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July 1, 2004

In the Tracks of Tamerlane: Central Asia’s Path to the 21st Century

Central Asia remains a relatively overlooked region compared to other parts of the world, yet energy reserves of gas and oil and recent focus on the region’s terrorist presence has made Central Asia increasingly important to understand. This book examines the course of events in Central Asia since independence, through the eyes of 22 specialists in the region. A product of the Pre-Conflict Management Tools project launched in April of 2003 by CTNSP, the purpose of the book is to increase understanding of the challenges faced by the region, with the goal of preventing or limiting the potential for conflict brought about by these challenges.

June 20, 2004

DTP-003: Who You Gonna Call? Responding to a Medical Emergency with the Strategic National Stockpile

This paper reviews the history and current status of the Strategic National Stockpile (SNS), provies an overview of its role in incident response, and reports on the testing of SNS deployment in recent terrorism exercises. It also explores regulatory and legal issues that surround the use of SNS and its importance to the U.S. military.

June 15, 2004

DTP-002: Hometown Hospitals: The Weakest Link? Bioterrorism Readiness in America’s Rural Hospitals

The delivery of medical care to infected populations and the containment of disearse spidmics require that hospitals occupy a central role in community-based bioterrorism preparness planning. The author provides this report to inform future initiatives to prepare America’s hospitals against threats to homeland security.DOWNLOAD >>

June 1, 2004

DTP-001: Looking for Trouble: A Policymaker’s Guide to Biosensing

A publication written to inform the non-technical policymaker to assist in reaching important decisions to prevent bioterrorism and biological attacks. In addition it presents results of an extensive statistical study examining the utility of a system-of-systems approach to identifying a bioattack.

April 1, 2004

Responsive Space and Strategic Information

American strategists face a daunting challenge; they must assure and defend American and allied interests, induce and encourage international security cooperation, and deter, dissuade, and defeat a diverse range of potential adversaries. This challenge has been addressed by senior political leadership in recent policy statements, such as the Nuclear Posture Review of 2002, and in the formation of an expanded U.S. Strategic Command, but this vision has not yet taken root in the Department of Defense components responsible for providing operational capability.

April 1, 2004

The Science and Engineering Workforce and National Security

Trends in the American science and engineering (S&E) workforce and national research and development (R&D) funding patterns and priorities have troubling implications for the economic and national security of our nation.

April 1, 2004

Transforming for Stabilization and Reconstruction Operations

Through superiority, recent military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq were exceptionally quick and successful in defeating the enemy. However, the Armed Forces were not adequately prepared to respond to lawlessness, destruction of civilian infrastructure, and attacks on coalition forces from unconventional insurgents. It is imperative to transform how the U.S. military prepares for and executes stabilization and reconstruction (S&R) operations.

Jan. 6, 2004

Effects of Directed Energy Weapons

Effects of Directed Energy Weapons is an encyclopedic treatment of how Directed Energy Weapons work, how the energy of these weapons is propagated to the target, and how the weapon/beam-target interaction creates effects (damage) in the target. This is a technical exposition, written at the undergraduate physics and engineering level that could serve either as a text book or as a reference text for technical practitioners. The text addresses Kinetic Energy Weapons in addition to Lasers, Microwaves and Particle Beams.

Jan. 1, 2004

Dirty Bombs: The Threat Revisited

Nuclear radiation, invisible and detectable only with special instruments, has the power to terrify—in part because of its association with nuclear weapons—and to become an instrument of terrorists. Radioactive isotopes can be spread widely with or without high explosives by a radiological dispersion device (RDD) or so-called dirty bomb. This paper provides a general overview of the nature of RDDs and sources of material for them and estimates the effects of an assault, including casualties and economic consequences. Many experts believe that an RDD is an economic weapon capable of inflicting devastating damage on the United States. This paper is in full agreement with that assessment and makes some quantitative estimates of the magnitude of economic disruption that can be produced by various levels of attack. It is also generally believed that even a very large RDD is unlikely to cause many human casualties, either immediately or over the long term. A careful examination of the consequences of the tragic accident in Goiânia, Brazil, however, shows that some forms of radiological attack could kill tens or hundreds of people and sicken hundreds or thousands. Nevertheless, contrary to popular belief, RDDs are not weapons of mass destruction.

Jan. 1, 2004

XVIII Airborne Corps: Spearhead of Military Transformation

War transforms armies. Combat accelerates transformation by moving it out of the realm of academic debate and endless speculation about the future to a pragmatic approach focused on fielding new capabilities within new combat formations as soon as possible. In war, transformation means conserving equipment and operational methods that are still relevant while incorporating new technologies, tactics, and organizations that enable victory. It is nearly impossible to replicate in peacetime training the true conditions of land warfare—ambiguity, uncertainty, and above all terror, killing, and exhaustion. For the Army, the best opportunity to transform involves parallel evolution, a method that moves new technologies into combat formations today and explores what the troops will actually do with them in action. With a conflict in progress, this approach is better than trying to predict future uses in an inflexible operational requirements document developed in isolation from the field environment.