[IP] Taking the terror out of terror: Sandia team re-thinks physical security for homeland defense
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Subject: [CYBERIA] Taking the terror out of terror: Sandia team re-thinks
physical security for homeland defense
>"Suppose every PDA had a sensor on it," suggests ACG researcher Laura
>McNamara. "We would achieve decentralized surveillance."
>"The goal here is to abolish anonymity, the terrorist's friend," says
>Sandia researcher Peter Chew.
>"We need to help win over the as-yet-undecided populace to the view it is
>their government that is legitimate and not the insurgents," says the
>ACG's David Kitterman.
<http://www.sandia.gov/news-center/news-releases/2005/gen-science/counterter
ror.html>
NEWS RELEASES
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 17, 2005
Taking the terror out of terror: Sandia team re-thinks physical security
for homeland defense
Analysis may lead to less anxiety, more safety
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - Anticipating attacks from terrorists, and hardening
potential targets against them, is a wearying and expensive business that
could be made simpler through a broader view of the opponents' origins,
fears, and ultimate objectives, according to studies by the Advanced
Concepts Group (ACG) of Sandia National Laboratories.
"Right now, there are way too many targets considered and way too many ways
to attack them," says ACG's Curtis Johnson. "Any thinking person can spin
up enemies, threats, and locations it takes billions [of dollars] to fix."
That U.S. response is actually part of the war plan of our opponents,
points out ACG vice president and Sandia Principal Scientist Gerry Yonas.
Yonas reports that an al Quaeda strategy document signed by Shiekh Naji,
dated September 2004, reads: "Force the enemy to guard every building,
train station, and street in order to plant fear in their hearts and
convince Muslims to join and die as martyrs instead of dying as infidels."
Osama bin Laden put it in this way, according to Yonas: "We are continuing
. . . to make America bleed profusely to the point of bankruptcy . . ."
The ACG - a technical think tank that influences the direction of
long-term research at Sandia, a National Nuclear Security Administration
laboratory - is in the early stages of developing a conceptual program to
improve America's defenses against terrorism.
"Something to keep in mind," says Johnson, "is that an attack isn't a goal
in itself but a means to a further end. The terrorist might succeed at some
tactical objective - create terrible destruction and loss of life - yet
still be foiled in achieving his strategic goal of bringing our society to
its knees."
"There can never be perfect protection," says Yonas. "We can never stop
every conceivable attack. But we live with danger every day in many forms."
"Because their goal is to terrorize us, one point is to take the terror out
of terror," says John Whitley, another ACG group member. "Consider fire: At
one time, fire was a major threat to cities and even burned a number of
them down. Now we have fire engines, water hydrants, fire insurance. We
live with the danger almost without thinking about it. We need to set up
the same kind of standby mechanisms against terrorism, and do so in an
affordable manner."
People in airports voluntarily might carry smart cards if the cards could
be sweetened to perform additional tasks like helping the bearer get
through security, or to the right gate at the right time.
Mall shoppers might be handed a sensing card that also would help locate a
particular store, a special sale, or find the closest parking space through
cheap distributed-sensor networks.
"Suppose every PDA had a sensor on it," suggests ACG researcher Laura
McNamara. "We would achieve decentralized surveillance." These sensors
could report by radio frequency to a central computer any signal from
contraband biological, chemical, or nuclear material
Danger signals would call forth already-in-place defensive procedures.
"The goal here is to abolish anonymity, the terrorist's friend," says
Sandia researcher Peter Chew. "We're not talking about abolishing privacy -
that's another issue. We're only considering the effect of setting up an
electronic situation where all the people in a mall, subway, or airport
'know' each other - via, say, Bluetooth - as they would have, personally,
in a small town. This would help malls and communities become bad targets."
Other ways to fight terrorism start earlier.
"The game really starts when the bad guys are getting together to plan
something, not when they show up at your door," says Johnson. "Can you ping
them to get them to reveal their hand, or get them to turn against
themselves?"
Better yet is to bring the battle to the countries from which terrorists
spring, and beat insurgencies before they have a foothold.
"We need to help win over the as-yet-undecided populace to the view it is
their government that is legitimate and not the insurgents," says the ACG's
David Kitterman. Data from Middle East polls suggest, perhaps surprisingly,
that most respondents are favorable to Western values. Turbulent times,
however, put that liking under stress.
A nation's people and media can be won over, says Yonas, through global
initiatives that deal with local problems such as the need for clean water
and affordable energy.
Says Johnson, "U.S. security already is integrated with global security.
We're always helping victims of disaster like tsunami victims, or victims
of oppressive governments. Perhaps our ideas on national security should be
redefined to reflect the needs of these people."
This part of the process may have already begun. Peter Davies, director of
Sandia's Geosciences and Environment group, says that Sandia has just
completed a workshop series in partnership with the Center for Strategic
and International Studies on Global Water Futures
(www.csis.org/gsi/water.htm). This project is focused on innovation in U.S.
international water policy and in the way it deploys technology.
The issue of global water is seeing active attention on the Hill, most
recently in a bill titled "Safe Water: Currency for Peace Act of 2005."
This bill, Davies says, was introduced by Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist
last week.
More technical actions under consideration are for researchers to enter
chat rooms with military commanders to solicit feedback to problems
encountered in the field; apply system solutions to monitoring borders
without interrupting legitimate traffic flow; and direct more simulated
attacks by red teams to probe and correct technical weaknesses in U.S.
defenses before actual assailants strike.
Yonas believes this global war does not have to last for generations "if we
harness the comprehensive capacity of our nation." He means by this, he
says, that while technology will play an important role in the overall
struggle, it will be most effective when coupled into the entire range of
social, political, psychological, economic, historical, and philosophical
issues.
ACG ideas are pursued through fests, workshops, and almost-weekly
brainstorm sessions to stimulate innovative approaches throughout the
Sandia community.
Top of Page
Sandia is a multiprogram laboratory operated by Sandia Corporation, a
Lockheed Martin company, for the U.S. Department of Energy's National
Nuclear Security Administration. Sandia has major R&D responsibilities in
national security, energy and environmental technologies, and economic
competitiveness.
Sandia media contact: Neal Singer, nsinger@xxxxxxxxxx, (505) 284-5325
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R. A. Hettinga <mailto: rah@xxxxxxxx>
The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/>
44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA
"... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity,
[predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to
experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'
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