Abstracts|
1 October 15.45-16.45Special Break-out session: How to successfully design University based Centers of Excellence - the DHS experience
Ms. Allison Jetton, Attorney, Office of the General Counsel, DHS
Forensics 1
Moderator: Birgitta Rasmusson, Statens kriminaltekniska laboratorium (SKL)
Developing Forensic Genetics and Unambiguous Detection for the Tularemia Pathogen Francisella tularensis, a Potent Biothreat Agent Francisella tularensis is the causative agent of tularemia but probably best known, and most feared, for its potential as a bacterial biological weapon. The most virulent Francisella strains are by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention classified as a Category A select agent, considered to pose the greatest potential threat for public health if used by terrorists. A complication that poses challenges for early warning, detection and tracing of F. tularensis in environmental samples is the widespread presence of very close relatives which may give high false positive rates. Our ability to perform forensic analysis and tracing the source of F. tularensis strains is currently limited by a paucity of knowledge on the population genetics and information on mutation rates. However, the rapid progress of modern sequence technology has recently enabled increased understanding of the population genetics of F. tularensis and also on the unique features that distinguish environmental isolates from human pathogenic variants. Recent development in the field of microbial genomics pertinent to forensics genetics and unambiguous detection of F. tularensis will be presented. Francisella tularensis whole genome collaboration Microbial population genetics and forensic analysis Explosive threatsModerator: Dr James Tuttle, US Department of Homeland Security, Science & Technology Directorate Explosive Threats in Civilian Society Vehicle-Borne Improvised Explosive Devices (VBIED) and Person-Borne Improvised Explosive Devices (PBIED) are among the largest terrorist threat to the civil society today. They are however not weapons of mass destruction (WMD) they should rather be seen as weapons of mass disruption. Unfortunately are they very easy to produce and to deploy. This means Explosives for the moment is the first choice for terrorist attacks on the civilian society as we have seen used in the London, Madrid and Bali bombings. This presentation will give an overview of resent explosives based terrorist attacks, what the what terrorists uses and what can and need to do be done in order to counter this threats. An overview of selected research activities ongoing in the European Union in this field will also be presented. The presentation will be concluded with some examples of Swedish research on novel standoff explosives detection methods.
In an effort to protect the United States from the ever increasing threat of domestic terrorism, the Department of Homeland Security, Science and Technology Directorate (DHS S&T), has significantly increased research activities in the field of improvised explosive threat detection. Moreover, DHS S&T has established a robust, dedicated program to protect civilians from both Person Borne and Vehicle Borne Improvised Explosive Threats. Success in this program requires careful consideration of a broad range of activities, from prediction and deterrence through detection and response. The improvised threat, whether deployed as a suicide vest or vehicle bomb, presents the analytical community with many unique detection challenges. DHS intends to reach out to both academia and industry to meet these challenges, both domestically and abroad. Additionally, DHS is reaching out to non-traditional analytical communities, such as the medical and environmental communities, for novel solutions. This presentation will focus on the challenges to security screening and explosives detection from both operational and analytical perspectives. Additionally, detection priorities and requirements will be presented along with an overview of existing activities.
Security solutions in practiceModerator: Mr Lars Jernbäcker, Saab Security
The construction of the new airport Berlin Brandenburg International raised the issue of the implementation of new technologies. The airport authorities have two main constraints: to finish the new airport within the given time and cost frame and not many resources are available to evaluate new technologies. As a consequence a technology transfer scheme was devised, which minimises the screening and evaluation effort. The key idea is the "embedded engineer". The partners in the Modern Airport project, the business and technology development agencies of Berlin and Brandenburg, the Berlin-Brandenburg Aerospace Agency and the Berlin Airports installed a (embedded) person within the premises of the airport, who understands the internal problems of a complex airport organisation. So far the security issue was most often topic of these workshops. Security is often influenced by actual events and solutions have to be found on a short notice also; it is therefore a good example to prove the validity of the technology transfer concept. In view of this the eascSchoenhagen e.V. was created in order to meet the need of a manufacturer-independent centre of aviation security, which provides test fields and certification solutions to airport operators, simulates threat scenarios, develops appropriate training modules, and which takes part in research.
Land mass transport systems have an open security architecture and are therefore vulnerable to terrorist attack. The scope of the investigations is to reducethe risk of injuries and fatalities in case of an explosion inside trains or stations by strengthening and optimizing these structures. The determination of the risk inside the land mass transport systems is done here numerically using Finite Element codes. The structures are coupled with the air in the numerical model using special fluid?structure treatments. The result of such a calculation are overpressures depending on the time. These pressures can be used to determine a risk for each point inside the structure. In our case, the geometry of a station and of a train is determined using a 3D laser scanning technology. Special numerical models are used to determine the failure of the material especially of the widely used tempered and laminated glass.
