As Founder and Teaching Principle, Leland Hopkins brings a unique blend of training and experience to Aegis. Having spent the last several years in the Memphis Fire Department’s Special Operations Section, Hopkins responsibilities have included hazardous materials and WMD response at the local, state, and federal level. He has developed and delivered training curricula in both disciplines as well as developed response and management SOPs for each. During this same period, Hopkins has trained at some of the foremost WMD facilities in the world, including the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Center for Domestic Preparedness at Fort McClellan, New Mexico Institute of Mines and Technology’s Energetic Materials Research and Testing Center, Louisiana State University’s National Center for Biomedical Research and Training, the Counter-Terrorism Operation Support Branch at Nevada Test Site, the U.S. Army’s Dugway Proving Ground, and the U.S. Fire Administration’s National Fire Academy. In 1992 Hopkins became one of the founding members of Tennessee Task Force One, one of 28 FEMA sponsored and federally funded Urban Search and Rescue Teams strategically located throughout the U.S. During his tenure he has served as a Hazardous Materials Specialist and Weapons of Mass Destruction Specialist on 21 federal disaster declarations, and 4 national security events. He currently serves as one of the team's WMD and Hazardous Materials Team Managers, and as a WMD instructor within the FEMA USAR System. He is a WMD Subject Matter Expert for the U. S. Department of Homeland Security, and currently chairs the TNTF-1, WMD Work Group.