Defense and Security Studies Commons^™

A Conceptual Frame For Us Counterterrorism Policy: Examining The Effectiveness Against Al Qaeda And Its Associates Prior To 9/11, "Tod" Thomas Patrick Brown

Publications

The United States (US) has been engaged in a “war on terrorism” to “defeat” al Qaeda since 2001. This study presented and tested an over-arching conceptual framework for US Counterterrorism (CT) policy. The conceptual frame was tested using qualitative thematic analysis of archival records from the Reagan through Clinton era. The research also used a case study of al Qaeda as the context to bound the selected records for the study. This new conceptual frame was used to evaluate the success, failure, and effects of US CT policy activities related to al Qaeda, using the records identified for the study. …

An Empirical Study Of The Evolution Of Homeland Security Definitions And The Public Perception Of Homeland Security, Alexander Siedschlag, Andrea Jerković

Publications

Objectives

• To introduce results from a currently conducted empirical study (quantitative systematic review) of the evolution of official homeland security definitions from related federal strategies, frameworks, guidelines, the QHSRs, enterprise agencies’ FY strategic plans, and related documents.

• To identify continuing and changing ingredients of the sprouting public policy and strategy definition of homeland security.

• To compare those findings to the development of the public perception of homeland security and how people would define the term, using the example of Pennsylvania, with our multi-year poll study of residents’ perception of homeland security.

Utility

• While valuable analyses of …

Civic Homeland Security Culture: A Poll Study Approach And The Example Of Pennsylvania, Alexander Siedschlag

Publications

COVID-19 response experience around the world has demonstrated that it is indispensable to understand the public understanding of, and needs during, risk, hazards, and crisis in public policy, in particular related to the security of society as a whole. The ultimate goal of homeland security and broader civil (or sometimes referred to as societal) security alike, as well as of related security science research, is to accomplish resilient societies through a culture of preparedness. Civic security culture is a necessary ingredient to such a culture of preparedness. The security culture perspective also helps understand how a resilient society and nation …

Cross Domain Iw Threats To Sof Maritime Missions: Implications For U.S. Sof, Gary C. Kessler, Diane M. Zorri

Publications

As cyber vulnerabilities proliferate with the expansion of connected devices, wherein security is often forsaken for ease of use, Special Operations Forces (SOF) cannot escape the obvious, massive risk that they are assuming by incorporating emerging technologies into their toolkits. This is especially true in the maritime sector where SOF operates nearshore in littoral zones. As SOF—in support to the U.S. Navy— increasingly operate in these contested maritime environments, they will gradually encounter more hostile actors looking to exploit digital vulnerabilities. As such, this monograph comes at a perfect time as the world becomes more interconnected but also more vulnerable.

Whole-Community Response Planning For Pennsylvania’S Ongoing Opioid Emergency, Alexander Siedschlag

Publications

The Penn State Center for Security Research and Education (CSRE), in collaboration with Penn State Homeland Security Programs and the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency (PEMA), held a tabletop exercise that addressed first-responder and whole-community response and resilience to the ongoing opioid crisis. The exercise, which took place Sept. 24, 2019, at PEMA headquarters in Harrisburg, Pa., also was supported by the Governor’s Office for Homeland Security and the Pennsylvania Department of Health’s Bureau of Public Health Preparedness. The Dickinson School of Law and Immaculata University were academic contributors. This article summarizes the main outcome in the current COVID-19 context.

Cyber Supply Chain Risk Management: Implications For The Sof Future Operating Environment, J. Philip Craiger, Laurie Lindamood-Craiger, Diane M. Zorri

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The emerging Cyber Supply Chain Risk Management (C-SCRM) concept assists at all levels of the supply chain in managing and mitigating risks, and the authors define C-SCRM as the process of identifying, assessing, and mitigating the risks associated with the distributed and interconnected nature of information and operational technology products and service supply chains. As Special Operations Forces increasingly rely on sophisticated hardware and software products, this quick, well-researched monograph provides a detailed accounting of C-SCRM associated laws, regulations, instructions, tools, and strategies meant to mitigate vulnerabilities and risks—and how we might best manage the evolving and ever-changing array of …