Surveillance networks and detectionModerator: Dr Svante Ödman, Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency (MSB)
Introduction Objectives Based on the sensor development, the following issues will be analysed: Technology Results
We present the Intelligent Surveillance Network (ISN) concept that offers a common Intelligent Surveillance Platform for real-time processing of information from a great variety of integrated sensors as well as information from other data sources such as on-line databases and position update reports from own personnel in the field. ISN provides information for a common surveillance situational picture to be efficiently presented to a surveillance operator.
This presentation covers new developments in low frequency synthetic aperture radar, for which technology Sweden has wide recognition. During the last two years technical breakthroughs made by Saab in this area has opened a route for addressing detection of small objects (like humans) hiding in a forest as well as buried objects or structures such as tunnels and IEDs. Synthetic aperture radar operates from an aircraft, helicopter or UAV which transverse the ground which is imaged. Installation in a moving ground vehicle is an option for some applications. The Swedish well known and well established implementation of synthetic aperture radar is the so-called CARABAS radar operating with wavelengths of several meters (which makes in quite unique in the world). This radar provides very good foliage penetration for finding hidden targets like trucks and tanks under tree cover. A characteristic feature of the radar is the two several meters long push boom antennas protruding from the nose of a business jet. The technology breakthrough mentioned is the complete miniaturization of this type of radar including the antennas. With the much shorter antennas, these can also be mounted vertically on an aircraft and will in this position provide ground penetration. By an appropriate selection of frequency band - still corresponding to wavelengths much larger than conventional radars - a combined capability of ground and vegetation penetration is achieved and also a sensitivity to small objects such as individual humans or buried IEDs. The radar will thus have wide use in the security related applications, including border surveillance for tunnels, or illegal border trespassing under tree cover. The surveillance capacity can (depending on radar mode) be significant and the system is thus also suited for hunting illegal activities (like illegal deforestation and mining) in forested areas of the world. The newer radar technology is currently being implemented by Saab in a prototype development for the Hughes (or Schweizer) 300 helicopter type. The radar prototype is intended to be airborne in mid-2010. It is intended as a low cost system suited for immediate integration (without any mechanical modification to the airframe) on helicopter platform available worldwide. Users may thus acquire the system for evaluation of its potential, according to their own agenda. Ruggedized implementations on UAVs or more capable manned platforms will be available subsequently.
Situation awarenessModerator: Mr Mikael Hällström, Saab Security It is all about knowing: Common situation awareness among autonomous actors in complex scenarios To rapidly and decisively respond to situations that are potentially harmful to the society, decision-makers require prompt and accurate information presented in a purposeful manner. Usually, the concept of situation awareness concerns geographically oriented facts regarding the unfolding situation. This knowledge is fundamental but does not fully facilitate the self-synchronization that is required among autonomous actors. One example of this is a terrorist situation involving an international passenger ferry that will engage private enterprises as well as military and civilian agencies from different nations. The complex interaction between these agents with no clear chain of command requires that the situation awareness must be extended to include how other actors interpret the situation and how they intend to deal with it. Vast amounts of information that would facilitate these different aspects of awareness already exist today. The challenge is how to encourage sharing it and to present what is relevant for each decision-maker. In collaboration between the Swedish Contingencies Agency and Saab, we have proposed a framework to support common situation awareness among autonomous actors. The results include means to categorize and publish information in order to make it available to the decision-makers that require it. Also, tools have been tested in order to interpret indicators for anomalous situations in society including monitoring incoming emergency calls and material published by bloggers and traditional media. Finally, to further support information sharing and self-synchronization, novel opportunities provided by social media have been investigated.
This presentation addresses the complexity and demands of Maritime Domain Awareness (MDA) for crisis mitigation and prevention. Comprehensive, effective MDA demands a concert of technical and organisational solutions in interplay. Moreover, solutions for MDA are not merely applied within complex contexts where for example, economic and political as well as technical constraints play an influential role, they are also developed within these contexts. A holistic socio-technical perspective is thus argued for which takes into account both the development and the applications of technical systems for MDA within socio-political, economic, institutional, organisational, judicial, and typically international environments. Legislation, regulations and standards, proprietary concerns and their impact, conditions and consequences for human and operational error, organisational and communication issues need to be empirically researched and documented in a comparative manner. Shared situational awareness is often impeded by problems of particularly an organisational and human nature (including command and control and information management issues). Whereas these circumstances typically involve technical systems they frequently do not have their origins there. Case-based research can contribute to the assessment and development of post-crisis learning including benchmarking and best practices which can in turn be effectively realized through training.
Successful strategic planning in a multi-agency setting requires overview and an awareness of the situation in all its facets. This includes the development of desired effects, by defining common objectives. However, to identify common desired effects in a complex setting where several agencies are in operation creates challenges. It requires joint strategic analysis among agencies. Ideally the common situation awareness should also include the broader political and geopolitical variables, and thus, enhance the planners awareness of an operation in a larger context. The big picture situation awareness often includes variables, such as whether the operational area might develop political instability, political polarization, unrest, ethnic instability and other contextual factors.
