Scientific Support For The Decision Making In The Security Sector

Security environment is characterized by deep uncertainty. Threats are being posed not only by adversary (political) forces but may also come from natural challenges. This title reflects the initial state of a dialogue between specialists in security and specialists in mathematics, computer and information sciences on security topics.

Discusses the successes and failures of national security decision-making structures in various countries.

Terrorism is not the only threat that causes the emergence of crises. The so-called ‘crisification’ of our security environment also seems to be rising due to many other factors. Such an environment is generating many crises related to politico-military conflicts, natural disasters, infectious diseases, information disruptions, ethnic or religious violence and others. Many of these crises are completely or nearly completely unexpected and have a strong effect on the security of individual people, states and the international community. ‘Crisis’ has become the key word instead of ‘war’. The awareness of this is partially driven by the growing role of electronic media, bringing negative news and reports to nearly all homes, and partially by objective technical factors that allow the fast escalation of local crises to the international level. Globalization therefore has a strong subjective and objective impact on the understanding of security.

Of Paper for NATO Advanced Research Workshop: Assessing Research and Innovation Policies and Their ImpactDevelopment and State of the Art of Evaluation in Germany with Special Reference to Higher Education and Research; Models of Evaluation Systems in Greece; Out of Success, Success: How Ireland Refuses to Grow Complacent; The eFORSEE Malta Project: Spotlight on Science-Society Interactions and Learning; COS = The Netherlands Consultative Committee of Sector Councils for Research and Develop.

Security Science integrates the multi-disciplined practice areas of security into a single structured body of knowledge, where each chapter takes an evidence-based approach to one of the core knowledge categories. The authors give practitioners and students the underlying scientific perspective based on robust underlying theories, principles, models or frameworks. Demonstrating the relationships and underlying concepts, they present an approach to each core security function within the context of both organizational security and homeland security. The book is unique in its application of the scientific method to the increasingly challenging tasks of preventing crime and foiling terrorist attacks. Incorporating the latest security theories and principles, it considers security from both a national and corporate perspective, applied at a strategic and tactical level. It provides a rational basis for complex decisions and begins the process of defining the emerging discipline of security science. A fresh and provocative approach to the key facets of security Presentation of theories and models for a reasoned approach to decision making Strategic and tactical support for corporate leaders handling security challenges Methodologies for protecting national assets in government and private sectors Exploration of security’s emerging body of knowledge across domains

"This report was prepared for the UK's Security Sector Development Advisory Team in June 2005. Its aim is to act as a basis for discussion and to provide an opportunity to learn from the successes and failures of intelligence and security legislation in various countries. Drawing on the body of academic work in this field and the knowledge of RAND staff, this report: provides a definition of intelligence; describes in detail how intelligence is produced; examines the role of intelligence in security sector reform; highlights the importance of control and accountability in intelligence structures; examines how six countries have developed and implemented intelligence legislation and associated reforms; and, finally, draws out a number of key lessons to be considered in any future security sector reform activity encompassing intelligence structures. The report outlines the choices that need to be made when designing or implementing legislative oversight on intelligence and security services. The report will be of interest to policy makers in countries seeking to reform their security sectors and to practitioners in the international aid community seeking to support security sector reform"--Http://www.rand.org/pubs/technical_reports/TR289.html (as viewed on 03/09/2012).

This book is a collection of papers devoted to the emergence and development in Bulgarian Academy of Sciences of some of the areas of informatics, including artificial intelligence. The papers are prepared by specialists from the Academy, some of whom are among the founders of these scientific and application areas in Bulgaria and in some cases – in the world. The book is interesting for specialists in informatics and computer science and researchers in history of sciences.

In security science, efficient operation depends typically on the interaction between technology, human and machine detection and human and machine decision making. A perfect example of this interplay is ‘gatekeeping’, which is aimed to prevent the passage of people and objects that represent known threats from one end to the other end of an access point. Gatekeeping is most often achieved via visual inspections, mass screening, random sample probing and/or more targeted controls on attempted passages at points of entry. Points of entry may be physical (e.g. national borders) or virtual (e.g. connection log-ons). Who and what are defined as security threats and the resources available to gatekeepers determine the type of checks and technologies that are put in place to ensure appropriate access control. More often than not, the net performance of technology-aided screening and authentication systems ultimately depends on the characteristics of human operators. Assessing cognitive, affective, behavioural, perceptual and brain processes that may affect gatekeepers while undertaking this task is fundamental. On the other hand, assessing the same processes in those individuals who try to breach access to secure systems (e.g. hackers), and try to cheat controls (e.g. smugglers) is equally fundamental and challenging. From a security standpoint it is vital to be able to anticipate, focus on and correctly interpret the signals connected with such attempts to breach access and/or elude controls, in order to be proactive and to enact appropriate responses. Knowing cognitive, behavioral, social and neural constraints that may affect the security enterprise will undoubtedly result in a more effective deployment of existing human and technological resources. Studying how inter-observer variability, human factors and biology may affect the security agenda, and the usability of existing security technologies, is of great economic and policy interest. In addition, brain sciences may suggest the possibility of novel methods of surveillance and intelligence gathering. This is just one example of a typical security issue that may be fruitfully tackled from a neuroscientific and interdisciplinary perspective. The objective of our Research Topic was to document across relevant disciplines some of the most recent developments, ideas, methods and empirical findings that have the potential to expand our knowledge of the human factors involved in the security process. To this end we welcomed empirical contributions using different methodologies such as those applied in human cognitive neuroscience, biometrics and ethology. We also accepted original theoretical contributions, in the form of review articles, perspectives or opinion papers on this topic. The submissions brought together researchers from different backgrounds to discuss topics which have scientific, applicative and social relevance.

This book explores the challenges that confront leaders in government and industry when making decisions in the areas of environmental health and safety. Today, decision making demands transparency, robustness, and resiliency. However thoughtfully they are devised, decisions made by governments and enterprises can often trigger immediate, passionate public response. Expertise Under Scrutiny shows how leaders can establish organizational decision making processes that yield valid, workable choices even in fast-changing and uncertain conditions. The first part of the book examines the organizational decision making process, describing the often-contentious environment in which important environmental health and safety decisions are made, and received. The authors review the roles of actors and experts in the decision making process. The book goes on to address such topics as: · The roles of actors and experts in the decision making process · Ethics and analytics as drivers of good decisions · Why managing problems in safety, security, environment, and health Part II offers an outline for adopting a formal decision support structure, including the use of decision support tools. It includes a chapter devoted to ELECTRE (ELimination and Choice Expressing Reality), a multi-criteria decision analysis system. The book concludes with an insightful appraisal and analysis of the expertise, structure and resources needed for navigating well-supported, risk-informed decisions in our 21st Century world. Expertise Under Scrutiny benefits a broad audience of students, academics, researchers, and working professionals in management and related disciplines, especially in the field of environmental health and safety.