Technology Strategies for Homeland Security: Adaptation and Coevolution of Offense and Defense
Abstract
Terrorists technology choices are a key part of their ability to create fear in target populations and audiences. Terrorists interaction with technologies that perform key functions within modern society - e.g., communications or infrastructures can also be strategies through which they can produce damage and fear. It is the way the terrorist chooses to apply technologies to cause death and destruction that sets him apart from the criminal who may be comparably armed and equipped but who uses those technologies for personal or material gain. For homeland security organizations,1 responses to terrorist threats frequently gravitate toward the use of defensive technical systems. Significant sums of public and private funds have been allocated for development and fielding of security technologies and reduction of societal vulnerabilities. Making good decisions about investments in defensive systems many of which are costly and intended to reduce the threat of terrorist attack over the long term requires understanding the interaction between the technology strategies of the terrorist and those of the organizations charged with defending against them.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 01, 2009
- Accession Number
- ADA494572
Entities
People
- Brian A. Jackson
Organizations
- Naval Postgraduate School