Lt Gen Thomas F. Metz is currently the director of the Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organisation (JIEDDO). He was previously the deputy commanding general and Chief of Staff, U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command and previous to this assignment he was Commanding General of the U.S. III Corps and Fort Hood. Metz commanded the 2d Brigade, 1st Infantry Division (Mechanized), from July 1992 to July 1994. He then served as the Division and Fort Riley Chief of Staff until May 1995. After his tour in the 1st Infantry Division, LTG Metz joined the Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC) and served as Director of the Army's Experimental Force Coordination Cell for the 4th Infantry Division (Mechanized) at Fort Hood, Texas, and the Assistant Division Commander for Support for the 4th Infantry Division (Mechanized). In February 1998, Metz was assigned as the Deputy Director for Joint War fighting Capabilities Assessment, J-8, until June 2000. Metz served as Vice Director for Force Structure, Resources, and Assessment, J-8, The Joint Staff, until November 2001. On 7 November 2001, Metz assumed command of the 24th Infantry Division (Mechanized) and Fort Riley. During this time period, Metz was chosen to serve for 4 months as the Chief of Staff, CENTCOM, during Operation Enduring Freedom from October 2002 to January 2003.

From 1990 until 1992 he attended the Dutch Staff College in the Hague, after which he served for three years as G3 with 13 Mechanised Brigade in Oirschot. During this period he organised the first rotations of the Dutch army at the (US) Combat Manoeuvre and Training Centre in Hohenfels, Germany, and played a leading role in the introduction of instrumented training in the Royal Netherlands Army (RNLA). In 1995 he went to England and studied at the Army Command and Staff College for one year. After his return to the Netherlands he was posted to the staff of the German/Netherlands Army Corps in Münster, Germany. In March 1998 he was appointed Commander of 11 Artillery Battalion. From June till December 1999 he commanded this unit during a deployment in Kosovo. For his part in this mission he was appointed Knight of the Order of Orange Nassau. Between June 2000 and January 2004 he held several positions at the Royal Netherlands Army Staff in The Hague including Chief of the Operations branch. During this period he was promoted to colonel. On the 8th of January 2004 Brigadier-General Ton van Loon was appointed as Commander of 43 Mechanized Brigade in Havelte. The brigade became the nucleus of the Land Component multinational brigade of the NATO Response Force 4 (January – June 2005). For his role as commander of this multinational brigade, van Loon received the NATO Meritorious Service Medal. On the 13th of October 2006 Brigadier-General Ton van Loon was promoted to Major-General. On the 1st of November 2006 he became the commander of the Regional Command South in Afghanistan. On the 24th of August 2007 Major-General Ton van Loon was appointed as Chief of Staff of Allied Land Component Command Headquarters in Heidelberg, Germany.

Major General Roar Sundseth was promoted to his present rank and appointed Deputy Commander and Chief of Staff National Joint Headquarters in September 2006. He entered the service in the Signal Corps of the Norwegian Army in 1972 after finishing Officer Candidate School. He then served at unit level in the Signal Corps, completed the Military Academy and served as an instructor at the Army School of Signals. During the period 1988 - 1992 he attended the Army Staff College, and in 1994 he graduated from US Marine Corps Command and Staff College. Within the same time frame he served as an instructor at the Army School of Signals, Staff Officer at Headquarters Defence Command North Norway and Commander Land Forces North Norway and as Head of Public Information, Defence Command North Norway. In 1994 he was appointed as Chief of Operations, Defence Command North Norway, and he served there until 1997 when he took over as Branch Chief, Plans & Policy Division, Army Staff. During the period 1998 - 2001, as he served as Chief of Staff 6th Division, he also attended the following schools/courses: US Naval Postgraduate School, Defence Resources Management Course, National Defence College Crisis Management and National Defence College, Commanders Course. He also has a Masters Degree in Strategic Studies (MSS) from the US Army War College, Class of 2002. In 2004 he attended the NATO Defence College, General & Flag Officers Course. His latest services was as Chief of the Norwegian Liaison Team at US Central Command 2002 - 2003, Chief of Operations in Joint Staff, Headquarters Defence Command Norway and finally Director of Operations Planning in The Ministry of Defence from 2003 and up to his present position.

