Volume 1, Issue 3

"Homeland security" was a familiar term on Capital Hill before September 2001. Congressional documents show that the U.S. was referred to as "the homeland" as early as 1995, and the term "homeland security" was used extensively by 1998. After September 2001, however, the idea of homeland security (HLS) became a part of American thinking and behavior, and, arguably, an American ideology. Some of the implications of a HLS ideology are explored in this paper, using as a model Slavoj Zizek's "reconstruction of ideology." The analysis suggests that assertions associated with "homeland" and "security" have served as a basis for U.S. policy and action in a way that has obstructed the American imagination and excluded social and political alternatives that more closely reflect American aspirations. By redefining ideology as reflexive ideology, however, it may be possible to overcome these limitations and redefine the ways in which a belief system is developed and used.

Intelligence gathering and analysis for countering terrorism is a vital and costly venture; therefore approaches need to be explored that can help determine the scope of collection and improve the efficacy of analysis efforts. The Adaptive Two-Player Hierarchical Holographic Modeling (HHM) Game introduced in this paper is a repeatable, adaptive, and systemic process for tracking terrorism scenarios. It builds on fundamental principles of systems engineering, systems modeling, and risk analysis. The game creates two opposing views of terrorism: one developed by a Blue Team defending against acts of terrorism, and the other by a Red Team planning to carry out a terrorist act. The HHM process identifies the vulnerabilities of potential targets that could be exploited in attack plans. These vulnerabilities can be used by the Blue Team to identify corresponding surveillance capabilities that can help to provide warning of a possible attack. Vulnerability-based scenario structuring, comprehensive risk identification and the identification of surveillance capabilities that can support preemption are all achieved through the deployment of HHM.State variables, which represent the essence of the system, play a pivotal role in the Adaptive Two-Player HHM Game, providing an enabling roadmap to intelligence analysts. Indeed, vulnerabilities are defined in terms of the system's state variables: Vulnerability is the manifestation of the inherent states of a system (e.g., physical, technical, organizational, cultural) that can be exploited by an adversary to cause harm or damage. Threat is a potential adversarial intent to cause harm or damage by adversely changing the states of the system. Threat to a vulnerable system may lead to risk, which is a measure of the probability and severity of adverse effects.Each player in the Adaptive Two-Player HHM Game deploys the same modeling tools. This ensures that the results from different models can be compared and integrated. If the membership of different teams is drawn from groups with different value systems, skills, and experience, it can be expected that modeling results will differ. This should help to identify the appropriate mix of skills for a modeling team to develop a robust model. In addition, Bayesian analysis is central to the adaptive characteristics of the proposed methodology. Not only do new samples of evidence serve as likelihood functions to generate additional probabilities for given scenarios, but the probabilities associated with one scenario can be used as likelihood functions for other scenarios. This cross-updating process is further exploited by the construction of multiple decompositions, each representing a different perspective, e.g., geographical, functional, temporal. A food-poisoning scenario with Red and Blue Teams was developed to demonstrate the approach.

Winning the war against terrorism will require adoption of new strategies for decision-making, communication, and research and development.This is particularly true with respect to real-time detection and identification (DI) of Biological Weapons (BW). Real-time bio-sensors presently used by the military do not satisfy the requirements for a civilian environment. More sophisticated BW sensors are needed with false positives and false negatives minimized and addressed. Expert first responders and health professionals in a few cities are becoming familiar with Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR)-based sensors, but are mostly unaware of other real-time BW DI possibilities in the R&D pipeline. The aim of this paper is to provide individuals outside of the BW research community with an overview of the current status and future prospects for real-time BW detection and identification.It is expected that the Dept. of Homeland Security will play an essential role in establishing incentive systems so that the most appropriate research is conducted and evaluated with peer review using both scientists and first responders. This type of overall strategy has the potential to finally produce real-time biosensors with required properties and keep our BW preparedness ahead of our terrorist enemies' emerging capabilities.

This work focuses on the challenge in protecting soft or vulnerable targets against terrorism. Using the suicide bombing attempt of the JW Marriott hotel in Jakarta, Indonesia as a case study, it depicts how hotels and other American business operating overseas can protect their facilities and personnel.

This book is a compilation of essays arising out of the biannual meetings of the Executive Session on Domestic Preparedness (ESDP) at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. The ESDP is funded by the Department of Justice and is a joint project of two distinct research centers at Harvard University: the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs and the Taubman Center for State and Local Government. The ESDP has brought together key leaders in domestic preparedness planning, national security, and public health since 1999. The book contains a total of 13 essays, an introduction, author biographies and an index.

Since the terrorist attacks of September 11, we have been "at war" with Al Qaeda, Afghanistan, Iraq, and terrorism generally. President Bush used the word "war" 33 times when he presented a "wartime" budget to the Congress, and he has asserted the broad executive powers that traditionally surround a President in times of grave emergency. Philip Heymann's new book, Terrorism, Freedom, and Security: Winning Without War, analyzes whether it is useful to use the word "war" either to describe the dangers our nation faces from terrorism or to help our nation protect itself from those dangers.

Scholarly approaches to understanding chaos theory as it applies to emergency management, especially within the context of homeland security, would be extremely valuable to local practitioners. Alan Kirschenbaum postulates a chasm between the perceptions of disaster victims and the delivery of services by disaster management bureaucracies. Kirschenbaum argues that the chasm has been created by the bureaucracy itself and that bureaucracy focuses on its own survival and usurps the role of the community in disaster management.

Introduction to Natural and Man-Made Disasters and Their Effects on Buildings by Roxanna McDonald utilizes dialogue and graphics in introducing the reader to potential hazards and vulnerabilities of buildings stemming from natural and manmade disasters. Each chapter is dedicated to a specific stimulus, including earthquake, tornadoes, hurricanes, and volcanoes, as well as potential vulnerabilities due to acts of malevolence -- terrorism.

Marcel Casavant examines a collection of writings on nuclear, biologic, and chemical agents of terrorism and the OEM professions' response to these threats in his review of Terrorism: Biological, Chemical and Nuclear. This book is part of the Clinics in Occupational and Environmental Medicine series, edited by E. Bennett-Bailey with Consulting Editor, KH Chase and guest editors.

Some pertinent articles/documents published elsewhere in early 2004.

Comments on article titled "The Transportation of Highly Radioactive Waste: Implications forHomeland Security, " in Vol. 1, No. 2.

Reply from Kenneth Rogers, lead author of article published in Issue No. 2, entitled "The Transportation of Highly Radioactive Waste:Implications for Homeland Security."