Ethical, Legal, And Social Issues (Elsi), Andrea Jerkovic´, Alexander Siedschlag

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This chapter introduces the concept of ethical, legal, and social issues – known as ELSI – as it is relevant to security science research and security science-informed practice. After defining ethical, legal, and social issues, the chapter addresses main ELSI domains and discusses how to address those in security science. Arguments are illustrated using examples from domains such as critical infrastructure protection and novel coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) response. Subsequently, the chapter demonstrates the relevance of ELSI analysis in security science for risk assessment and vulnerability analysis. It argues for a comprehensive approach to ELSI assessment and consideration in security science …

The Role Of The Internet In Intelligence Gathering And Spreading Propaganda, Leila Halawi

Publications

The analysis of American intelligence as an academic discipline exhibits an excellent level of integration regarding subject matter and methods from military history and strategic studies. The knowledge and information revolution steered a different online culture of sharing and oversharing. While the study of intelligence has primarily been associated with historical methods thus far, opportunities for innovation are also afforded by advances in theoretical and conceptual thinking about intelligence. Such revolutions can help intelligence history while concurrently enlightening the disputes on intelligence in the twentyfirst century. The takings from the information age consist of low cost for access to data …

Pennsylvania’S Covid-19 Response Vs. Homeland Security Frameworks And Research: Masking The Whole Community, Alexander Siedschlag

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This essay offers an intermediate discussion of select policy, strategic, operational, and tactical issues that demonstrate where and how the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania’s novel coronavirus response on the one hand, and homeland security frameworks and research on the other, converge or—more often so—diverge, and how to narrow this gap. Although typically framed as a pandemic owned by the public health sector, the COVID-19 response falls directly within the homeland security mission space, whose core missions include “Ensuring Resilience to Disasters.” In some respects, Pennsylvania’s response exemplifies best practices suggested by research. In other dimensions, it is neither in line with …

Penn State’S School Of Public Affairs Security-Related Academic Programs Amid The Novel Coronavirus Catastrophe, Alexander Siedschlag

Publications

Due to its large OL student population, Penn State’s School of Public Affairs had (unintended) applicable crisis contingency protocols in place prior to the COVID-19 outbreak. With the support of our college’s Center for Teaching Excellence, many traditional F2F residential courses had already been set up on our learning management system (LMS), Canvas. As a result, many of our school’s traditional students and faculty had a handle on using Canvas and remote learning technology. The center enhanced and focused its services to faculty as COVID-19 evolved (Center for Teaching Excellence, 2020). As the COVID-19 crisis hit Penn State during the …

Current Trends In Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems: Implications For U.S. Special Operations Forces, J. Philip Craiger, Diane Maye Zorri

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This paper assesses current trends in small unmanned aircraft systems (sUAS) technology and its applications to the Special Operations Forces (SOF) community. Of critical concern to SOF is that commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) sUAS technologies are relatively inexpensive, improving at a dramatic rate, and widely available throughout the world. Insurgents, terrorists, violent extremist organizations (VEOs) and other nefarious actors have used COTS sUAS to conduct offensive attacks as well as to develop battlefield situation awareness; these technological improvements combined with their widespread availability will require enhanced and rapidly adaptive counter-sUAS measures in the future. To understand the most current trends in the …

Us And The Cold War In Latin America, Thomas Field

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The Cold War in Latin America had marked consequences for the region’s political and economic evolution. From the origins of US fears of Latin American Communism in the early 20th century to the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, regional actors played central roles in the drama. Seeking to maximize economic benefit while maintaining independence with regard to foreign policy, Latin Americans employed an eclectic combination of liberal and anti-imperialist discourses, balancing frequent calls for anti-Communist hemispheric unity with periodic diplomatic entreaties to the Soviet bloc and the nonaligned Third World. Meanwhile, US Cold War policies toward …

A Roundtable For Victoria M. Grieve, Little Cold Warriors: American Childhood In The 1950s, Thomas Field Jr., Julia L. Mickenberg, Lori Clune, Mary Brennan, Donna Alvah, Victoria M. Grieve

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Dr. Thomas Field introduces a roundtable discussion of Victoria M. Grieve's Little Cold Warriors: American Childhood in the 1950s, providing a synopsis of reviewer critiques before the reviewers expand on their views and the author responds.

H-Diplo Article Review 831- Field Jr. On D’Haeseleer. “American Civic Action: The National Campaign Plan And The Failure To Win ‘Hearts And Minds’ In El Salvador.”, Thomas Field

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The author - Dr. Thomas Field - reviews Brian D’Haeseleer's article “American Civic Action: The National Campaign Plan and the Failure to Win ‘Hearts and Minds’ in El Salvador.” This article appeared in Diplomacy and Statecraft, issue 26:3 (2015), on pages 494-513. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/09592296.2015.1067527.

