On September 16, Chargè d’Affaires Bridget Brink attended a completion ceremony marking the return of the Bureau of Diplomatic Security’s Antiterrorism Assistance program (ATA) to Uzbekistan. Once a popular and thriving program, courses were stopped years ago. This last course delivered information to 22 participants, focusing on Airport Security Management. The course covered seven days of instruction and provided participants with up to date information on the latest airport security management “best practices.”
In a final group meeting and photo-op, Brink presented each participant with his certificate of completion. She urged participants to continue seeking innovative ways to improve security in Uzbekistan’s airports, explaining that security must continually evolve to keep ahead of those seeking to bring us harm. Participants were extremely proud of their successful completion of the course. Plans are underway to build upon this first successful course in over ten years.
Specifically, ATA intends to deliver another, more advanced, course tied to airport security later this month. Due to high demand for this type of training, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs already offered a group of 28 qualified nominees for the second ATA course.
