Behavioral science programs relevant to countering terrorism

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Behavioral science programs relevant to
countering terrorism

• Susan E. Brandon
• Division of Social, Behavioral Educational
  Sciences
• Office of Science Technology Policy
• Executive Office of the President

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• Current Status
• Opportunities
• Challenges

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• Current Status

Office of Science Technology Policy Congress
established OSTP in 1976 with a broad mandate to
advise the President and others within the
Executive Office of the President on the effects
of science and technology on domestic and
international affairs. The 1976 Act also
authorizes OSTP to lead an interagency effort to
develop and to implement science and technology
policies and budgets and to work with the private
sector, state and local governments, the science
and higher education communities, and other
nations toward this end.
National Science Technology Council
(NSTC) Presidential Advisory Science
Technology Council (PCAST)
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• Current Status

Office of Science Technology Policy
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• Current Status

President's Council of Advisors on Science and
Technology (PCAST) Receive advice from the
private sector
Co-Chairs John Marburger (OSTP) Floyd Kvamme
(Kleiner Perkins Caufield Byers) Reports IT
Report on Manufacturing and Competitiveness
(2004) Technology Transfer (2003) ST of
Combating Terrorism (2003)
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• ST of Combating Terrorism (2003)
• Public Health Preparedness (including
  psychosocial effects)
• Helping First Responders
• The Psychological Effects of Terrorism

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National Science Technology Council Director,
OSTP

• Current Status

Committee on Environment Natural Resources
Committee on Science
Committee on Technology
Committee on Homeland and National Security
WH Olsen NSF Bement NIH Zerhouni
WH Russell DOC Bond
WH Olsen DOC Lautenbacher EPA Gilman
WH Dale DOD Wynne DHS McQueary
Research Business Models
Technology Dev.
Education Workforce Dev.
National Security RD
Global Change Research
Large Scale Science
Networking Information Technology
Radiological/Nuclear Countermeasures
Air Quality Research
Aquaculture
Disaster Reduction
Nanoscale Science, Eng. Technology
International
Human Subjects Research
Ecosystems
WMD Medical Countermeasures
IWG Physics of the Universe
Toxics Risks
IWG Plant Genome
Standards
Water Availability Quality
IWG Dom. Animal Genomics
IWG Earth Observations
RD Investment Criteria Research Misconduct Policy
Infrastructure
Biotechnology
Aerospace
IWG on Dioxin
Oceans
Social, Behavioral Economic
Health and the Environment.
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• Current Status

Social, Behavioral Economic Subcommittee
CHARTER of the SUBCOMMITTEE ON SOCIAL,
BEHAVIORAL AND ECONOMIC SCIENCES A. Official
Designation The Subcommittee on Social,
Behavioral and Economic Sciences (SBE) is hereby
established by action of the National Science and
Technology Council (NSTC) Committee on Science
(CS) and the Committee on Homeland and National
Security (CHNS). B. Purpose and Scope The
purpose of the Subcommittee on Social, Behavioral
and Economic Sciences is to advise and assist the
Committee on Science, the Committee on Homeland
and National Security, and the NSTC on U.S. SBE
science policies, procedures and plans that
relate basic and applied research and development
(RD) efforts to national priority areas,
including enhancing homeland and national
security and the use of SBE research knowledge
for the benefit of all Americans. October 2003
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• Current Status

Countering Terrorism     Resources and Research
Priorities   in the   Social, Behavioral and
Economic Sciences                                
Report of the NSTC   Subcommittee on Social,
Behavioral and Economic Sciences
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• Current Status

Social, Behavioral Economic Subcommittee
TERMS OF REFERENCE INTERAGENCY WORKING GROUP
ON SBE COUNTER-TERRORISM RESEARCH PRIORITIES
Goals The goals of the Interagency SBE C/T
Research Priority Working Group (RPWG) are
to Propose a framework (i.e., process) to
identify the most critical and cost-effective
SBES research to support counter-terrorism
efforts. This framework should be designed to
ensure that the resources allocated to the SBES
research will best support counter-terrorism
efforts for the available research budget Use
this framework to identify areas where SBES
research is likely to identify sources of
terrorism risk or effective responses to risks
and suggest research area priorities based on
their potential for cost-effective terrorism risk
reduction.
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SBE COUNTER-TERRORISM RESEARCH PRIORITIES
Current Status
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• Current Status

Social, Behavioral Economic Subcommittee
TERMS OF REFERENCE INTERAGENCY WORKING GROUP ON
SBE PORTFOLIO ASSESSMENT AND PRIORITY
SETTING Goals The goal of the Interagency
Working Group is to identify current
agency- specific and jointly funded (a) research
projects, programs and initiatives and (b)
priorities and opportunities, in the Social,
Behavioral and Economic (SBE) sciences. Data
collected will include budget information.
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• Current Status

