TY - BOOK AU - National Research Council TI - Terrorism and the Electric Power Delivery System SN - DO - 10.17226/12050 PY - 2012 UR - https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/12050/terrorism-and-the-electric-power-delivery-system PB - The National Academies Press CY - Washington, DC LA - English KW - Conflict and Security Issues KW - Energy and Energy Conservation AB - The electric power delivery system that carries electricity from large central generators to customers could be severely damaged by a small number of well-informed attackers. The system is inherently vulnerable because transmission lines may span hundreds of miles, and many key facilities are unguarded. This vulnerability is exacerbated by the fact that the power grid, most of which was originally designed to meet the needs of individual vertically integrated utilities, is being used to move power between regions to support the needs of competitive markets for power generation. Primarily because of ambiguities introduced as a result of recent restricting the of the industry and cost pressures from consumers and regulators, investment to strengthen and upgrade the grid has lagged, with the result that many parts of the bulk high-voltage system are heavily stressed. Electric systems are not designed to withstand or quickly recover from damage inflicted simultaneously on multiple components. Such an attack could be carried out by knowledgeable attackers with little risk of detection or interdiction. Further well-planned and coordinated attacks by terrorists could leave the electric power system in a large region of the country at least partially disabled for a very long time. Although there are many examples of terrorist and military attacks on power systems elsewhere in the world, at the time of this study international terrorists have shown limited interest in attacking the U.S. power grid. However, that should not be a basis for complacency. Because all parts of the economy, as well as human health and welfare, depend on electricity, the results could be devastating. Terrorism and the Electric Power Delivery System focuses on measures that could make the power delivery system less vulnerable to attacks, restore power faster after an attack, and make critical services less vulnerable while the delivery of conventional electric power has been disrupted. ER - TY - BOOK AU - National Research Council A2 - Ramesh R. Rao A2 - Jon Eisenberg A2 - Ted Schmitt TI - Improving Disaster Management: The Role of IT in Mitigation, Preparedness, Response, and Recovery SN - DO - 10.17226/11824 PY - 2007 UR - https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/11824/improving-disaster-management-the-role-of-it-in-mitigation-preparedness PB - The National Academies Press CY - Washington, DC LA - English KW - Computers and Information Technology KW - Earth Sciences KW - Conflict and Security Issues AB - Information technology (IT) has the potential to play a critical role in managing natural and human-made disasters. Damage to communications infrastructure, along with other communications problems exacerbated the difficulties in carrying out response and recovery efforts following Hurricane Katrina. To assist government planning in this area, the Congress, in the E-government Act of 2002, directed the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to request the NRC to conduct a study on the application of IT to disaster management. This report characterizes disaster management providing a framework for considering the range and nature of information and communication needs; presents a vision of the potential for IT to improve disaster management; provides an analysis of structural, organizational, and other non-technical barriers to the acquisition, adoption, and effective use of IT in disaster; and offers an outline of a research program aimed at strengthening IT-enabled capabilities for disaster management. ER - TY - BOOK AU - National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine TI - Emergency Alert and Warning Systems: Current Knowledge and Future Research Directions SN - DO - 10.17226/24935 PY - 2018 UR - https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/24935/emergency-alert-and-warning-systems-current-knowledge-and-future-research PB - The National Academies Press CY - Washington, DC LA - English KW - Earth Sciences KW - Conflict and Security Issues AB - Following a series of natural disasters, including Hurricane Katrina, that revealed shortcomings in the nation's ability to effectively alert populations at risk, Congress passed the Warning, Alert, and Response Network (WARN) Act in 2006. Today, new technologies such as smart phones and social media platforms offer new ways to communicate with the public, and the information ecosystem is much broader, including additional official channels, such as government social media accounts, opt-in short message service (SMS)-based alerting systems, and reverse 911 systems; less official channels, such as main stream media outlets and weather applications on connected devices; and unofficial channels, such as first person reports via social media. Traditional media have also taken advantage of these new tools, including their own mobile applications to extend their reach of beyond broadcast radio, television, and cable. Furthermore, private companies have begun to take advantage of the large amounts of data about users they possess to detect events and provide alerts and warnings and other hazard-related information to their users. More than 60 years of research on the public response to alerts and warnings has yielded many insights about how people respond to information that they are at risk and the circumstances under which they are most likely to take appropriate protective action. Some, but not all, of these results have been used to inform the design and operation of alert and warning systems, and new insights continue to emerge. Emergency Alert and Warning Systems reviews the results of past research, considers new possibilities for realizing more effective alert and warning systems, explores how a more effective national alert and warning system might be created and some of the gaps in our present knowledge, and sets forth a research agenda to advance the nation's alert and warning capabilities. ER - TY - BOOK AU - National Research Council TI - Geotargeted Alerts and Warnings: Report of a Workshop on Current Knowledge and Research Gaps SN - DO - 10.17226/18414 PY - 2013 UR - https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/18414/geotargeted-alerts-and-warnings-report-of-a-workshop-on-current PB - The National Academies Press CY - Washington, DC LA - English KW - Conflict and Security Issues KW - Computers and Information Technology AB - Geotargeted Alerts and Warnings: Report of a Workshop on Current Knowledge and Research Gaps is the summary of a February, 2013 workshop convened by the Computer Science and Telecommunications Board of the National Research Council to examine precise geotargeting of public alerts and warnings using social media. The workshop brought together social science researchers, technologists, emergency management professionals, and other experts to explore what is known about how the public responds to geotargeted alerts and warnings, technologies and techniques for enhancing the geotargeting of alerts and warnings, and open research questions about how to effectively use geotargeted alerts and warnings and technology gaps. This report considers the potential for more precise geographical targeting to improve the effectiveness of disaster alerts and warnings; examines the opportunities presented by current and emerging technologies to create, deliver, and display alerts and warnings with greater geographical precision; considers the circumstances where more granular targeting would be useful; and examines the potential roles of federal, state, and local agencies and private sector information and communications providers in delivering more targeted alerts. ER - TY - BOOK AU - National Research Council TI - Public Response to Alerts and Warnings on Mobile Devices: Summary of a Workshop on Current Knowledge and Research Gaps SN - DO - 10.17226/13076 PY - 2011 UR - https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/13076/public-response-to-alerts-and-warnings-on-mobile-devices-summary PB - The National Academies Press CY - Washington, DC LA - English KW - Computers and Information Technology KW - Conflict and Security Issues AB - This book presents a summary of the Workshop on Public Response to Alerts and Warnings on Mobile Devices: Current Knowledge and Research Gaps, held April 13 and 14, 2010, in Washington, D.C., under the auspices of the National Research Council's Committee on Public Response to Alerts and Warnings on Mobile Devices: Current Knowledge and Research Needs. The workshop was structured to gather inputs and insights from social science researchers, technologists, emergency management professionals, and other experts knowledgeable about how the public responds to alerts and warnings, focusing specifically on how the public responds to mobile alerting. ER -