Improving Homeland Security Decisions

What are the risks of terrorism and what are their consequences and economic impacts? Are we safer from terrorism today than before 9/11? Does the government spend our homeland security funds well? These questions motivated a twelve-year research program of the National Center for Risk and Economic Analysis of Terrorism Events (CREATE) at the University of Southern California, funded by the Department of Homeland Security. This book showcases some of the most important results of this research and offers key insights on how to address the most important security problems of our time. Written for homeland security researchers and practitioners, this book covers a wide range of methodologies and real-world examples of how to reduce terrorism risks, increase the efficient use of homeland security resources, and thereby make better decisions overall.

Ali E. Abbas is Professor of Industrial and Systems Engineering and Professor of Public Policy and Management at the University of Southern California. He also serves as the director of the Center for Interdisciplinary Decisions and Ethics (DECIDE). His research interests focus on all aspects of decision making under uncertainty broadly defined. He is author of two books, two edited volumes, and has over one hundred refereed publications. He has organized numerous workshops on decision making in large scale systems with NASA Langley, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), the Department of Homeland Security, and the National Science Foundation.

Milind Tambe is Professor of Computer Science and Professor of Industrial and Systems Engineering at the University of Southern California. He is a founding co-director of the USC Center on Artificial Intelligence in Society. Among his pioneering contributions in Artificial Intelligence is the security games framework that has been deployed by agencies such as the US Coast Guard, Federal Air Marshals Service, and various non-governmental organizations for which he has received several commendations. He is a fellow of the Association for Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI) and Association for Computing Machinery (ACM).

Detlof von Winterfeldt is Professor of Industrial and Systems Engineering and Professor of Public Policy and Management at the University of Southern California. His research interests are in the foundation and practice of decision and risk analysis. In 2004 he co-founded the National Center for Risk and Economic Analysis of Terrorism Events (CREATE) and serves as its current director. He is the author of two books, three edited volumes, and over one hundred refereed articles and chapters. He is a fellow of the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS) and of the Society for Risk Analysis.