CATO · CATO - CBRN crisis management: Architecture, Technologies and Operational Procedures

CATO proposes to develop a comprehensive Open Toolbox for dealing with CBRN crises due to terrorist attacks using non-conventional weapons or on facilities with CBRN material. CATO will:•combine CBRN knowledge, planning & response know-how, DSS building blocks and dedicated models and algorithms•enable the development of specific holistic CBRN-DSS•cover the entire CBRN disaster life cycle from preparedness through detection and response until recovery, supporting the multiple players from policy makers to field teams in the seamless transition from planning to monitoring to operational response to debriefing•assess and effectively address CBRN crisis situations•allow for the coexistence of public knowledge with classified information (there will be none in CATO), which the owner of a specific CATO DSS can add to “his” CATO Knowledge Base•address the multiple facets of CBRN preparedness and resilience such as medical response, societal and psychological issues, organisational and operational approaches as well as multiple-use equipment•update medical countermeasures in the fields of treatments and decontamination•use new information sources, today wasted in crises, e.g. written population input and CCTV images•facilitate, by a dedicated simulation-centred CATO Laboratory (both virtual and hosted by some of the partners), the learning about CBRN attacks (e.g. new threats and responses) and the training of field teamsCATO will thus address the key CBRN incident management challenge - fragmentation: of doctrines, of knowledge, of processes, of systems. CATO brings an innovative answer to the diversity of organisational set-ups and of legacy systems for emergency preparedness & management (ICT, equipment, sensors...).