Sixteen first responders from Aramco, the national oil company of Saudi Arabia, recently celebrated the completion of a University of South Florida Corporate Training Security Training Collaborative certificate program on Dec. 13 at USF Sarasota-Manatee, where they learned ways to improve their crisis response capabilities. These participants work at Aramco’s compound in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, which is home to about 400,000 Aramco employees and their families.
This training initiative was prompted by the 2019 drone and missile attacks on the Aramco oil fields, which disrupted 5% of the global oil supply. USF Corporate Training partner, Security Management International, has maintained a longstanding relationship with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, playing a pivotal role in facilitating the collaboration with Aramco. It marked the first training session conducted by USF for the Aramco Industrial Security Operations Academy.
USF Corporate Training partner, Security Management International, has maintained a longstanding relationship with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, playing a pivotal role in facilitating the collaboration with Aramco.
Recognizing the significance of this initiative, USF President Rhea Law visited the participants during their two-week program. The curriculum focused on crisis response and emergency preparedness, covering a wide range of critical topics. Twenty subject matter experts from national security, law enforcement, and emergency management delivered sessions on areas such as active shooter incidents, crisis communications, managing drone threats, hostage negotiations, operational stress, de-escalation techniques, and incident command, among others. Notable speakers, including soft target expert and astronaut-in-training Dr. Jennifer Hesterman (U.S. Air Force retired); Katie M. Hill, the FBI’s Supervisor Special Agent in Tampa; and former undercover operative and NBA referee Bob Delaney, provided valuable insights to the participants.
“This was an incredible team effort,” said SMI Managing Director and USF Corporate Training Lead Instructor Luke Bencie. “We had six local law enforcement and fire department agencies, the Tampa and Orlando FBI Field Offices, two Emergency Operations Centers/ Dispatch Call Centers, and U.S. Congressman Greg Steube’s office. None of this would have been possible without the leadership of Vice Provost and Regional Vice Chancellor of USF Sarasota-Manatee Dr. Brett Kemker, and Mark Koulianos and Jay Riley, of the USF Office of Corporate Training and Professional Education.”
The USF Network Saudi Arabia has over 650 alumni and 118 currently enrolled students. Over 40 USF alumni currently work at Aramco. Since 2017, 37 faculty members have engaged in research, business, and/or creative endeavors in Saudi Arabia. Five USF students have studied abroad in Saudi Arabia since 2013.