Electromagnetic Threats Against Critical Infrastructures (EMP)Introduction
The modern society is today severely dependent of infrastructure containing different kinds of critical electronic systems: Examples are telecommunications, information technology, banking & finance, electric power grids, logistic systems and railway transportations. A rapid increase of wireless solutions for vital parts in critical infra structures can also be seen. Examples are
The rapidly increasing dependence of wireless solutions and other electronic equipment in critical infra structure dramatically increases the vulnerability against intentional or unintentional electromagnetic interference. Electromagnetic threats that was only possible to realize by military actors during the cold war is today possible for illegal actors and terrorists to use. Thus, the vulnerability of the civilian society against this threat has increased rapidly the last one or two decades which is confirmed by several real examples. An increased consciousness of this threat is seen internationally from different actors which calls for a structured strategy to prevent that this vulnerability leads to crucial consequences. In this session, examples of this threat are presented to highlight the connection to critical infrastructure protection (CIP).
International Medical RN Preparedness - role of the Swedish Centre of Research and Development for Radiation Emergency Medicine (KcRN)Dr Leif Stenke, Centre of Research and Development for Radiation Emergency Medicine (KcRN) Global health security is today a high priority issue on the agenda of national and international authorities. The risk of accidents involving nuclear power plants and radiation sources in e.g. health care facilities have long been recognized, but during recent years possible terrorism involving radioactive material has also received growing attention. Such terrorist acts are by many experts anticipated as increasingly more realistic. The scenarios could involve the release of small amounts of radioactive material with minor health consequences, to larger, disastrous radiological/nuclear (RN) events with considerable numbers of mass casualties. Harmonized approach to medical management of such emergencies is essential for planning and allocation of global public health response, and identifying priorities for future research. The Swedish Centre of Research and Development for Radiation Emergency Medicine (KcRN), supported by the National Board of Health and Welfare, focuses on research, preparedness and training related to RN events with health implications in man. In this break-out session of EACS09 a number of on-going international initiatives for medical RN preparedness will be described and reported. On March 16-18, 2009, the World Health Organization (WHO) convened a consultation in Geneva, Switzerland to discuss best practices in medical management of acute radiation syndrome in secondary health care settings and harmonization of treatment modalities protocols. The document resulting from this consultation, was developed assuming a range of abstract scenarios from a radiological incidents/accidents to a larger scale of events involving response of ordinary, non-specialized health care facilities. It is anticipated that the recommendations provided in this manuscript are applicable throughout the world and may also be applied to a larger-scale events, although an individual country's capacity to provide for certain elements of response may be restricting the protocols recommended hereby. Whereas in the past, the most likely scenarios have been thought to involve the release of a small amount of radioactive material, today it is believed that the risk of a larger radiological/nuclear incident is increasingly more realistic Research, preparedness and training focused on radionuclear (RN-) events with health implications in man.
Current research:
2 October 11.15-12.15Special Break-out Session: Possibilities for cooperation within EU perspective: Procedures for grants, cooperative projects, priorities, EU 7th Framework ProgramMs. Kristien Van Goey Enterprise and Industry Directorate-General, EU Commission
Spreading of infections and bioterrorismDr Elisabeth George, DHS Science and Technology Directorate
Bioterrorism has been referred to as the ideal terrorist weapon. It is difficult to predict, relatively simple to execute, challenging to prepare for, and likely to produce mass casualties. The preparedness and response system in the affected region will have to function at maximum efficiency to mitigate loss of life, and to maintain order within the citizenry. The proposed talk will highlight the bioterrorism preparedness approach being pursued in the United States (including the use of stockpiling), discuss the international quandary of MCM supply and demand, and offer suggestions for advancing a meaningful bioterrorism preparedness and response strategy that will replace random regional approaches with a workable global plan.
The results of a research project, in which the Sars (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) epidemic in China (2002-2003) was used as an example, have pointed to a significant new potential for the dissemination of early and reliable information in connection with health threats. This potential is based on communication links between local commercial sources and national/international crisis management agencies and government authorities. These links constitute chains of communication which represent a new information instrument which, together with already established national and international information channels, creates the potential for developing new early warning systems for increased societal safety and security
Any spread of disease includes the essential contact between individuals. How the probabilities of contact are distributed between individuals in a population determines pattern of spread. The pattern is most important to asses when determining effective strategies and regarding optimizing prevention, control and eradication strategies of animal diseases as for example Foot and Mouth disease. A possible approach for modeling disease spread is to assume all between-individuals contacts to be equally probable (mass-action mixing, MAM). While such an assumption may provide a theoretical epidemiological insight, in most instances contacts do not occur according to MAM. The pattern of decreasing probability with distance can then be described in a generalized way by variance and kurtosis. A high variance means that more contacts/movements occur over long distances. A kernel with high kurtosis means there are many contacts at short distances but at the same time a fat tail describing a large proportion of long-distance contacts. We have constructed a method for analyzing the probability of contacts through live animal movements given the distance between holdings. It uses Bayesian inference to analyze the data and we obtain the posterior distribution of parameters with Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) techniques.