Critical Infrastructure Protection Subcommittee
PRE- DECISIONAL DRAFT NOT FOR
DISTRIBUTION   National RD Plan for Critical
Infrastructure Protection   June 2004   Version
6.SBE     Theme 9 Social, Economic and
Behavioral Issues
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• Current Status

The National Strategy for Homeland Security, July
2002 Develop systems for detecting hostile
intent. Terrorism ultimately requires
individual human beings to carry out murderous
actions. These individuals, whether they intend
to commandeer an aircraft, detonate a suicide
bomb, or sneak illicit material through customs,
may behave in a manner that reveals their
criminal intent.  
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• Current Status

OSTP/DHS Strategy for Homeland Defense Accomplishm
ents / Ongoing Activities

• The Intelligence Community is sponsoring research
  on the detection of deception.
• The Center for Advanced Study of Language
  (University of Maryland) is supported by the
  Department of Defense to design and implement a
  research agenda that will help us identify
  universal verbal (language content-related,
  including both spoken and written forms) and
  non-verbal (behavioral and auditory) cross
  cultural cues in deception.
• Research at the University of South Carolina,
  supported by the DOD Polygraph Institute,
  combines event-related brain wave measures and
  fMRI with the goal of developing a model of the
  underlying memory, attention and salience
  processes that are engaged when an individual
  lies.

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• Current Status

OSTP/DHS Strategy for Homeland Defense Accomplishm
ents / Ongoing Activities

• The Transportation Security Administration
  (Hughes Technical Center) is supporting research
  on the detection of deception and criminal
  intent.
• The Transportation Security Administration is
  supporting Long-Term Applied Research Grants on
  how to maximize screener performance at airports
  and within other transportation systems, so that
  1) individuals with intent and capacity to harm
  can be identified before harm occurs, and 2)
  dangerous and threatening items can be detected
  before getting onto airplanes and other modes of
  transportation.
• NSF/ Directorate for Social, Behavioral
  Economic Sciences supports investigator-initiated
  research on the neural basis of deception using
  established neuroimaging technologies (fMRI) and
  via the development of new technologies, such as
  diffuse optical imaging (DOI).

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• Current Status

OSTP/DHS Strategy for Homeland Defense Accomplishm
ents / Ongoing Activities

• NSF/ Directorate for Computer Information
  Science Engineering supports investigator-initia
  ted research on developing computer systems for
  automatic analysis of spontaneous facial
  expressions, with a focus on the scientific study
  of the role of facial expressions in deception.
• DHS Released a Broad Agency Announcement for a
  university-based Homeland Security Center on the
  Social and Behavioral Aspects of Terrorism and
  Counter-Terrorism. Among other goals, this
  Center will develop the understanding and tools
  necessary to improve the prediction, early
  detection and prevention of terrorist attacks and
  terrorist behaviors.

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• Current Status

National Institutes of Health Behavioral, Social
and Economic Sciences Research Related to
Anti-Terrorism   While few institutes and
centers at the National Institutes of Health
(NIH) fund research directly related to
terrorism, many fund research whose findings may
be relevant for anti-terrorism efforts. Each of
the twenty-seven institutes and centers (ICs) of
NIH was queried about funded research that
related to the four broad categories of research
thought to be relevant for activities of the
Social, Behavioral, and Education Sciences (SBE)
Working Group of the National Science and
Technology Council Anti-Terrorism Task Force
  Surveillance/detection Prevention/preparedn
ess Consequences/responses Attribution
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• Current Status

• NIH stress research
• NIMH supported research after natural and
  human-caused disasters, including the bombings of
  the Federal building in Oklahoma City and U.S.
  embassies in Africa. NIMH also supports basic
  research in affect and the etiology of various
  disorders, including Post-Traumatic Stress
  Disorder.
• NCI supports general projects relevant to the
  management of past traumatic stress in cancer
  patients and survivors. For example, the Long
  Term Cancer Survivors Initiative, funded in 1998,
  focused on questions related to the physiological
  and psychosocial experiences of cancer survivors
  and interventions to promote positive outcomes.
• NINR held a workshop on Illness Prevention and
  Symptom Management from Chemical and Biologic
  Agents to investigate how to disseminate research
  findings in the area of managing disaster
  exposure to chemical and biological agents.