A Taxonomy Framework For Maritime Cybersecurity: A Demonstration Using The Automatic Identification System, G. C. Kessler, J. P. Craiger, J. C. Haass

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The maritime transportation system is increasingly a target of cyber attacks. This paper describes a taxonomy that supports the creation of adversarial cyber models, risk mitigation, and resiliency plans as applied to the maritime industry, using the Automatic Identification System as a specific illustration of the approach. This method has already been applied to the aviation sector; retooling it for a maritime example demonstrates its broad applicability to the transportation sector, in general.

Two Awakenings, One Process: Implications From The Sunni Realignment In Iraq, 2006-2007, Diane Maye Zorri

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There are several competing beliefs regarding how political factions at the sub-state level choose to align and realign during a state of armed conflict. This research draws upon current literature to provide a framework for comparing the Anbar and Baghdad Awakenings of 2006–2007. This research concludes that alignment and alliance building is a process based on structural constraints only at the point of institutional maturity, therefore the critical point in the realignment process for the U.S. military is at a point between an individual’s realignment and the wider community’s perception of their success.

Homeland Security Starts At Home: How The Citizens Of Pa Perceive Core Missions And The Whole-Community Approach To Fostering A Resilient Nation, Alexander Siedschlag

Publications

Content

• Rationale
• Method: PA omnibus poll instrument
• How citizens value homeland security
• What homeland security protects from
• PA citizens on homeland security
• Perceived scope of homeland security
• Who provides homeland security
• Homeland security and daily life
• Conclusions
• General recommendations
• Educational mission considerations

Ethical, Legal, And Social Issues In Homeland Security – What They Are And How To Address Them, Alexander Siedschlag

Publications

Homeland security is a nationwide effort, including all of government across federal, state, local, territorial and tribal tiers; the public and the private sector, and the whole community, with each single citizen. The overarching homeland security vision comprises safeguarding the American way of life and is embedded into the goals of the National Security Strategy that include respect for universal values at home and abroad. It thus is evident that ethical, legal, and social-or ELSI-issues are important to consider. This chapter discusses the origins and essence of ELSI and explores ELSI integration into everyday homeland security. Two defining debates are …

Protecting The Right To Be An American: How Pennsylvanians Perceive Homeland Security, Alexander Siedschlag

Publications

Homeland Security is strategically defined as an enterprise based on a concerted national effort: a nation-wide comprehensive activity, including all of government across federal, state, local, territorial and tribal tiers; the public and the private sector; and the whole community of first responders and vigilant citizens. While Homeland Security in addition to government agencies and the private sector counts on each single citizen as part of the whole-community approach, little is known about how it actually resonates with citizens. [...]almost a quarter (23%) feel Homeland Security to affect their daily lives – such as by ensuring safe and secure neighborhoods; …

Autarky Or Interdependence? U.S. Vs. European Security And Defense Industries In A Globalized Market, Diane Maye Zorri

Publications

Globalization theorists show how downward pressure to compete and/or

save costs in global markets will lead producers and consumers to source

goods and services in the cheapest and most efficient manner. However, in

certain sectors, such as the defense industry, security concerns and politics

can overshadow economic logic when it comes to making procurement

decisions. These political and security concerns keep the U.S. defense

industry from using the most cost-effective supply chains and

manufacturing centers, whereas in Europe, post-Cold War socioeconomic

and political realities allowed for more transnational cooperation on

defense procurement. Three cases serve to illustrate the spectrum between …

Protecting The Right To Be An American: How Pennsylvanians Perceive Homeland Security, Alexander Siedschlag

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Pennsylvanians mainly see Homeland Security as a comprehensive effort of the federal government to fight terrorism at home and abroad. While it most often has a positive connotation, the multi-faceted mission space of homeland security is widely unknown.

Pennsylvania 2016 Pre-Election Poll On Policy And Governance, Alexander Siedschlag

Publications

Pennsylvanians mainly see Homeland Security as a comprehensive effort of the federal government to fight terrorism at home and abroad. While it most often has a positive connotation, the multi-faceted mission space of homeland security is widely unknown.

