Fort Drum's antiterrorism program earns top award among Army installations

By Mike StrasserFebruary 11, 2016

Fort Drum's antiterrorism program earns top award among Army installations
Mark Lewis, deputy chief management officer for the Army, presents the award for best antiterrorism program for large installations to John Simard, Fort Drum antiterrorism officer, during an awards ceremony Feb. 2 at the Worldwide Army Antiterrorism ... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL

FORT DRUM, N.Y. -- Fort Drum was recognized for having the Army's best antiterrorism program among large installations at the annual Worldwide Army Antiterrorism Conference in Orlando, Fla.

Mark Lewis, deputy chief management officer for the Army, presented the award to John Simard, Fort Drum's antiterrorism officer, during an awards ceremony Feb. 2. Given by the Office of the Provost Marshal General, the award acknowledges significant achievements in the antiterrorism field and those who work diligently to protect personnel, facilities, units, installations and community members.

Simard accepted the award on behalf of the entire Fort Drum community.

"Everybody is a sensor. Everybody on Fort Drum is part of the antiterrorism program whether they know it or not. So, this is everybody's award," he said.

Simard said that the goal of any AT program is to effectively safeguard the community, and it requires the vigilance of many organizations and units on post to make that happen.

"Our protection program, which includes AT personnel, emergency management and law enforcement, has a goal of keeping Fort Drum safe from that threat that is looking at us outside the gate," Simard said.

Beyond ensuring the security of the Fort Drum community, the program also establishes thorough training and education opportunities so that those who live and work on post have the ability to protect themselves and others in critical situations.

Examples of this includes incorporation of protection awareness in family readiness group discussions and community leaders information forums.

Annual training sessions for the workforce provide information on cyber threats, the iWatch / iSalute program and lessons learned from the Washington Naval Shipyard shooting.

"We conduct AT Level I training for all the folks at Fort Drum. For those people who are traveling overseas, we provide a safety briefing so they know what the threat is in that country," Simard said.

During fiscal year 2015, the Fort Drum AT program refined an active shooter training support package to assist unit and agency AT officers in conducting training and rehearsals within their areas of responsibility.

The Directorate of Emergency Services partnered with medical personnel and community first responders to develop cutting-edge medical triage tactics, techniques and procedures during initial response to an active shooter situation.

Other training events included the hazardous material / mass casualty training exercise in August and four separate active shooter training events across the installation. The full-scale exercise also provided realistic training for Fort Drum personnel, while testing capabilities to coordinate and work with numerous local, county and state agencies.

An assessment from Installation Management Command's antiterrorism program in 2015 noted that Fort Drum had an exceptional emergency management training program and an extremely refined installation physical security inspection program.

The Antiterrorism program added FEMA's integrated public alert and warning system capability to Fort Drum's mass notification infrastructure to increase its ability to rapidly alert the community.

The large installation award is defined as a full-service garrison with a combined military and civilian workforce of more than 20,000. Fort Drum won the award in 2010 and 2012, and Simard was named Best Program Manager in 2007.

"It's nice to receive an award that acknowledges our efforts," Simard said. "Our priority remains the same: keeping Fort Drum safe, and we'll continue to refine and strengthen our practices."