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• Current Status

• NIH Decision research and communications
  strategies
• NCI Risk Communication Bibliography contains
  nearly 400 searchable references to published
  documents on the communication of public health
  hazards. A new 5-year grant to be funded in April
  2002 aims to identify and reduce cognitive biases
  created by decision aids.
• NIDDK The National Institute of Diabetes and
  Digestive and Kidney Diseases supports a number
  of programs involved in the mass dispersal of
  information.
• NIMH Building in part on basic behavioral
  research, a body of more applied research has
  explored ways to communicate with at-risk
  populations to shape attitudes, affect, and
  behavior that improve health and prevent disease.
  

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• NIH Health surveys
•  
• NIMH National Comorbidity Survey Replication
  (NCS-R), National Survey of African Americans and
  their adolescent components are interviewing more
  than 26,000 Americans in 2001-2002.
• National Health Interview Survey and the National
  Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES)
  that annually survey large numbers of children,
  adolescents and adults on a range of health,
  mental health, insurance coverage and service use
  issues.
• NCI The Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End
  Results (SEER) Program of the National Cancer
  Institute is the most authoritative source of
  information on cancer incidence and survival in
  the United States.
• NIDCR Since over 60 of Americans visit a
  dentist at least once a year. Dental offices are
  distributed widely throughout urban and suburban
  sites, and also located in rural regions, which
  could provide some unique opportunities for
  dentists to serve in the front-lines in health
  risk appraisal and detection, given appropriate
  tools and targeted education.
• NIA Two large studies collecting information
  pertinent to anti-terrorism Information on Risk
  of Bioterrorism in The Health and Retirement
  Study (HRS) and Information on Risk of
  Bioterrorism in The Panel Study of Income
  Dynamics (PSID).

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• Current Status

Department of Homeland Security
Executive Secretary
Commandant of Coast Guard (1)
Legislative Affairs
Secretary ---------------------------------- Deput
y Secretary
Inspector General
Public Affairs
General Counsel
Citizenship Immigration Service Ombudsman (1)
State and Local Coordination
Director, Bureau of Citizenship Immigration
Services (1)
Civil Rights and Civil Liberties
Special Assistant to the Secretary (private
sector)
Director of the Secret Service
Privacy Officer
Small Disadvantaged Business
Chief of Staff
International Affairs
National Capital Region Coordination
Counter Narcotics
Shared Services
Under Secretary Science and Technology
Under Secretary Information Analysis and
Infrastructure Protection
Under Secretary Border Transportation Security
Under Secretary Emergency Preparedness and
Response
Under Secretary Management
Note (1) Effective March 1st, 2003
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• Current Status

Department of Homeland Security
Executive Secretary
Commandant of Coast Guard (1)
Legislative Affairs
Secretary ---------------------------------- Deput
y Secretary
Inspector General
Public Affairs
General Counsel
Citizenship Immigration Service Ombudsman (1)
State and Local Coordination
Director, Bureau of Citizenship Immigration
Services (1)
Civil Rights and Civil Liberties
Special Assistant to the Secretary (private
sector)
Director of the Secret Service (1)
Privacy Officer
Small Disadvantaged Business
Chief of Staff
International Affairs
National Capital Region Coordination
Counter Narcotics
Shared Services
Under Secretary Science and Technology
Under Secretary Information Analysis and
Infrastructure Protection
Under Secretary Border Transportation Security
Under Secretary Emergency Preparedness and
Response
Under Secretary Management
Note (1) Effective March 1st, 2003
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• Current Status

DHS Science Technology Threat
Vulnerability Technology Assessment Biometrics
(including acceptance NAS) Border security
travel identity systems Credibility Assessment
Behavioral aspects of terrorism
National Visual Analytics Center, to provide
tools research to develop tools for managing
and representing enormous amounts of diverse
data and information
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• Current Status

DHS Information Analysis Infrastructure
Protection National Cyber Security
Division, to monitor cyber security incidents
and coordinate responses DHS Border
Transportation Security TSA Screeners Federal
marshals (tens of thousands of flights) U.S.
Coast Guard Maritime Domestic Awareness
(identify elements that threaten U.S. before
they reach our ports)
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• Current Status

DHS Emergency Preparedness Response
Grants to states and territories to enhance
first responder capabilities National Response
Plan (PDD-5), to integrate prevention, preparedne
ss, response recovery plans National Incident
Management system, to create unified structure
for Federal, state, local incident
responses TOPOFF2 (Top Officials)
exercise Citizen Corps, to make communities
safer, stronger, better prepared
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• Current Status