RadicalizationModerator: Bengt Sundelius, Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency (MSB)
As a highly prioritised policy area within the European Union since the London bombings, the issue of understanding the phenomenon of radicalisation has resulted in intensified research what the radicalisation processes entail. Less research has focused on how to prevent radicalisation. Similarly, there has been increased focus on policy initiatives within the UK, the Netherlands and Denmark to prevent radicalisation and polarisation between communities. However, how do these approaches differ and how we know that these measures work? This session aims to explore and understand what we know about radicalisation processes and efforts to prevent this phenomenon in Europe. It will also explore what research areas are needed for the future.
This presentation highlights DHS S&T's research initiatives related to understanding, identifying, and countering violent extremism. It provides an overview of relevant research at the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START), including research that START is conducting in collaboration with international partners like the Swedish National Defense University. Finally, it discusses two efforts sponsored by the Human Factors/Behavioral Sciences Division: The Prevent/Deter CIED Program and the Violent Intent Modeling and Simulation Project.
Technology for critical infrastructure protectionModerator: Ulf Dahlberg, Flir Systems
After the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, and the anthrax attacks that followed, transportation agencies in the United States expanded the programmatic all-hazards approach developed over decades of experience in traffic incident management, planned special events, and emergency response to natural hazards. Through the Cooperative Research Programs, end-users select and scope projects, select and oversee researchers, and ballot final products. Costing Asset Protection: An All Hazards Guide for Transportation Agencies (CAPTA) is a convenient and robust planning tool for top-down estimation of both capital and operating budget implications of measures intended to reduce risks to locally acceptable levels. Security 101: A Physical Security Primer for Transportation Agencies focuses on measures and concepts designed to (1) safeguard personnel; (2) prevent unauthorized access to equipment, installations, materiel, and documents; and (3) safeguard equipment, installations, materiel, and documents against espionage, sabotage, damage, and theft. A Guide to Planning Resources on Transportation and Hazards provides a framework for the stages of a disaster from a transportation perspective; describes current and innovative hazards-related research to a transportation audience; and introduces research from fields that are not always associated with transportation engineering (including social science, mitigation and land use planning, and policy analysis).
Diffractive Optically Variable Image Devices (DOVIDs), or "security holograms", is increasingly often a vital component of security documents e.g. passport documents. Despite being a cornerstone security component, the DOVIDs lack one important feature: a meaningful characterization. As DOVIDs are primarily used to facilitate first line (human) inspection, the principal components of a meaningful characterization would ideally include the principal components gained by visual perception. Unfortunately instruments have been unable to capture the perceptually important characteristics of DOVIDs.
Several evaluations during recent years have shown an increasing trust on the time given from different computer networks; however the actual reliability rarely meets the challenge. It has become apparent in several critical infrastructures that the timestamping is unreliable and as a consequence huge efforts has been made to recreate the timing in retrospect, or in some cases data has been useless when lacking reliable notation of time.
Securing power and water supplyModerator: Christopher Doyle, DHS Science and Technology Directorate
The EVENT project aims at strengthening existing crisis management systems by incorporating a detector for unexpected events due to biological and chemical substances, leading to faster actions when terrorist attacks, sabotage or accidents occur. The municipal drinking water system is used as a test bed for the development of such an event detector connected to the municipal crisis management system. Several technologies can be used for local event detection in drinking water, but in this project we have chosen to focus on a technique based on an "electronic tongue", which is a non-selective sensor, allowing detection of a plurality of events without the need of a specific sensor for each type of event. One aim of the project is to supply an early warning, to a crises management system which, in turn, provides situation awareness to all relevant authorities in a crises situation. In order to achieve this, a project consortium with complementary competences has been formed. It consists of Linköping University, the security department of Linköping municipality, the drinking water supplier Tekniska Verken i Linköping AB, Saab Security, supplier of the crisis management system ISAK and a spin-off company in the chemical sensor field, Adixen Scandinavia.
Surveillance, anomality detection and emergency responseModerator: Dr Lena Klasén, Saab AB
The European Union is developing capacities to strengthen the security at the external borders. One of the primary concerns is to detect and prohibit illicit traffic on the maritime borders of the Union. EUROSUR is an initiative to create a "system of systems" enhancing the situational awareness and the reaction capability for border security. The development of EUROSUR will initially focus on maritime surveillance of the areas from the western coast of Africa to the Black Sea. However, the land borders will also be included. The development of EUROSUR will be gradual, starting with measures to connect and integrate existing surveillance systems. The longer term developments will rely on research and development, and several supporting studies will be launched by the Commission, by Frontex and by the Member States. To support the Member States and the European Commission in the development of EUROSUR, Frontex works in several fields. In the field of research and development, Frontex follows relevant projects in the security theme of the Seventh Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development (FP7). The presentation provides an overview of the EUROSUR plans, the role of Frontex, and the way the FP7 research is used to support the EUROSUR development.
