program, by which citizens can sign up to receive phone and email alerts about emergencies and events happening in their neighborhoods.

  • NYCEM is also the administrator of New York City’s community emergency response teams. Each community emergency response team (CERT) is coterminous with one or more New York community boards.

  • The agency also maintains the Citywide Incident Management System which is based on the National Incident Management System.

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology (S&T) Directorate

Excellence in Homeland Security

• • Slash CameraPole

• The Slash CameraPole is a self-triggering platform with wireless data retrieval to detect and give warning of suspicious activities at the U.S.-Canada border, specifically a cleared stretch of land at the border that is approximately 20-feet wide, 1,349 miles long, and is referred to as the “Slash.”

• This man-made, treeless zone is mandated by the International Boundary Commission and presents a formidable surveillance challenge, against such threats as illegal crossings, drug and illegal contraband smuggling and human trafficking.

• Using the Slash CameraPole system, Border Patrol has been able to establish an advanced border surveillance capability where none existed before. 

• Partnering with MIT Lincoln Laboratory and several private companies to create the Slash CameraPole with numerous ingenious features, such as s olar panels and a back-up fuel cell system make it independent of the power grid, multiple infrared cameras (two long-range, one foreground, and one base imager with a fisheye lens) mean it doesn’t miss a thing.

• An in-ground cement foundation and electrical enclosure ensures it can withstand brutal winter conditions. Should its unobtrusive appearance manage to draw the attention of would-be vandals, the Slash CameraPole is resistant to small arms fire and other tampering.

• The Slash CameraPole also employs advanced motion detection algorithms and automated alerts designed to improve classification of targets and lower the chance of false alarms from factors such as wild animals or vegetation moving in the wind. 

• *DHS S&T Programs have now been recognized in their Fifth Annual ‘ASTORS’ Awards Program.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)

Excellence in Homeland Security

• • Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO)

• ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) is charged with enforcing the nation’s immigration laws in a fair and effective manner.

• ERO identifies and apprehends removable aliens, detains these individuals when necessary and removes illegal aliens from the United States.

• ERO transports removable aliens from point to point, manages aliens in custody or in an alternative to detention program, provides access to legal resources and representatives of advocacy groups and removes individuals from the United States who have been ordered to be deported.

• ERO’s mission is to protect the homeland through the arrest and removal of aliens who undermine the safety of our communities and the integrity of our immigration laws.

Department of Justice (DOJ) Office of Personnel Management (OPM)

Best Federal Government Security Program

• • Federal Risk Management Process Training Program

• The Federal Risk Management Process Training Program (FedRMPTP), Newly available Online – is Interagency Security Committee certified for Facility Security Officials, Federal Security Supervisors and those involved with Federal facility acquisition, construction, and renovation projects.

• On October 19, 1995, six months after the Oklahoma City bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, President Clinton issued Executive Order 12977, creating the Interagency Security Committee (ISC) to address continuing government-wide security for federal facilities.

• Prior to 1995, minimum physical security standards for non-military federally owned or leased facilities.

John Verrico

Excellence in Homeland Security

• • Chief of Media and Community Relations, DHS Science & Technology Directorate

• John Verrico, who is also the former President of the National Association of Government Communicators, has nearly 40 years of experience as a public affairs professional in federal and state government agencies, working extensively in media, community and employee relations, with significant emphasis in science, engineering and the security fields.

• A retired Navy Master Chief Journalist, John’s career has been focused on helping government agencies tell their stories and share important news with the public. He takes special care to ensure government information is accessible and that complex issues are easily understood.

• John has also worked as a freelance journalist, stand-up comic, and motivational speaker, among other fields where he learned not to take life too seriously and to experience everything life has to offer.

• As an under-sized youth and victim of bullies, John found hope in classic monster movies and ‘B’ flicks where he learned that the little guy could win. Drawing from these lessons, John helps every day unsung heroes get recognition for their work.

• As an international speaker and leadership coach, John helps people keep their motivational torches lit so they can face their own ‘monsters.’

Kathleen Kiernan, Ed. D

Excellence in Homeland Security

• • Kiernan Group Holdings CEO

• Dr. Kathleen Kiernan is the Founder and CEO of national security, education, risk management and compliance firm Kiernan Group Holdings, Chair Emeritus of InfraGard National Members Alliance, and adjunct faculty member at Johns Hopkins University and Naval Post Graduate School.

• Preparedness without Paranoia® the experience-based training in awareness, preparedness, response and recovery training for active assailant and workplace violence prevention is delivered on a learning management system.

• GOT Preparedness® (Got Online Training), was built specifically for dispersed and remote workforces and we have trained thousands of individuals domestically and internationally. 

• She has delivered operational and educational capabilities across the globe and developed a methodological based approach to the resiliency cycle at an individual and organizational level.

Joseph Pangaro

Excellence in Public Safety

• • CEO at True Security Design

• As the owner and CEO of Pangaro Training and Management, Joseph Pangaro, concentrates on providing the best and most up to date training programs for the Law Enforcement, School and Business communities.

• True Security Design (TSD) law enforcement training programs are centered around supporting today’s modern professionals’ by teaching them vital skills through courses designed to engage and empower its participants.

• A 27-year veteran police lieutenant and experienced school security director, Lt. Pangaro is uniquely qualified to provide law enforcement training programs that are centered around supporting today’s modern professionals’ by teaching them vital skills through courses designed to engage and empower its participants.

• Pangaro Training also teaches in police academies and police agencies throughout New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania.

New Jersey City University

Excellence in Public

• • NJCU Cyber Defense, National security and intelligence Programs

• NJCU is one of the few programs nationally in higher education designated an Intelligence Community Center of Academic Excellence (CAE) per the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) and a Cyber Defense CAE per the National Security Agency.

• The Department of Professional Security Studies focuses on a student–centered, scholar-practitioner approach to education.

• It’s mission is to facilitate access, create opportunities and provide a supportive environment for achieving academic success through learning and appreciation of subject matter, professional and personal growth and the development of identified and marketable global and disciplinary competencies.

• The New Jersey City University (NJCU) Cybersecurity program is an interdisciplinary center for cybersecurity education, training and research, which aims to provide current and future professionals with the knowledge and skills necessary to strive and compete within the cyber security community outreach.

• NJCU students’ foundation is built through their degree program, certificates and research opportunities. U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary

Excellence in Public Safety

• • Boating Safety Courses and Volunteer Initiatives

• U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary (CGAUX) boating courses provide instruction to boaters at all levels, from the fundamental to the advanced.

• The agency’s courses (virtual and classroom) are taught by experienced and knowledgeable CGAUX instructors committed to the highest standards of the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary.

• They are offered in two modalities: virtual, video conference with CGAUX Virtual PE Instructors, and classroom setting with CGAUX PE Instructors.

• For a complete list of 2020 ‘ASTORS’ Award Winners, click here.