Download the full issue. Six years after the attacks of 9/11, the practice and discipline of homeland defense and security have evolved and matured, moving into an era of self-evaluation. The essays and articles in Volume III, Issue 3 of Homeland Security Affairs reflect this stage, asking questions about how we view lessons from the…
Volume III
Book Review: The Next Catastrophe: Reducing Our Vulnerabilities to Natural, Industrial, and Terrorist Disasters by Charles Perrow
Paul Stockton ABSTRACT: Paul Stockton reviews The Next Catastrophe: Reducing Our Vulnerabilities to Natural, Industrial, and Terrorist Disasters, by Charles Perrow. SUGGESTED CITATION: Stockton, Paul. “The Next Catastrophe: Reducing Our Vulnerabilities to Natural, Industrial, and Terrorist Disasters by Charles Perrow.” Homeland Security Affairs 3, Article 7 (September 2007). https://www.hsaj.org/articles/596 The Next Catastrophe: Reducing Our Vulnerabilities…
The Use of EMS Personnel as Intelligence Sensors: Critical Issues and Recommended Practices
Michael Petrie ABSTRACT: The use of Emergency Medical Services (EMS) personnel as information collectors to support Terrorism Early Warning Groups (TEWGs) and other intelligence fusion centers is advocated by academic papers, professional journals, and best-practice documents. However, intelligence fusion centers are not integrating EMS personnel into their information collection systems, due to strategic concerns about…
Identity Crisis: Defining the Problem and Framing a Solution for Terrorism Incident Response
Mark Landahl ABSTRACT: The analysis of domestic incidents of terrorism has revealed many gaps in our nation’s capability to effectively manage the multi-jurisdictional response. Although many gaps have been addressed through implementation of measures based on lessons learned, the most pervasive unresolved issue remains the ability to properly identify first response personnel on incident scenes.…
Application of the Maximum Flow Problem to Sensor Placement on Urban Road Networks for Homeland Security
Robert L. Barnett, D. Sean Bovey, Robert J. Atwell, and Lowell Bruce Anderson ABSTRACT: The use of sensors in the detection of terrorists, weapons, or dangerous materials transported along the roadways of the United States could contribute to the protection of urban population centers from attack. Two critical issues in designing a system for detecting…
Generational Hazards
Patrick J. Massey ABSTRACT: Today, the homeland security official is focused squarely on the near-term external threats facing America — the natural and terrorism-induced hazards that define our discipline’s present-day rule-set. This essay argues that we need to create a new, broader homeland security rule-set; one that includes at its core both external hazards as…
Homeland Security Behind the Redwood Curtain
Judith Boyd ABSTRACT: This essay takes the reader to the front porch of a roadside inn for conversations about what homeland security means to the people who live within the redwood forests of Humboldt County, California. Through a series of discussions, the author soon realized that homeland security behind the ‘Redwood Curtain’ has a different…
Changing Homeland Security: A Strategic Logic of Special Event Security
Christopher Bellavita ABSTRACT: Most American communities will never host a large-scale event, but the lessons learned from providing security at major events, such as the Olympics, can be scaled to other events. These lessons may also help guide homeland security preparedness, particularly in states, regions, and cities. This article distills the strategic insights of almost…
Notes from the Editor (Vol. III, Iss. 2)
Download the full issue. Welcome to Homeland Security Affairs, Volume III, number 2. In this issue, we are pleased to offer essays and articles from James Delaney, James Burch, and Thomas F. Stinson, Jean Kinsey, Dennis Degeneffe, and Koel Ghosh. These authors take different angles in examining how we prevent and respond to national threats.…
The National Disaster Medical System’s Reliance on Civilian-Based Medical Response Teams in a Pandemic is Unsound
John Delaney ABSTRACT: The world is threatened with a pandemic, an event considered to be the greatest public health risk, with the potential to kill as many as forty to fifty million people, sicken hundreds of millions, and significantly impact the global economy. Countries and health organizations throughout the world are monitoring the threat and…