Michael Jay Fagel, PhD, CEM, CH S-IV, has been involved in many phases of public service. His professional career spans nearly four decades in Fire, Rescue, Emergency Medical Services, Law Enforcement, Public Health, Emergency Management, as well as corporate safety and security. Since 2003, he has supported many phases of Homeland Security operations in numerous capacities.
Currently, he is an instructor at the Illinois Institute of Technology-Stuart School of Business, Masters in Public Affairs Program, as well as at Northwestern University in the Masters of Public Policy and Administration Program, delivering master level courses in biodefense, terrorism, and homeland security. He also teaches Homeland Security at Northern Illinois University, Benedictine University's Masters in Public Health Program, as well as an instructor at Eastern Kentucky University, Safety Security Emergency Management Masters program. Also, he supported the U.S. Army's SBCCOM at Aberdeen Proving Grounds in their WMD facility support operations for 48 months. He spent 32 months standing up the National Guard Bureau's CERIAC Fusion Center operations. He is a senior instructor at Louisiana State University's National Center for Bio Medical Research and training (NCBRT). He serves as an SME for the National Center for Security and Preparedness, based in Albany, supporting New York State Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services. He has been involved in the training of Fusion Center and Intelligence officials in numerous training classes for DHS.
He has delivered several hundred lectures across the nation and written over 200 articles on safety and disaster planning. Also, he served the National Domestic Preparedness Office SLAG team (NDPO) at the FBI in Washington.
Fagel spent 10 years at FEMA in their Occupational Safety and Health Cadre in Washington, responding to incidents and disasters such as the Oklahoma City Bombing where he worked as a safety officer and CISD de briefer. He spent over 100 days at the World Trade Center for FDNY at Ground Zero after the 9/11 attacks.He was involved in numerous NLE efforts as well as Salt Lake City EOC operations in 2002. He has been an exercise developer and lead for several regional operations as well as for specific federal partners.
He has spent several deployments in the Middle East helping to create a national response plan and create a new FEMA-type organization. He was a delegate to the European Conference on Emergency Management held in Budapest in 2007.
Along with other assignments, Fagel is a Homeland Security Analyst at the Argonne National Laboratories engaged in the protection of critical infrastructure. He has served on numerous OSHA VPP inspection teams as an SGE, with a background in safety, security, and disaster preparedness.
Also, he is a member of the Northern Illinois Critical Incident Stress Debriefing team, the International Association of Fire Chiefs Committee on Safety and Health, and served on their Terrorism Committee. He served on the Illinois Terrorism Task Force and was the Region V President for the International Association of Emergency Managers; also, he was a Certified Emergency Manager Commissioner (CEM) for IAEM as well. He spent 28 years at North Aurora Fire as EMS Coordinator and Emergency Management Planner. Currently, he is a member of the board of trustees for the Sugar Grove (Illinois) Township Fire Protection District: he was a Sheriff's Deputy for 10 years, and has returned to the Kane County Sheriffs office in various training and support roles.
He has published four textbooks on Emergency Planning, Emergency Operations and Food Safety Law, as well as an editor for numerous trade textbooks. He serves as a columnist for several national trade publications.
Fagel, M.J., Principles of Emergency Management: Hazard Specific Issues and Mitigation Strategies, Boston, MA, Taylor & Francis, 2011.
Fagel, M.J., Principles of Emergency Management and Emergency Operations Centers (EOC), Boston, Massachusetts, Taylor & Francis, 2010.
Fagel, M.J., Emergency Operations: EOC Design, Louisville, Kentuky, Chicago Spectrum Press, 2008.
Fagel, S.S., Food Safety Law, New York, Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1997.
He has appeared on FOX, NBC, CBS, NPR, NY1, and local media outlets.