The Louisiana National Guard hosted the Emergency Response Workshop at the Higgins Hotel in New Orleans, March 31 to April 2, 2026.
The event marked the rebranding and evolution of the longstanding All-Hazards Coordination Workshop, now focused more explicitly on rapid, integrated emergency response capabilities nationwide.
The workshop aims to facilitate coordination of mutual aid agreements and improve a shared understanding of emergency response requirements for National Guard units across all 54 states, territories and the District of Columbia for fiscal years 2026–2027.
Throughout the three-day event, more than 200 leaders and planners from across the National Guard gathered alongside industry partners, emergency management officials and subject matter experts. Participants engaged in regional breakout sessions to share best practices and lessons learned from recent disasters, both within and outside their regions.
Discussions focused on disaster coordination, identification of capability gaps and strengthening response frameworks across multiple mission areas, including security, logistics, engineering, communications, medical support, transportation, aviation and general-purpose forces. The workshop also featured vendor exhibitions showcasing emerging emergency response technologies and equipment, as well as coordination of Emergency Management Assistance Compact agreements to pre-identify mutual aid resources and capabilities.
“The Louisiana National Guard Emergency Response Workshop enables lifesaving mutual aid for hurricanes, wildfires and other disasters, as it has for nearly two decades,” said Col. William Saint, director of strategy and policy for the LANG. “This week’s sessions and the relationships we strengthen as Guardsmen will make us even more effective in 2026 and beyond.”
EMAC is the nation’s mutual aid system, allowing states and territories to request and provide assistance during emergencies or disasters.
Following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005, more than 65,000 personnel from 48 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands deployed under EMAC. The Louisiana National Guard organized its first EMAC conference based on lessons learned from those response efforts and has since hosted 18 workshops to enhance interstate coordination.
“In an era of increasing frequency and complexity of natural and man-made disasters, the Emergency Response Workshop strengthens the Guard’s role as America’s primary domestic response force,” said Lt. Col. Patrick Boling, deputy director of strategy and policy for the LANG. “When help arrives from outside a neighboring state in the aftermath of a disaster, the public may not realize it, but it was planned and coordinated during this workshop.”
Since 2018, the National Guard Bureau’s Plans, Policy and International Affairs Directorate has also hosted the National Joint Planners Course for many of the same planners and leaders who attend the workshop.