Operator crisis management training is often focused on rehearsing prescriptive emergency procedures or establishing common operating pictures among involved actors. Do such strategies work when facing unexpected and escalating situations? Using a mid-fidelity ship bridge-simulator we have studied over twenty teams managing escalating situations. Because these teams were able to construct their decision making processes themselves several strategies for making decisions in escalating situations have been observed. Some teams strived hard to keep all participants updated with all incoming information so that decisions could be made in consensus. Some teams adopted a more hierarchical approach and some a rigid process strictly adhering to the predefined boundaries of their roles and tasks. Teams that successfully were able to manage unexpected and escalating situations had a decision making process characterized, not by consensus, hierarchies, or rigidity. Instead successfully proactive teams seem to adopt a goal driven process in which decisions were made in a distributed decision making environment with a constant negotiation and update of goals and role formulations. There need to be a greater training focus on the generic skills that can have a decisive importance for the ability of a team to adapt to the dynamics of unexpected and escalating situations.
Information is knowledge, information is power, but information can be complex and makes decision making difficult which, in turn, may limit the ability to use resources efficiently. Complex behaviours or patterns in information might not be observed by an operator and small changes in a situation may pass unnoticed. Things that are normal one day may not be normal or even allowed at another day. Operators have limited cognitive ability and different operators tend to understand situations differently, which leads to different views on situation awareness, e.g., they notice issues differently from each other. Finding unnormal activity in ordinary events require an experienced and motivated operator.
Cross organizational exercises for improved securityModerator: Eric Stern, FHS
Until verified through exercises, or tested in live situations, arrangements to ensure security and resilience cannot be considered reliable. On society level, the ability to manage exercises and training activities is critical for adequate governance and protection of Critical Infrastructures. In deregulated and complex market environments, with commercial entities delivering interdependent critical infrastructure services, effective multi-agency training and exercises are necessary components of exercise management. By exposing the training audience to multi-agency interaction, in a simulated environment, MAEs create opportunities to identify risks and vulnerabilities that would otherwise go unnoticed. The cost of identifying, analyzing and mitigating these risks are otherwise often too high for the individual organization. Based on experience from over 20 MAEs, these risks and vulnerabilities frequently constitute single points of failure to the infrastructure. Evidence suggests that MAEs increases the collective crisis management and operational continuity capability of critical infrastructures, but they are still uncommon in exercise management programs. This is especially true in terms of the complex, simulated and distributed exercises that contribute to risk identification verification. Why is this? Which obstacles are there? How can we navigate to avoid them? How can the development of exercise standards within, for example, ISO and NATO contribute?
In today's increasing complexity of the society with many actors, organizations and regulations, the demands are extremely high on the organization responsible for the handling of crises in society. What crises that are going to happen and what sequence of events that will be is impossible to predict. Yet society is expected to be able to handle any situation that arises in a satisfactory manner. The future challenges for education and training activities will be even greater to reflect the complex situations and relationships that will occur during a major crisis. Simulation based exercises provide the opportunity to practice complex crises in lifelike forms. High level command training within the armed forces and the international peacekeeping organizations (eg Partnership for Peace) has produced very good results and comprehensive knowledge building. One example is the Swedish-led Viking exercises which drill in international peacekeeping operations with a wide variety of actors; military, police, NGO's, the Red Cross, Amnesty International, the media and others participation. The latter has emphasized the need for interaction between the military and civil. A prerequisite for a good outcome is that the trainees act in their ordinary environment and using their regular tools and communication channels during the exercises. Simulation support is used in the background to create sufficiently realistic sequence of events, but must not disturb the participators actions. Since the computer support is flexible and scalable, participants can exercise in parallel with their ordinary daily responsibilities. The results of well conducted exercises are a significant elevated preparedness for real crises. In addition, invaluable data are collected for future research and development in the area. Knowledge to improve organizational forms, decision-making, information and communication channels is built up and can be used in a controlled manner. The presentation will show how a simulator-based training could be designed to fit the organizational structure for civil security based on the simulation tool and previous experience from similar exercises in particular peacekeeping operations.
This briefing will present what was achieved during the quite unique experiment regarding Swedish/NATO developed Network Enabling Capabilities. The experiment demonstrated live during two days a common information sharing environment built upon the result from the Swedish Network Based Defence and NATO NEC development programs. In that environment operators from the Swedish Police, Swedish Armed Forces, Swedish Rescue Service, NATO and Swedish Emergency Call Centre was able to exchange different types of information in real time to enhance all players situational awareness. An overarching scenario regarding the protection of a High Level meeting is Gothenburg was created for the demonstration and evaluation of the information sharing environment.
