Scientists Urge DHS to Improve Bioterrorism Risk Assessment

Abstract

In 2006, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) completed its first Bioterrorism Risk Assessment (BTRA), intended to be the foundation for DHS s subsequent biennial risk assessments mandated by Homeland Security Presidential Directive 10 (HSPD-10). At the request of DHS, the National Research Council established the Committee on Methodological Improvements to the Department of Homeland Security s Biological Agent Risk Analysis to provide an independent, scientific peer review of the BTRA. The Committee found a number of shortcomings in the BTRA, including a failure to consider terrorists as intelligent adversaries in their models, unnecessary complexity in threat and consequence modeling and simulations, and a lack of focus on risk management. The Committee unanimously concluded that an improved BTRA is needed to provide a more credible foundation for risk-informed decision making.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jan 01, 2008
Accession Number
ADA576248

Entities

People

  • Alyson G Wilson
  • David Banks
  • Gerald G. Jerry Brown
  • Gregory S. Parnell
  • Luciana L. Borio

Organizations

  • Naval Postgraduate School

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Bioterrorism
  • Business Administration
  • Department Of Homeland Security
  • Homeland Security
  • Mathematical Models
  • Operations Research
  • Risk
  • Risk Analysis
  • Risk Management
  • Security
  • Social Sciences
  • Statistics
  • Systems Engineering
  • Terrorism
  • United States
  • United States Military Academy
  • Vulnerability

Readers

  • Aviation Safety Risk Assessment.
  • Government and Public Administration Law.
  • Systems Analysis and Design