Brian Harrison
Dr.
Harrison was born in Victoria, British Columbia and educated in the UK. He
conducted research on the surface chemistry of carbons and was an Associate
Professor of Chemistry at the Royal Military College of Canada (RMC) from 1969 –
1979. In 1979 he moved to the Defense Research Establishment Ottawa, where he
conducted R & D on Chemical and Biological (CB) Warfare Protective Equipment.
He was promoted from the Head of the Materials Chemistry Group to the Head of
the Materials Section, the Materials and Engineering Sections, the Chemical
Protection Section and finally to Director of the Protective Sciences Division.
As Head of the Materials Chemistry Group, he was primarily responsible for
testing protective materials against chemical warfare agents. As Head of the
Materials and Engineering Sections, which were later combined into the Chemical
Protection Section, he was responsible for advising the Canadian Forces (CF) on
issues related to Chemical and Biological Defence and for developing the CB
protective equipment used by the CF (such as the C4 gas mask). As Director of
the Protective Sciences Division he took on National and International
responsibilities in the field of CB Defence, and represented Canada in NATO and
other forums where international standards for protective equipment were
established.
From 1993 – 2001 Dr. Harrison was the Director of Scientific and Technical Intelligence at National Defence Headquarters in Ottawa, Canada. In this position he was responsible for advising the CF on weapon systems and new and emerging technologies that posed a threat to them, including the threat posed by chemical and biological warfare agents.
In 2002 Dr. Harrison assisted in establishing a Defence Research Institute at RMC before retiring from the Department of National Defence. He is presently an Adjunct Professor at the Royal Military College of Canada working on a Canadian Project (CRTI) to develop standards for the protective equipment used by First Responders following a Chemical, Biological, Radiological, or Nuclear (CBRN) attack. Dr. Harrison leads the Respiratory Protection Team at RMC developing First Responders’ protection standards. He also owns two private companies.
Understanding the Chemical and Biological Threat from Terrorists
The presentation will look at the threat posed by the use of chemical and biological (CB) agents by terrorists. It will use what is a relatively well defined threat to our military forces from chemical and biological warfare agents as a baseline, and discuss how this threat needs to be changed and better defined to deal with CB terrorism, and in particular used to work towards developing standards for protecting the First Responders.