Electromagnetic Terrorism against Critical InfrastructuresElectromagnetic Threats against Important Societal Systems. In recent years growing attention has been paid to the threat posed by high-power microwaves (HPM), and other kind of high-power electromagnetic (HPEM) environments, against the function of the civil infrastructure. Targets, conceivable for a terrorist attack, could be telecom, radio/television, power networks or traffic control, financial systems, computer networks, etc. While the HPM threat has been recognized for rather a long time by the military, the threat against civil systems, private as well as public, has started to gain wider attention only during the last ten years or so. Special sessions on intentional electromagnetic interference or Intentional EMI, have in later years been arranged at several conferences. This talk will give an introduction to the threat from extreme electromagnetic effects, such as lightning, HEMP (High-altitude EMP) and HPM, as well as ways to deal with it in defense and aerospace applications. Today the technical infrastructures of society have embedded in their systems electronic devices and computers providing critical control, which makes them vulnerable to electromagnetic disturbances. In addition, inherent characteristics of large distributed systems increase this vulnerability. As all critical infrastructure systems are dependent on uninterrupted electrical power, the power grid forms the backbone of modern society. Past events have shown that a disturbance to the normal operation of the power grid often have large effects on the other infrastructures and modern society, thus, the importance of the power grid is immense. This talk will focus on the vulnerabilities of the large distributed technical infrastructures from Intentional Electromagnetic Interference and specially the importance of the power grid.
Over the world, bus and coach crashes with up to 25 dead are common, but rare with 50 dead. Six "disasters" with more than one hundred killed are reported (1970-2007). Three were post crash fires (120 - 130 fatalities), and three were "bridge incidents" with 106-127 killed. Sweden (9 million inhabitants) has on average had one major crash with 20-62 injured every year during the last decade - six single crashes and four collisions. Characteristics of single bus crashes are that they happen during winter, in rural areas, in windy conditions, and the bus finally comes to rest after a 90? roll to the right, with the doors blocked. The scene shows piles of injured people. Ejection is often lethal, as well as being jammed between roof and seat back if the bus has overturned and the roof has collapsed. There has been a need for better tactic, technique, and rescue equipment in those situations. Hypothermia has been an obvious problem due to long extrication times. The technique has been improved and developed with the "Golden hour" concept as basis. A training program and a three day course have been developed for ambulance and rescue personnel -165 instructors have been trained. 2 October 13.30-14.15How to successfully design University based Centers of Excellence - the DHS experienceDr. Matthew Clark, Director of University Programs, DHS S&T Forensics 2Moderator: Dr Elisabeth George, DHS Science and Technology DirectorateCBRE-Forensics analysis program in Sweden and CB-forensics co-operation with DHS, USA. Overview and some results from ongoing Ricin research. A Swedish CBRE Forensic Analysis RoD program has been initiated this year. An overview of the program and the collaboration with US will be given. These projects involves the Swedish Defence Research Agency, Swedish National Forensic Laboratory, Swedish National Food Administration, and US (DHS) and comprises method development for analysis and attribution in three specific areas; Chemical Warfare Agents, Ricin and Toxins. An additional project covers improvement of Operational Procedures for handling forensic evidences related to CBRE hazards. Forensic analysis of Ricin is an ongoing project in which different aspects of forensic analyses are addressed. i. An analytical method for unambiguous identification of protein toxins in terrorist samples (e.g. "powder letters") has been developed. ii. Sample preparation and analysis methods have been further developed for increased speed and sample throughput with maintained specificity. iii. A set of ricin specific small proteins, demonstrating variant specific patterns, have been identified. Such data can be used for attribution profiling to support crime investigation. Stand-off detection of explosivesModerator: Mike Shepard, DHS Science and Technology Directorate
Imaging from at frequencies from ~30 GHz to ~1 THz has been identified as one of the key technologies for detecting concealed weapons and explosives. Both active (illuminating) and passive (thermal) systems have been developed and deployed for both stand-off and portal applications. Most of the existing passive stand-off systems can reliably detect contraband at a relatively short stand-off range of only a few meters. The image quality is governed by the diffraction limited angular resolution, given by the ratio of the wavelength to the aperture diameter, as well as the radiometric (thermal) resolution of the detectors. The desire to gain better angular resolution, while maintaining a practical aperture diameter has pushed for the development of detectors operating at higher frequencies. However, at present there are no commercially available components available at frequencies well above 200 GHz. Passive systems may provide better detection capabilities, especially considering privacy aspects in comparison to active systems which tend to reveal body shapes.
Standoff detection and identification is one of the most wanted capabilities while it is also one of the largest technical challenges. The large distances required pose several physical difficulties: The intensity of the return light decreases inversely with the distance squared, absorption losses in air (wavelength dependent) and scattering losses in air (wavelength dependent).
Experimental security and resilience factors in critical infrastructureModerator: Dr Torbjörn Thedéen, KTH
The protection of critical infrastructures depends on a proper understanding of the vulnerabilities and threats that might affect their operations. Without this understanding it is impossible to make informed risk management decisions about what to protect and how to protect it. Thus, it can be argued, security data supporting decision making on critical infrastructure protection, whether on a corporate, national or even European level, is absolutely critical. The concept of a European Reference Network for Critical Infrastructure Protection (ERN-CIP) was first presented by the European Commission to the Member States in 2007. The idea being that the authorities of the EU Member States responsible for CIP as well as the operators and the technology providers of the critical infrastructures would benefit from the availability of experimental laboratories and facilities where to appraise and test their security-related systems. As the investments and the resources needed for these facilities are huge, the suggestion was to make it a joint effort of public and private stakeholders all through the European Union. In January 2009 an administrative arrangement was signed that gave the Joint Research Center, a Directorate General within the European Commission, the mandate to investigate the potential means and ways to establish the ERN-CIP. The work is carried out by a dedicated task force consisting by both JRC personnel and detached national experts. In the presentation Malin Fylkner, a member of the ERN-CIP task force, will share her views on the importance of experimental security as a basis for policy support in Europe, but also on the work in progress as well as challenges ahead.
