Marion Cain III, Director of DHS Center for Domestic Preparedness and Dr. Martha Lavender, CDP’s Associate Director for Training and Education

DomesticPreparedness Publisher Martin Masiuk met with Marion Cain III, Director of the DHS (Department of Homeland Security) Center for Domestic Preparedness (CDP) and Dr. Martha Lavender, the CDP’s Associate Director for Training and Education.

DomesticPreparedness has divided the 14 minute interview into two segments.

Download full audio interview to your MP3 player.

Listen to Audio Segment One Overview of the CPD

Marion Cain provides background on the CDP, including the structure of es, funding, student eligibility and attendance requirements, and background information on the COBRA live agent training facility.

Duration: 10 Minutes 05 Seconds

Listen to Audio Segment Two Course structure at the CDP

Dr. Martha Lavender discusses courses specific to responder disciplines, including those related to law enforcement, fire/hazmat, and EMS. She also comments on future expansion plans for the training facility.

Duration: 3 Minutes 54 Seconds

Marion Cain was assigned to the Center for Domestic Preparedness on May 24, 1999, and served as Deputy Director until his appointment as Acting Director on August 4, 2003. Appointed Director in June 2004, he is responsible for the day to day operation of the Center, to include management and supervision of six contractors and a staff of more than 670 personnel.

To date, the Center has trained more than 310,000 emergency responders from over 3,500 jurisdictions representing all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the four territories. The Center provides advanced hands-on training in the areas of technical response, hazardous materials technician, and incident command in responding to a terrorist attack using Weapons of Mass Destruction. Select training courses also include an exercise in a chemical warfare agent (VX/GB) environment.

Dr. Martha Griffith Lavender has a strong background in education and training with more than 20 years of experience in higher education and outreach education. She is currently serving as Assistant Director of Training and Education at the Center for Domestic Preparedness (CDP), U. S. Department of Homeland Security in Anniston, Alabama. In this role, Dr. Lavender provides executive oversight and management of the emergency responder training program which includes both resident and non-resident course delivery and the only toxic chemical agent training facility for civilian emergency responders in the nation. Previously, she served as the EAI/SAIC Project Manager for the training contractor at the CDP.