Protection against terror hinges on understanding risk, panelists find

Emily M. Smith
ASME NEWS

Understanding risk through analysis and assessment will be the single most effective way to combat terrorism, when combined with educating public policy makers on how to use risk assessment tools and incorporate them into performance test codes. That is what a group of senior-level industry and government executives concluded at the end of a two-day meeting of ASME's Industry Advisory Board in October.

The application of risk analysis and assessment could be so effective that the IAB members recommended that ASME develop common terminology, metrics and methodology — such as game theory — to assess vulnerability. (See "Designing for Sabotage," Mechanical Engineering magazine, September 2002.)

Brian Sheridan (center), deputy general manager, National Security Programs and Operations at Bechtel Nevada, explains protection for critical assets. Massoud Amin, manager of Infrastructure Integrations and Markets at the Electric Power Research Institute (left), and Bobby R. Gillham (right), manager of Global Security at ConocoPhillips, listen.

 

More than 40 people attended "The Engineer's Response to Homeland Security," including representatives from the U.S. Department of Defense, Department of Energy, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Office of Homeland Security.

Among the subjects in the panel sessions, IAB attendees considered Protecting Critical Assets, Government Initiatives to Enhance Security Through Engineering and Technology, and the Role of Science, Engineering and Technology in the War Against Terror.

During each of the panel sessions, several speakers said that what makes risk analysis particularly effective is its widespread impact. Its routine application will help direct resources to prevent, mitigate and respond to attacks.

The role for engineers as lifeguards, in the ultimate sense, is equally ubiquitous.
"During the Cold War," William Jeffrey, deputy to the assistant director for Homeland and National Security, White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, said in his keynote address, "engineers stood at the vanguard in protecting our nation. Today, the adversary has changed, but the need for the intellectual power of the U.S. research community has not changed."

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