Community resilience refers to the ability of a community or region to effectively prepare for, respond to, and recover from a manmade or natural disaster. This presentation focuses on a case study conducted by the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) to identify resilience factors in Savannah, Georgia. Savannah is a scenic, coastal port city at risk of hurricanes, terrorism, and hazardous materials incidents. It is also the site of many highly attended events, including the past G8 summit, the annual St Patrick's Day parade, and other tourist driven activities. In the first year of the Savannah case study, GTRI researchers identified key functions of community resilience and the networks of organizations (formal and informal) that are or could be responsible for maintaining the critical functions that would ensure community resiliency. GTRI conducted data gathering through surveys and facilitated discussions with Savannah businesses and community residents. This session will review the research methods used and recommendations for future work.
Support systems for disaster managementModerator: Mr Ivar Rönnbäck, Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency (MSB)
Today governments are expected to be able to repatriate its citizens if they are effected by natural disasters or terrorist attacks. Traditionally mass casualty evacuation capability with aircrafts has only been available using military assets which often are in high demand for other requirements. The SAS Advanced Medical Air Transport System (SAS AMAT System) was developed to provide this capability using civil airliners, either operated by governments or chartered when required from airlines, thus reducing the costs of owning dedicated medical evacuation aircrafts. The SAS AMAT System as a flexible solution for providing advanced intensive-care capability in aircrafts and helicopters with no requirement for prior modifications to the aircraft. Thanks to a modular design the system is capable of being installed into a wide range of aircrafts within only a couple of hours. The system meets requirements for flight safety certification and provides a verified patient safe environment. The Mobile Intensive Care Unit stretcher (micusTM-stretcher) of the SAS AMAT System is designed to enable transport between different treatment facilities without having to switch between different stretcher systems and risking disruption in the life sustaining treatment. This can be achieved as the micusTM-stretcher provides a self sustained system with oxygen and electric power for its advanced medical instruments when not drawing power and oxygen from external sources. The design of the micusTM-stretcher also makes it suitable as an advanced emergency medical treatment unit, in environments were this is required. The system is operational with the Swedish National Air Medevac System (SNAM-System) and last used on an EU-mission to repatriate patients after the terrorist attacks in Mumbai in November 2008. The SNAM-system has a capacity of 6 intensive care patients, 6 or 12 stretcher patients and approximately 23 walking wounded or relatives in a Boeing 737-800 aircraft.
After the Boxing Day Tsunami on December 26, 2004 in the Indian Ocean area much effort has been made world wide in the development of technical installations for the prevention of hazards by tsunami threats. Based on the newly developed German Indonesian Tsunami Early Warning System (GITEWS) that went into operation in November 2008, a Distant Early Warning System DEWS has been created by a consortium of European research institutions, universities and their industry partners, plus team members from Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, New Zealand and Japan under the umbrella of the 6th Framework Research Programme of the European Union. We demonstrate a prototype system which integrates various different sensor systems, e.g. seismic networks, buoy systems, ocean bottom pressure sensors, tide gauges, and various GPS devices. As a major breakthrough in early warning software architecture, DEWS is not restricted to the task of tsunami warning. Due to the application of new software standards from the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC®) and the integration of Sensor Web Enablement, DEWS can be applied also for various other natural and man made hazards. The live demonstration at EASC09 will give an insight into a large range of functions of the DEWS.
Border security and public private partnershipsModerator: Dr Anh Duong, DHS Science and Technology Directorate
International cooperation is continuously increasing, resulting in the fact that national systems also need to function across borders. Development of communications and common surveillance systems are important - not only from the point of view of crime prevention - but also in order to protect maritime resources and to be able to guarantee and increase the durability of the ecological system and the marine environment. This together with the developed co-operation within the European Union and in the Baltic Sea Area, as well as via global conventions such as SOLAS (maritime security), sets developed cooperation and methods of surveillance and control in focus. With the rights and obligations of all states to control and protect its territory, both maritime and land territory, it is of vital interest to have an efficient border control and territorial surveillance. However, in order to ensure progress in the field of cooperation and to facilitate operations cross-borders, a greater degree of openness in relation to national/international integrity must be established.
