The Associated Press
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) -- The new Critical Decision Institute unveils its first computer-simulated training this fall, with top-level managers forced to react to a sudden crisis -- a major accident on a downtown Portland bridge.
The institute, which got $500,000 from Oregon’s share of federal Department of Homeland Security money, is working with two Portland companies to help develop the exercise to prepare law enforcement, elected officials and private-sector managers to respond to crises, including natural disasters, terrorism or other catastrophes.
Within a year, the institute’s goal is to bring eight groups a month to Portland to experience similar two-day training exercises. The institute will first target senior-level managers from the public and private sectors in the West and Pacific Northwest and then expand to communities across the country, with national experts participating in the training.
“CDI is all about testing the mind -- the critical decision-making ability of the individual,” said Greg Hendricks, the institute’s executive director.
The institute, the brainchild of former Portland police Chief Mark Kroeker, was created to fill what its founders consider a void in how public-safety and private-sector managers are trained to respond to major crises. While on-street officers go through continual review training, the managers forced to make crucial decisions under pressure receive fewer lessons, institute developers said.
“This one area has been overlooked,” said Ken Murphy, director of the Oregon Office of Emergency Management. “In that heat of battle and that moment of stress, showing them the kinds of pressures, issues and problems they’ll face, I think, will help them make good, intelligent decisions when they really have to face those conditions.”
The institute has obtained $1.5 million in funds. The $500,000 that Gov. Ted Kulongoski set aside for the institute this year from Oregon’s $34 million share of Department of Homeland Security money will allow the institute to offer its first training this fall.
Kulongoski said he expects the institute to offer an innovative program in homeland security for Oregon and the nation and spur economic activity for the state, said Marian Hammond, a spokeswoman for the governor.
Others on the board include retired U.S. Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Merrill “Tony” McPeak and former U.S. Attorney General Ed Meese.