Homeland security concerns arising since September 11, 2001, have captured national attention and sparked a number of responses at all levels of government. As events have unfolded and the nature of the situation has become better understood within the United States, the need for effective planning and response has resulted in the identification of significant analytical challenges. These challenges relate to a number of different needs, including the following: • estimating the probability and the potential impact of various threats, • identifying the need for and effectiveness of specific counter-measures, and • assessing the combined results of interacting activities and events. Analytical approaches traditionally used for safety engineering and risk analysis, coupled with analytical approaches borrowed from other systems analysis disciplines, can be usefully adapted to help meet these challenges. This paper identifies and discusses several illustrative examples of the analytical challenges currently being faced with respect to homeland security. Linkages are then examined between these specific challenges and traditional analytical approaches from a variety of disciplines, including safety engineering and risk analysis. Since effective cooperation among responsible agencies and organizations has been identified as an issue of concern and is essential to achieve an effective homeland security strategy and response capability, issues relating to multiple interacting activities are specifically highlighted.
Revised: October 20, 2005 |
Published: November 1, 2003
Citation
Holter G.M., and J. Young. 2003.Analytical Approaches to Address Homeland Security Issues. In 2003 ASME International Mechanical Engineering Congress - IMECE 2003. Engineering Technology Management, Nov 15-21 2003, Washington, DC, 199-204. New York, New York:American Society of Mechanical Engineers.PNNL-SA-44867.