Wiley Handbook of Science and Technology for Homeland Security, 4 Volume Set

THREATS AND CHALLENGES TO HOMELAND SECURITY

DAVID M. WEINBERG

Practical Risk LLC, Rio Rancho, New Mexico

1 THREAT SPECTRUM

This survey article is not meant to be exhaustive in detail or citations. Rather, it highlights some conventional threats and challenges and also attempts to tease the reader to consider some less conventional threats. This is done to stimulate the interest of the research community, and to play their role in one of the most complicated issues facing the United States and its people.

Within the context of governmental homeland security, the word threat has different meanings to different people and organizations. This article attempts to look at threat in conventional and some unconventional ways. Similarly, the term challenges carries much semantic heft, and it too will be considered in terms of conventional ways and otherwise.

Threat is commonly taken to mean that set of activities and purposes aimed at doing harm. Although this definition may be thought to specifically refer to the threat of terrorism, it actually applies to natural hazards and catastrophic accidents as well. A discussion of threat can be broad indeed.

Conventionally, terrorism threat is generally dissected into two components: namely, intent (to perform an act) and capability (resources, including intellectual, to accomplish the act). Recent work by Williams [1, 2] adds a third dimension (or metric), at least to radical jihadist terrorism, namely, authority. Within the Department of Homeland ...