DHS Homeland Security Centers Program Homeland
Security Center for Behavioral and Social
Aspects of Terrorism and Counter-Terrorism
(Sept. 30 04) Homeland Security Center for
Risk and Economic Analysis of Terrorism Events
UCSC National Center for Foreign Animal and
Zoonotic Disease Defense Texas AM National
Center for Food Protection and Defense
University of Minnesota
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• Current Status

• Other parts of the federal agency world
• CDC (DHHS) Decision making, first responder
  behaviors and teams behavioral
• issues in bioterrorism
• e.g., World Trade Center Evacuation Study
  (Columbia University)
• what did people do?
• CIA, ST
• U.S. Geological Survey using geological tools in
  combination with social/
• methods responses to natural, technological and
  military hazards.
• Department of Education, IES behavioral change
  and prevention campaigns
• e.g., Safe and Drug Free Schools

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• Current Status

• Other parts of the federal agency world
• National Park Service economic significance of
  parks and monuments
• e.g., how to care for spontaneous memorials
• EPA effective and rapid risk assessment
  capabilities
• e.g., safe buildings, water security, improvement
  of risk assessment capabilities
• Department of Commerce
• e.g., NIST analysis of human behavior in egress
• e.g., Bureau of Economic Analysis

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• Current Status

• Other parts of the federal agency world
• Department of Agriculture Economic Research
  Service
• e.g., human response to food toxins
• NASA human behavior in extreme environments
  health policy risk assessment
• behavioral components of technology adoption
  remote sensing
• Department of Defense biosciences, understanding
  human decision
• making, human dynamics and organization, human
  factors engineering
• e.g., DARPA program on deception detection

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• Current Status

• Other parts of the federal agency world
• National Science Foundation
• e.g., Human Social Dynamics Initiative (includes
  deception research)
• e.g., Small Grants for Exploratory Research
  (Vulnerability Theory and Decision Making
  Scenarios Tracking Intelligence Collection
  Analysis Emotion Cognition In Moral Judgment)
• Department of Justice National Institute of
  Justice
• e.g., study to examine patterns of conduct in
  preparatory and ancillary attack
• behaviors study to examine financial exchanges
  and support patterns for
• terrorist networks study to examine the overlap
  between terrorist networks
• and criminal networks study to interview Arab
  American communities and
• leadership for how to build trust in
  antiterrorism campaigns.

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• Current Status

Joint initiatives Two security evaluation
workshops Select Committee on Intelligence, as
part of appropriations/authorization
for Intelligence and intelligence-related
activities of the U.S. Government (S
1025) with regard to behavioral,
psychological, and physiological aspects of
security evaluations, to (i) catalog, (ii)
develop a research agenda (iii) distinguish
short- and long-term research (iv)
recommend. Meetings on Suicide/martyr
terrorists CIA, DHS, NIJ Deception/deception
detection CIA/ITIC June 2003 CIA ST July
2003 CIA/RAND June 2004 Intuition in law
enforcement intelligence FBI Academy DOJ
June, 2004
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• Current Status

Putting people and efforts together
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• Challenges

Knowing what we do
Social, Behavioral Economic Subcommittee
TERMS OF REFERENCE INTERAGENCY WORKING GROUP ON
SBE PORTFOLIO ASSESSMENT AND PRIORITY
SETTING Goals The goal of the Interagency
Working Group is to identify current
agency-specific and jointly funded (a) research
projects, programs and initiatives and (b)
priorities and opportunities, in the Social,
Behavioral and Economic (SBE) sciences. Data
collected will include budget information.
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? Social, Behavioral, Economic Sciences ?
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• Challenges

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Computational modeling and theory development
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• Challenges
• Some 30 Federal departments and agencies

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• Challenges Opportunities

DOE
DHS
Data Analysis/Knowledge Management
Visualization
OSTP /NSTC
NIH
NSF
Self report
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• Challenges

Knowing who is doing what
NIJ
DHS
CIA
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Challenges Opportunities
DHS
Martyr bombers (suicide terrorists)
NIJ
CIA
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• Challenges

Does anyone know anybody ?

• Scientists
• NIH
• NSF
• DHS
• DOD
• OSTP

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Challenges Opportunities

• Training
• Engagement
• listening
• listening
• listening
• talking

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• Challenges

Knowing who knows what

• Science
• public
• scrutinized
• shared
• published
• (commit)

• Operators
• secret
• secret
• secret
• secret

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Challenges Opportunities
S c i e n c e
Text analysis methods Data mining Statistical
tools Internet
Bunch of guys Power Agency-specific rules
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Conclusions

• Behavioral and social sciences RD
• relevant to counter terrorism RD
• reside in many Federal agencies
• Viewed as relevant and important (9/11)
• Long-term deliverables dependent on
• policy
• cultural context
• new technologies