RAND's Take on Homeland Security
October / November 2009
Volume 7 Number 5
RAND Corporation conducts research and analysis on critical social and economic issues such as education, poverty, crime, the environment and national security. The non-profit "think-tank" is a go-to source of information for governmental agencies at the federal, state and local levels and entities in the private sector.
Terrorism and homeland security is one of RAND's primary areas of research. The organization provides insight on national preparedness, critical infrastructure protection, cyber security, emergency management, terrorism risk management, security cost-benefit analyses and border security, to name a few.
Innovation's Eric Billingsley recently spoke with Brian A. Jackson, senior physical scientist and associate director of RAND's Homeland Security research program, about the organization's take on the role of technology innovation in homeland security.
Jackson has conducted research on homeland security and terrorism preparedness in areas including: safety management in large-scale emergency response operations; equipment and technology needs of emergency responders; and design of preparedness exercises.
His terrorism-focused research has examined: organizational learning by terrorist groups; terrorist groups' use of technology; development of assessment methods for novel terrorist threats; and strategies to respond to terrorist targeting of national economies.
Will you provide a little history about the RAND Corporation? Who does the organization do homeland security research for and how is it used?
The RAND Corporation is a nonprofit institution that helps improve policy and decision making through research and analysis. We have carried out homeland security research directly for the Department of Homeland Security, but have also done analyses relevant to homeland security for other organizations at the federal level (for example, the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Defense), state and local agencies, and private sector organizations.
What role has technology innovation, both from scientists in the national laboratories and from the private sector, played in addressing threats to homeland security?
Technologies have been—€”and will continue to be—€”a key part of addressing homeland security threats. Thinking about terrorism, detection technologies have played a role in reducing the threat of terrorist attack for decades. For new threats like unconventional weapons, technology to allow the detection of chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear materials and to support the response to incidents using such weapons has been a major focus. Though current technologies provide a variety of capabilities to the organizations and agencies that are charged with preventing and responding to terrorism, there are many opportunities for innovation to develop new technologies that improve effectiveness, reduce cost, or reduce the burden of security measures on the public they are intended to protect.
What are some specific technologies that have been put to use?
Technologies to improve security and national preparedness have been deployed in a wide variety of ways across the country. For example, a trip through almost any major airport can provide many examples of technologies that have been deployed to protect that particular infrastructure. Detection technologies ranging from metal detectors to sophisticated analytical instruments are used to screen passengers and baggage to find weapons. At some airports, the deployment of security officers for examining vehicles is informed by probabilistic models to make security less predictable to attackers. Technologies like blast-resistant glass in windows or reinforcements of physical infrastructure harden these targets against explosives. Behind the scenes, technologies have been put in place to prepare emergency responders to respond in the event that an attack occurs. Other examples are readily available as well.
From RAND's perspective, what areas of homeland security still need a technology boost? In other words, where and what are the pressing opportunities for entrepreneurs and scientists?
In much of our research, the focus has been on understanding how we should make decisions about the security measures we develop and deploy to ensure that we get the protection we expect for the money we are spending. For threats like terrorism, determining whether particular protective technologies—€”or other homeland security measures —€”are cost effective is difficult. Doing so requires assessing an uncertain future terrorist threat and thinking through how terrorists might respond to the defenses we deploy—€”to either reduce their effectiveness or defeat them entirely. For terrorism, there will always be inherent unpredictability in future threats so developing better ways to design new technologies that either perform well across a range of threats or are flexible to make it possible for us to adapt when potential attackers change would be valuable.
How technologically savvy are terrorists? Can you talk about "niche" threats versus immediate and executable threats?
The technology savvy of terrorists varies considerably from group to group. Some groups can stage very complex attacks effectively, while others struggle when carrying out comparatively simple operations. In thinking about what terrorist groups might do in the future we need to recognize that they may try difficult and innovative attacks, but also understand the limits they operate under. Like any organization, they will not be successful at everything they try to do. Our defensive strategies need to be crafted to reflect this uncertainty. To the extent we can develop defensive technologies that are valuable across many different things future attackers might try, it is more likely those technologies will produce a "security return on investment" than defenses that depend on us successfully predicting what future attackers will try and whether they will be successful.
Is there currently adequate funding support from the federal government and other sources for this type of innovation, and what are the primary sources of funding?
Whether or not current research support is viewed as adequate—€”which is a complex question—€”there are certainly a variety of potential funding sources that are relevant to technologies related to homeland security needs. As is the case in other fields, they range from sources of basic research support to do foundational study of new detection technologies to more applied technology development programs and agency procurement efforts.
What are some of the challenges entrepreneurs face in trying to work for the sake of homeland security?
One of the central challenges regarding homeland security technology is the complexity of the organizational environment for their deployment. The national "homeland security enterprise"—€”if defined broadly—€”goes from agencies at the federal level through state and local organizations and even includes the private sector. There is great heterogeneity even among formally similar organizations —€”for example, police or fire departments across the country vary considerably in size. The significant differences among potential users of these technologies make technology design and development more complex, since different users may have different requirements, different price points where adoption of a technology becomes viable, and so on.
Does RAND consider fostering innovation and industry in the U.S. to be an important component of the overall homeland security picture?
Given the complexity of the missions homeland security organizations at all levels are tasked to carry out, technology will almost certainly play an important role in the country's ability to successfully achieve those missions well into the future. As a result, the development of better performing and increasingly cost effective technologies to contribute to that mission will also be a significant contributor.
For more information on Department of Homeland Security programs that support technology innovation, and some of the agency's specific technology needs, visit www.dhs.gov and follow links to the SECURE and FutureTECH sites.
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