The National Fusion Center Association (NFCA), in association with the Center for Homeland Defense and Security, will present an Education Symposium for fusion center personnel. This course will examine key questions and issues facing fusion center leaders/analysts and their role in homeland security, public safety, and the Information Sharing Environment (ISE). The course will be shaped to enhance critical thinking related to homeland security and public safety intelligence issues at the federal, state, territorial, tribal, and local levels of government and in the private sector.

The NFCA Education Symposium is a five-day program to be held on June 14-18, 2021, and August 23-27, 2021 via Zoom. Symposium members will be selected to ensure a well-balanced mix of fusion centers, organizational roles, professions, and ideas about the future of fusion centers. Each applicant will provide a brief essay that describes 1) their vision for the future of fusion centers and 2) how they expect the NFCA Education Symposium to achieve that vision. Essays should not exceed 250 words. 

To submit your application, please click here.

The application deadline is August 16, 2021. We will email you with an update on the status of your application following the closure of applications. 

PROGRAM DETAILS:

NCFA Education Symposium

August 23-27, 2021

8:00a – 12:00p PST / 11:00a – 3:00p EST*

(*ending at 12:30p PST / 3:30p EST on Fridays)

Guest speakers have prepared lectures for students to watch before the Symposium. 

The Symposium provides students the opportunity to ask any questions that they have developed while watching the presentations. Presenters with watch-ahead lectures will use their allotted hour as a Q&A session. The Symposium will be more productive if students watch the provided videos and read the speaker biographies. 

Several guest speakers have suggested a small number of articles and books they may reference during the Symposium. Recognizing students’ time demands, we do not expect students to review all materials before the Symposium. Instead, students can read the articles and books following the Symposium if they wish to further their thinking on the week’s issues. Students will receive access to all of the lectures and related readings two weeks prior to the session’s start date.

We’ve noticed that having Symposium participants’ video on encourages engagement and allows for a better classroom experience. We ask that all students keep their video cameras on throughout the week. 

We recommend downloading the Zoom application before the Symposium. We have noted a significantly lower number of audio and video glitches on the Zoom application versus Zoom through a browser (e.g., Chrome, Internet Explorer, Safari).  This link lists the current installers for the Zoom application and various plugins. If you have already downloaded the Zoom app, please ensure that you have the most recent version installed. For instructions on viewing the Zoom version number and downloading the latest version of Zoom, visit this Zoom Help Center page. 

We recommend business casual attire.  

Please email any questions to chds-eep@nps.edu.