Understanding The Sunni Awakening With Complexity Theory, Diane Maye Zorri

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Concurrent to the surge of U.S. forces in Iraq between 2006 and 2008, Sunni tribesmen in the U.S. Marine‐controlled western Anbar province of Iraq experienced an “awakening” movement, which led them to side with U.S. and coalition forces. The Sunni Awakening demonstrates that individuals will often realign because of betrayal and opportunities for advancement. It also demonstrates that individual motives can have macrolevel social consequences. Complexity theory suggests that political factions will realign based on individual considerations that then develop into macrolevel movements. Complexity theory also combines both agency (in terms of microbehaviors) and structure (in terms of initial conditions). …

Evolving Homeland And Civil Security Mission Space And Research A Cross-Disciplinary And Global Challenge, Alexander Siedschlag

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Homeland security has evolved from a governmental function to a networked community with shared responsibility for addressing all-hazards challenges to globalized societies, moving from an ‘Americanized’ term to a generic concept. It aims at ensuring civil security – a broader effort not geographically, culturally, or functionally bound. The paradigm of civil security research provides an insightful framework for research and teaching in homeland security as part of a global and holistic effort, calling for a cross-disciplinary perspective.

Overview Of Penn State Homeland Security Programs And Its Curriculum Enhancement And Evolution Activities, Alexander Siedschlag

Publications

Program mission

• “The intercollege Master of Professional Studies in Homeland Security (iMPS-HLS) degree program is designed to prepare professionals and develop leaders for the field of homeland security by providing exceptional graduate education that includes an integrated curriculum, expert faculty, and student interaction.”

Actra - A Case Study For Threat Information Sharing, Jon C. Haass, Gail-Joon Ahn, Frank Grimmelmann

Publications

This paper provides a case study for information sharing within a public/private not-for-profit partnership organization called ACTRA – Arizona Cyber Threat Response Alliance, Inc.. This initiative is comprised of public and private entities with government agencies as invited guests aligned around the goal of improved response to cyber security events. Technical, political, legal and organizational issues arise when multiple parties attempt to exchange information in a formal setting. Benefits and specific solutions developed are discussed. The study concludes with several areas for future improvement and investigation as well as recommendations for newly forming sharing groups.

Foresighting Needs For Secure Societies “2035” – The Focus Roadmap And Its Implications For The Science And Practice Of Politics In Civil Security, Alexander Siedschlag, Andrea Jerković

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There is more than the societal dimension of security: the societal creation of security. There are no effective technological solutions without acceptance and public participation. Security Research should consider significant social, cultural, ethical, legal, and political aspects of security from the very beginning, that is, not only in the implementation perspective and in terms of public acceptance and ascribed legitimacy. Civil security is thus becoming an own sub-field of public policy analysis, addressing societal security from a governance perspective. While “security governance” as such is not a new concept, it so far has mainly been applied to international security and …

Comprehensive Security Research To Contribute To Critical Infrastructure Protection Contributions To Security Governance In Disaster Risk Reduction, Rosemarie Stangl, Alexander Siedschlag, Diana Silvestru, Florian Fritz, Andrea Jerković

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Critical infrastructure protection (CIP) has become a major issue in civil security, emergency management and natural hazard management. The all-hazard approach has gained ground on the international scale, and the “comprehensive approach” in security policies and security research has been advanced in order to meet current and future threats based on better integrated information, assessment, policies and capabilities. This paper aims to showcase this “comprehensive approach”, highlighting its character and cross-links to CI and natural hazard and disaster management. The paper also contributes to a broader perspective on CIP by addressing current European political concepts and socio-cultural conditions, as well …

Methods To Integrate Considerations On Culture, Ethics And Citizen Acceptance Into Urban Planning For Resilience Enhancing And Vulnerability Reduction, Alexander Siedschlag, Diana Silvestru, Florian Fritz, Andrea Jerković, Sussane Kindl

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This paper presents selected relevant research results from the EU FP7 project VITRUV (“Vulnerability Identification Tools for Resilience Enhancements of Urban Environments”), relating to methods to integrate consideration on culture and ethics aspects, including citizen acceptance, into conceptual urban planning. While security aspects do not always figure prominently in urban planning, much of that planning has effects on citizens’ security. Security aspects obviously have an influence on how built environment is changed and developed. Conversely, the way in which built environment is changed and developed influences the security of infrastructures and society as a whole, both in manifest and in …

Mission-Space Driven Curriculum Evolution In All-Hazard Homeland Security Programming, Alexander Siedschlag

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Panel opening presentation at the 16th Annual Emergency Management Higher Education Conference, FEMA Emergency Management Institute, June 3, 2014.