Training and Implementation Support
Building the technical capabilities of policymakers and practitioners by providing training and technical assistance in program design and implementation is an important mission of Gryphon Scientific. In fields such as biodefense, which require a high degree of scientific and technical knowledge, training is essential to help build the capacity of state and local decisionmakers to respond appropriately to constantly changing threats.
Training may mean conducting seminars or more interactive workshops, or providing training to trainers who might then become the standard-bearers for ensuring consistency in the implementation of a particular program nationwide. Similarly, implementation support or technical assistance may range from short one-on-one consultation sessions to solve problems in program implementation to more lengthy on-site interventions to help launch particular project components or even whole systems.
Example ProjectsSupporting the Mobile Education Team (MET) Sponsored by the DHS Office of Domestic Preparedness and the Naval Postgraduate School
METs are teams of subject matter experts that travel across the country, educating senior-level officials from state and local government in issues related to homeland security. MET teams provide seminars for state governors and their cabinets, major-city mayors and their staffers, and other organizations of local government officials (such as the Washington DC Council of Governments and the Homeland Security Council). The education is usually provided in the form of a table-top exercise or seminar. Gryphon Scientific supports these teams in several ways. Primarily, we supply a subject matter expert on the topic of biodefense of cities and of agriculture. To date, this subject matter expert has participated in nearly 20 table-top exercises for governors, mayors and other officials and continues to be the go-to expert on these issues for the MET. Additionally, we have provided scenario support, exercise injects and seminar curricula for several of the seminars. For instance, when the seminar focused on a major agricultural incident, we provided a scenario script and outbreak timeline that was used to provide a realistic framework to advance the exercise.