Mr. Rowe is a graduate of Michigan Technological University with a Bachelor’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering. Since 1980, he has been employed by the US Army as an engineer for the Abrams Tank Program. Specifically, since 1986 he has been the survivability engineer responsible for armor protection of the Abrams Tank as it exists today. In his current position within the Program Manager’s Office for Heavy Brigade Combat Team, Mr. Rowe is the Assistant Program Manager for Survivability for the Abrams Tank.

Minister Ali Ahmad Jalali was the Interior Minister of Afghanistan from January 2003 to September 2005, where he oversaw the creation of the Afghan National Police, the Border Police and their roles in counter terrorism. He is now a Distinguished Professor at the Near East South Asia Centre for Strategic Studies of the National Defence University. He previously served with the Voice of America for over 20 years covering Afghanistan, South and Central Asia, and the Middle East, including assignments as Director of the Afghan Radio Network Project and chief of the Pashto, Dari, and Farsi (Persian) services. He is a former colonel in the Afghan army and was a top military planner with the Afghan resistance following the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Minister Jalali will look to discuss the efforts of the Afghan National Police and government to aide coalition forces in countering the use of IEDs

Professor Kaul studied from 1985 to 1992 at the University of Braunschweig (TU Braunschweig) and University of Aachen (RWTH Aachen), where he received his Diploma in Physics in 1992. From 1992 to 1998 he was employee in a microelectronic enterprise (SICAN GmbH Hannover), where he carried out his PhD work at the University of Gießen, Germany, at the same time. In 1996 he received his PhD (Dr. rer. nat.) from the University of Gießen, Germany. Since 1998 he holds the position of a Professor for Physics, Statistics and Measuring Techniques at the Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University of Applied Sciences (Fachhochschule Bonn-Rhein-Sieg) in the Department of Applied Natural Sciences, Germany. His current research interests are related to sensor technology (especially gas sensors) and multisensorsystems. In the last years projects in the field of ERC and IED detection were in the focus of his research activities especially together with research institutes of the German army.

Colonel Helmick has served in command and staff positions throughout his twenty-eight year career to include: Company Executive Officer, Company D 15th Battalion, 4thTraining Brigade, Fort Knox, Kentucky; Rifle Platoon Leader, Company C (Airborne), 1/17 Infantry Battalion; Brigade Assistant S-3, 1st Brigade, 6th Infantry Division; Operations Officer, Light Fighter Academy Fort Richardson, Alaska; Rifle Platoon Leader, and Company Executive Officer, United Nations Joint Security Area Joint Security Force Company, Panmunjom Korea; Battalion Motor Officer, 1/12 Infantry Battalion, Company Commander, A-1/12 Infantry Battalion and Company Commander of the Division Long Range Surveillance Detachment, 4th Infantry Division, Fort Carson, Colorado; Battalion S-3, 6th Ranger Training Battalion, Eglin Air Force Base, Florida; Deputy G-3, SACURE’s Immediate Reaction Force/Allied Command Europe Mobile Force, Heidelberg, Germany; 7th Transportation Group’s Asst. S-3, Group S-3, 6th Transportation Battalion Executive Officer Fort Eustis, Virginia; Support Operations Officer, 26th Area Support Group, Heidelberg Germany; Battalion Commander, 6th Transportation Battalion (Truck), Fort Eustis, Virginia; and Director, Office of the Chief of Transportation. He is currently serving as the Training and Doctrine Command Capability Manager -Transportation, Fort Eustis, Virginia. While commanding the 6th Transportation Battalion, Colonel Helmick deployed his battalion in support of Operation Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom, during initial invasion of Iraq.

