Special Agent Bomb Technician (SABT) James Elliot is assigned to the Seattle Division of the FBI.

On January 17, 2011, a radio-controlled pipebomb, capable of projecting metal and explosive fragmentation and laced with rat poison, was placed along the parade route of the Martin Luther King Day parade on Spokane Washington. A patrol officer was alerted to it and summoned relevant agencies. An investigation conducted by the FBI, led by SABT Elliot, resulted in the arrest and conviction of man with ties to a white supremacist organization.

Trooper/Bomb Technician Eric Gahagan has been with the Massachusetts State Police for 21 years and a member of the Bomb Squad for nearly fifteen years. An FBI-certified Bomb Technician and Explosives Detection K9 handler, he also holds certifications in post-blast investigations, advanced post-blast investigations, weapons of mass destruction, HazMat technician, explosives breaching and DEA clan lab investigations. He has responded to more than 2500 explosive related calls including explosive recoveries, bombings, improvised explosive devices and K9 sweeps. As an FBI certified instructor, Eric has provided hundreds of classes on explosives and IED recognition, booby traps and weapons of mass destruction to public safety, school and business communities.

On April 15, 2013, emergency first responders rushed to deal with two IED’s that exploded near the finish of the Boston Marathon. Trooper Gahagan, who took on a leadership role during the attack, will take you inside as the events unfolded, from the response and coordination of first responders to the actions taken to apprehend those responsible for the attack. Note: This presentation is subject to court adjudication.

Detective/Bomb Technician Michael Digby is a 35-year veteran of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department after having served seven years in the United States Army. He has been an FBI-certified Bomb Technician for seventeen years. He has served as primary investigating officer and senior Bomb Technician at several hundred explosive incidents and is a graduate of the UK’s Joint Service IEDD course. He has provided training to foreign police and military bomb squads, counter-IED teams and post-blast investigators.

Investigator Christoffer Jensen is a 19 year veteran of the Orange County Sheriff’s Department and has worked as a Bomb Technician and Hazardous Materials Specialist with the OCSD Bomb Squad for over a decade. Chris is also a Bomb Technician Diver, an Explosives Detection K9 handler, and currently assigned as a federal Task Force Officer with the FBI’s Los Angeles Stabilization Team.

During his tenure with Orange County's Bomb Squad, Chris has been involved in hundreds of post-blast and explosives related investigations. He has received advanced training in the synthesis and use of Homemade Explosives (HME) and has been involved in numerous cases related to the manufacture and use of HME throughout Orange County. Chris is a POST certified instructor and has delivered awareness and operations level public safety training on Weapons of Mass Destruction and the dangers and processes associated with the production of explosives and controlled substances to a variety of audiences.

Supervisory Special Agent Bomb Technician (SSABT) Greg Rabinovitz a certified Bomb and Hazardous Materials Technician assigned to the FBI’s Counter-Improvised Explosives Device (C-IED) Unit in Quantico Virginia. He is currently stationed in Los Angeles and assigned as the Team Leader for the FBI’s Los Angeles Stabilization Team, an advanced capability Bomb Squad which works jointly with local bomb squads in the western US to provide a ‘second tier’ response capability for WMD and explosives-related incidents.

SABT Rabinovitz is the FBI C-IED Maritime Program manager and, with a team of SABT’s and local agency bomb technicians from across the nation, is responsible for defining policy and practice for Maritime Bomb Squad operations in the nations ports and waterways and for joint operations with the Department of Defense for overseas maritime response.

Since the events of September 11, 2001, SABT Rabinovitz has worked in over twenty countries in both operational and training roles and has responded to major bombing incidents around the world. He has spoken to a wide range of audiences, ranging from US and foreign military, fire and law enforcement command and line staff to education professionals and child psychologists on the subject of First Responder tactics, bomb, WMD and Hazardous Materials threat assessment and joint fire and law enforcement response to these threats. SABT Rabinovitz is a certified FBI Master Police instructor, a title held by only fifteen FBI Agents.

SABT Rabinovitz will provide a block of instruction on counter-IED threat assessment and its role in linking intelligence to action.

Chief Kevin Frazier is the Section Chief and Bomb Squad Commander of the Montgomery County (Maryland) Fire Marshal’s Office, Fire and Explosive Investigations Office, an FBI-accredited Bomb Squad. He is a 27-year veteran, having served as a team member on Urban Search and Rescue, HazMat and Water Rescue Teams. In the past thirteen years, he has served at all ranks in the Bomb Squad and as part of the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force.

Chief Frazier was the Bomb Squad Section Chief for the Discovery Communications Building Hostage/Suicide Bomber event. His presentation will discuss this case in detail, examining the unique aspects of this ‘lone wolf’ attack.