The global maritime supply chain is essential to international trade and managing threats in the maritime domain is critical to national and international security. State of the art Maritime Domain Awareness requires the right information in the hands of the right stakeholders at the right time. A large number of both public and private actors hold maritime domain information Field studies on Public Private Partnerships (PPP) within the areas of risk? and crisis management indicate that a carefully designed PPP concept could enable the expertise and vast information resources of key stakeholders to more efficiently work together in extending the maritime security perimeter. This PPP concept would use Public Private Partnership Methods (PPPM) to collect and pool information from public and private sources and a Public Private Partnership Interface (PPPI) to allow user access to the right information at the right time, under stipulated information classification and user authentication regimes. The cornerstones of this PPP concept - information sharing incentives, social networking technologies and enabling regulation - could potentially bridge the current maritime security gap between public and Our findings suggest that such a PPP concept may provide private actors with an opportunity and sufficient incentives to be more active in protecting national and international security by sharing information and cooperating closely with public actors. In the day and age of modern piracy, the PPPM could provide Governments, INGO's and commercial entities with additional early warning capabilities. At the same time, the PPPI could deliver actionable intelligence to first responders. Ultimately, the PPP concept could improve Maritime Domain Awareness and contribute to joint, public-private, crisis management capabilities.
Information infrastructure in crisesModerator: Mr Carl-Johan Koivisto, Saab AB
Disasters are characterised by their devastating effect on human lives and the society's ability to function. Unfortunately, rescue operations and the possibility to re-establish a working society after such events is often hampered by the lack of functioning communication infrastructures. In this talk we describe the challenges ahead in creating new communication networks to support post-disaster operations, and set them in the context of the current issues in protection of critical infrastructures. The analysis reveals that while there are some common concerns there are also fundamental differences. The presentation serves as an overview of key research directions and pointers to existing works in the two related areas of critical infrastructures and disaster response networks. We propose that timely, secure, and reliable message delivery in challenged environments is the common ground where the two areas can benefit from joint research.
This talk describes the work-in-progress in a 3 year research project financed by the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency. It addresses challenges to deployment of Hastily Formed Networks (HFN) in a disaster management scenario with heterogeneous actor groups leading to diversified technical platforms and leadership/cultural traditions. The vehicle for the study is a technical platform in the form of simulation/emulation environments in which novel algorithms for reliable and secure communication are developed and tested. The organisation and interaction aspects will be studied with the aim of enhancing interoperability among the diverse end users, and establishing a conversation space. The talk will present an overview of achieved results half way through the project; in particular, an energy-efficient manycast protocol running on hand held devices, and early stakeholder inputs.
Sharing of Information in Crises ManagementModerator: Dr Anders Eriksson, Swedish Defence Research Agency (FOI)
Crisis response and society security will in the coming years face completely new challenges. The old military-like solutions based on a hierarchical command and control structure will be obsolete due to its inflexibility and high costs. We tend to design for yesterdays problem and we often lack the capacity to look deep into the future. In order to reach Societal Security 2.0, we as researchers, designer, technology providers and policy makers must make a radical shift in our current thinking. Instead of centralized super-stationary command centers with over-whelming computing capacity, we must aim for super mobile organizational structures with distributed capacity on a massive scale. The future for situation awareness is not found in proprietary technology and data fusion centers but in consumer electronics, commercial networks and the power of the many in a crowd-sourcing approach. Sweden must make a dramatic shift for society security and crisis response that fully embraces mobile consumer technology, the next generation social media applications and robust commercial mobile broadband networks. The future is all about providing mobile capabilities into the hands of local and regional organizations on a massive scale. Information will be produced and consumed using the mobile terminals we always have ready-at-hand in any situation we will face.
Our world of today has since a couple of decades entered a new era which we call the "Information Era". During earlier periods like the feudal period we used beacons and fiery crosses in order to get Situation Awareness regarding the world around us. During the industrial revolution we started to use blackboards and paper maps in command centres for giving the important stakeholders a chance of getting situation awareness.
Complexity Management applies on all levels from local to international and in all domains. The application of Complexity Management on Crisis Management suggests how technology provides complexity absorption methods enabling collaboration, coordination and cooperation for mutual benefit before, during and after straining situations.
Disaster medicineBest available knowledge regarding early psychological interventions following disasters An Acute stress reaction is a normal response to danger or threats. If this reaction exceeds normality it could turn into psychiatric conditions such as depression or posttraumatic stress reactions (PTSD). Different environmental factors as well as individual factors are important for developing these conditions. A network of brain structures are involved in PTSD. Recent findings regarding stress resistance, resilience, social support and different trajectories following potentially traumatic events have led to change of focus when forming societal support to survivors. Interventions must not interfere with natural recovery and instead focus on the unique needs among individuals, families and groups in the wake of disasters. Five empirically supported principles have been described that supply us with ways of supporting survivors. Psychological first aid is a concept that fulfils the main requirements regarding "best available knowledge" in these endeavours. The above mentioned aspects will be discussed in this session.
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News
| Video from EASC09 at DHS ConferenceOn.TV 28/12/2009 You can now watch the EASC09 speaker sessions on the DHS Conferenceon.TV webcast website. Follow the link below, which t [ ... ] |
| Break-out sessions 23/09/2009 The break-out session program is now updated and abstracts for the sessions are published. |