Lieutenant Colonel Plater joined the Canadian Army through the Regular Officer Training Program. He graduated as an Artillery Officer with a Bachelors Degrees in Science and in Chemical Engineering in 1990. Following a year of French language training in Valcartier, he joined 5e Régiment d’Artillerie Légère du Canada. During his five year tour he served in a wide variety of Regimental posts and deployed to Bosnia as a Forward Air Controller. In 1996, Lieutenant Colonel Plater began work on his Masters Degree at the Land Force Technical Staff Course, following which he joined the Land Staff Headquarters in Ottawa. He served two years as a project director for a variety of Army surveillance and target acquisition projects before making a transfer to the Military Engineer Corps. Completing his Masters Degree in Applied Military Science in the spring of 1999, he was posted to Gagetown, New Brunswick for his Engineer Officer training. In March 2000, he joined 4 Engineer Support Regiment and served as the Regimental Adjutant, Officer Commanding 41 Construction Squadron, and Officer Commanding 48 Administration Squadron. In December 2002, Lieutenant Colonel Plater returned to National Defence Headquarters and the Land Staff as the Executive Assistant to the Assistant Chief of the Land Staff. He was then posted as the Officer Commanding the Field Engineer Training Squadron at the Canadian Forces School of Military Engineering in 2004 and assumed the position of Deputy Commanding Officer in 2006. Following a year as a student at the Canadian Force College he assumed his position as Director Land Requirements 9 for Mobility, Counter-Mobility and Survivability.

Jim Blackburn is an ex- British Army Officer who recently retired to take up his current appointment with the European Defence Agency. An expert in CIED he spent most of his 21 years in ammunition and explosive related appointments, although he has a broad range of experience. Jim has worked in the UK and Germany and has operational experience in Northern Ireland, Bosnia, Iraq and Afghanistan as well as commanding the EOD Squadron in the UK covering South Eastern England and was responsible to the civil authorities for normal IEDD response and CBRN when required. An Ammunition Technical Officer, he has a deep understanding of explosives and ammunition from first principals. Jim also has a Bachelor’s Degree in IT and a Master’s Degree in Explosives Ordnance Engineering. In the European Defence Agency he is the assistant capability manager of the Engagement and Protection area.

Stanislav Rolc is a Chief of Materials Engineering Branch at Military Technical Institute of Protection Division of VOP-026 at Brno. The Materials Engineering Branch is focused on the research and development of advanced materials and structures intended to use in ballistic protection. He is responsible for several national and european projects concerning passive and active armour protection development, the results of which – e.g. dual hardness steel, multilayered steel armour, ceramic armours – are introduced in land and air military vehicles and personnel protection against considered threats. He has been at Military Technical Institute of Protection since 1985. He is a member of the European Defence Agency GEM1 (Materials) and GEM3 (Lethality & Protection) government experts groups. He is also an External lecturer and supervisor of Ph.D. students at Defence University Brno and VSB Technical University of Ostrava.

Mr. Edwin (Ed) Mazzanti is the Deputy Director of the U.S. Army's Accelerated Capabilities Developments Directorate at Fort Monroe, Virginia. Mr. Mazzanti has served in this capacity since September 2003 and has led several accelerated capability developments initiatives including a Chief of Staff, Army's Task Force on Current to Future Forces, the Counter-Rocket, Artillery and Mortar (C-RAM) initiative, and the Comprehensive Force Protection Initiative (CFPI), which informed requirements for the Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles. Mr. Mazzanti graduated from the Virginia Military Institute in 1972 and served as an Air Defence Artillery officer in the Army for 23 years.

Stuart has worked at the Defence Academy (formerly the Royal Military College of Science RMCS) since 1978. His areas of expertise include IED technology, vehicle electronics, systems integration and ISTAR technology. These disparate skills allow a wide view of situational awareness and how it relates to the survivability of AFVs in an insurgency situation. Stuart has published in the fields of nuclear effects upon electronics, COTS procurement issues, stealth and vetronics.

