State's homeland security strategy focus of town hall meeting
Thursday in Springfield
Send a link to a friend
[January 31, 2012]
SPRINGFIELD
-- Representatives from first responder agencies, the
education community, private businesses, the public, and other
groups and organizations in central Illinois will provide input into
development of the state's new homeland security strategy during a
town hall meeting Thursday in Springfield. The meeting is the fourth
of eight meetings being held around the state over the next several
months.
|
The town hall meetings are part of the Illinois Emergency Management
Agency's "Illinois Homeland Security Vision 2020," a statewide,
grass-roots initiative to engage Illinois' residents and
organizations in the revision of the state's strategy for dealing
with current and emerging threats and risks, as well as response to
disasters. Input from the series of town hall meetings will be
consolidated and presented in a final summit in Springfield in
September. "The face of homeland security has changed since 9/11,
and our strategy for ensuring the safety of people in Illinois must
evolve to adequately address those changes," said IEMA Director
Jonathon Monken. "We need to engage the whole community, including
the public and private sectors as well as individual citizens, to
craft a policy that will carry us through 2020 and beyond."
Vision 2020 is similar to the process Illinois undertook in 2001,
shortly after the terrorist attacks of 9/11. That process resulted
in the development of a statewide homeland security program that is
recognized as one of the best in the nation.
[to top of second column] |
Thursday's town hall meeting will be from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at
the State Emergency Operations Center, 2200 S. Dirksen Parkway.
Anyone interested in participating is encouraged to register at
http://cpsj.uis.edu/ or by
calling toll-free 877-864-7427.
The next town hall meeting is scheduled for March 26 in
Carterville. Dates and times for the remaining three town hall
meetings will be announced in the near future.
[Text from
Illinois
Emergency Management Agency
file received from the
Illinois Office of
Communication and Information]
|