John Pfaehler has been in law enforcement for 22 years and is a corporal with the Rockville Police Department. John discussed police mental health issues, including post traumatic stress isorder (PTSD), and suicides. Following his own personal experience, John surveyed members of his own agency. With the startling results of that survey plus national police statistics, John presented his plan to develop a police mental wellness initiative for Montgomery County. The police suicide rate is two to three times the general public suicide rate and is generally kept quiet. The program’s objective is to recognize PTSD early, educate the police with a movie and panel discussions; and identify resources to assist police with PTSD issues and their families.

Thomas Lambert is the Deputy Chief of Mission at the Belgian Embassy. He was a tax and administrative lawyer before joining the Belgian Foreign Service in 1998. His specialty is international trade and spent 7 years in the US at the UN and in DC at the Belgian Embassy. He talked about the terrorism challenge in the EU. There are no internal borders in the EU; so Belgian home grown terrorists attack in Paris. External EU border security is most important, and he said it should also be for the US. Brussels is the EU capital because it is on the EU “Mason-Dickson Line”. Terrorist data exchange is the biggest challenge. The shooting down of the Russian plane by ISIS is a game changer.