In his thirty years in the Marine Corps, T. X. Hammes served at all levels in the operating forces to include command of a rifle company, weapons company, intelligence company, infantry battalion and the Chemical Biological Incident Response Force. He participated in stabilisation operations in Somalia and Iraq as well as training insurgents in various theatres. Hammes has attended The Basic School, US Army Infantry Officers Advanced Course, Marine Corps Command and Staff College and the Canadian National Defence College. He also spent one year on a Research Fellowship with the Mershon Center for Strategic Studies. His final tour in the Marine Corps was as Senior Military Fellow at the Institute for National Strategic Studies, National Defense University. He has lectured widely at U.S. and International Staff and War Colleges. He is currently reading for a PhD at Oxford University. He is the author of “The Sling and the Stone: On War in the Twenty-First Century” and over 90 media articles and opinion pieces. He has also appeared on CNN, ABC, News Hour, PBS Frontline and the BBC.

Colonel Sergey Gritsenko is a twenty-plus year veteran of Russia’s elite Spetsnaz, currently serving as commander of the Lynx Division of the MVD’s Spetsnaz Sobr Rapid Reaction Force based in Moscow. He is a native of Chechnya, and has served in both Chechen Wars. He is a decorated war veteran and was a team leader in the Nord Ost Theater siege assault in October 2002. Col. Gritsenko is an internationally recognized terrorism expert and consultant.

Colonel Joland Dubbeldam during his posting in 1998/1999 deployed to FYROM as S5 planner of the Extraction Force, he was staff responsible for the operation orders. Subsequently he worked for two years at the Army staff in The Hague and was promoted to lieutenant colonel in 2000. He successfully attended the Joint Command and Staff College in Shrivenham UK 2001/2002, at the same time graduating “with distinction” as Master of Arts in Military Science at the “Kings College” London University. After graduation Dubbeldam was posted in Muenster at the German Netherlands HRF Corps HQ, as military assistant to the Chief of Staff, general Bertholee. In 2003 the Corps deployed to Kabul, Afghanistan to command the ISAF mission. Ltc Dubbeldam served as MA to the DCOM ISAF for over six months. 12 March 2003 Dubbeldam accepted command over 101 Engineer Battalion, with almost 800 personnel and six companies. The operational highlight was his deployment to Southern Afghanistan as Commanding Officer of 101 (NLD) Engr BN DTF and Deputy Commander Deployment Task Force. He was responsible for the build up of the bases Tarin Kowt and Deh Rawod in Uruzgan province. After three years of command, Dubbeldam was appointed Chief Plans at the 1 German Netherlands HRF Corps HQ, leading the planning process for the NRF 10 certification. In January 2008 Dubbeldam was appointed to command the Joint Task Force Counter IED and promoted to the rank of colonel.

Lieutenant Colonel Lester W. Grau, U.S. Army, (Retired), is a military analyst in the FMSO. He has a B.A. from the University of Texas at El Paso and an M.A. from Kent State University, and is a graduate of the Command and General Staff College, the U.S. Army Russian Institute, the Defense Language Institute, and the U.S. Air Force War College. He has served in various command and staff positions in CONUS, Europe, and Vietnam.

Mat Willmot studied Mechanical Engineering in South Africa before joining Kentron (a Division of Denel). He then spent the next few years working across the UK Defence industry for a number of companies including QinetiQ and Thales; where he was responsible for the development, trialling and commissioning of the Stabilised Weapon And Reconnaissance Mount (SWARM) Remote Weapon Station. A short spell in the USA followed for the development of a low cost RWS for the Middle Eastern market, which was then followed by several years on the Future Rapid Effects System (FRES) programme where he wrote the requirements for the Self Defence Weapon (SDW). After a decade in the UK, Mat is now based in Sweden (thanks to a Swedish wife!) and is the Systems Manager for the Trackfire RWS.