Bomb Technician Clayton Buchanan has been employed by the Sacramento Police Department since 2008. He is assigned to Regional Transit as an Explosives Ordnance Disposal (EOD) Technician and K9 officer. Prior to Sacramento PD, he served ten years in the US Navy as an EOD Technician, serving on a variety of direct action/hostage rescue and stabilization teams, mobile detachments and as an explosives instructor.

Jason Winger is a Sergeant/ Bomb Technician with the West Sacramento Police Department and is currently assigned as the Special Investigations Unit Supervisor. As a collateral assignment, Sergeant Winger has been assigned to the Yolo County Bomb Squad since 2002. His prior assignments include narcotics, intelligence and gangs. Sergeant Winger has served as the lead on several homemade explosives investigations and is a court recognized expert witness in manufacturing homemade explosives.

Deputy Dana Vilander is a 30-year veteran of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, having served nearly 24 years as a member of the Special Enforcement Bureau, the last sixteen in the Emergency Services Detail as a SWT and helicopter paramedic, recovery diver and disaster team rescue specialist. Deputy Vilander has conducted training in several countries under contract to the US State Department on topics related to tactical casualty care and blast trauma.

Detective/Bomb Technician Robert Mann is a recently retired investigator from the Orange County Sheriff’s Department (OCSD). His last assignment was an FBI-certified Bomb Technician. He served as training officer for the Bomb Squad and as a tactical explosives breacher. A graduate of SWT School, Explosive Detection Canine Handler training and the California POST Master Instructor Program, his previous assignments in law enforcement include Counter-Terrorism Intelligence, general and internal investigations, patrol training officer and arrest and control techniques instructor. Robert is the recipient of the OCSD Medal of Courage. Prior to joining the OCSD, Robert served in the United States Marine Corps.

Detective Mann will discuss an Orange County incident involving the manufacture of IED’s and the investigative and tactical methods used to disrupt this intended revenge attack.

Detective/Bomb Technician Dana Duncan has been a member of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department (LASD) for over 32 years. His assignments have included Major Crimes Metropolitan Detail where he specialized in murder-for-hire and kidnap-for-ransom, gang investigations, and robbery and homicide investigations. His last assignment was with the Arson-Explosives Detail where he served as an FBI-certified Bomb Technician. He has been the lead investigating officer on a number of high profile cases. Prior to joining the LASD, he was a US Army Special Forces Engineer Sergeant.

With his background in SF Direct Action missions and his assignments as a kidnap/murder-for-hire detective and Bomb Technician, Dana is uniquely qualified to discuss the phenomena of person-borne IED’s; from suicide/homicide bombings to hostage-taking involving the threat of IED’s. His presentation will be an eye-opener for any emergency first responder.

Detective/Bomb Technician Aaron Brandt has been employed with the Riverside Police Department since 1995, promoting to Police Detective in 2004. Has worked various assignments in the department including patrol, the University Neighborhood Enhancement Team, auto theft, and general investigations. Has also participated in the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force, graduated with a college degree in criminal justice and is certified as a Haz-Mat specialist, bomb technician, and crime scene investigator. He is currently assigned to the department’s Technical Services Unit where duties include IED render safe procedures and investigations, arson investigations, clandestine laboratory processing, biohazard mitigation and electronic support for the department’s communications division.

On January 31, 2013, Riverside Police Department Bomb Squad conducted a multi-discipline operation in which a booby-trapped home was discovered. Detective Brandt will be joined by Deputy District Attorney Amy Zeta of the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office.

Amy Zeta has been a Deputy District Attorney with the Riverside County District Attorney's Office since 2008. She has worked on and participated in the investigation of cases involving bombs, hazardous devices, exploding targets, and arson and wildland fires. DDA Zeta also specializes in the prosecution of white collar crime, and insurance fraud.

Sergeant/Bomb Technician Robert Epps is the Bomb Squad Commander for the Riverside County Sheriff Department’s Hazardous Device Team and has been an FBI-certified Bomb Technician since 2002. He served eleven years in the United States Marine Corps as a combat-deployed Ammunition Technician. In the USMC, he taught urban tactics, close combat, and water survival to units in the First Marine Division. As a bomb technician for Riverside County, he has taught terrorism, WMD and bomb response classes to law enforcement and first responders. He is a certified instructor for the FBI Poist-Blast Investigation course as well as New Mexico Tech for the Homemade Explosives course.

On June 26, 2014, the Riverside County Hazardous Devices Team responded to a mobile trailer in Cathedral City that was found to contain bomb making materials, booby-traps, IED’s and chemicals used in the manufacture of explosives. Sgt Epps will provide an overview of the operation, pointing out observations from the perspective of the first responder. In addition, in response to the jihadi-Inspire magazine article promoting the terrorist use of fuel-air explosives, Sgt Epps conducted research on the design and use of fuel-air explosives. He will share those findings with attendees.