The Reflecting Pool

Academics and practitioners see resilience as a critical driver of a community's success or failure in recovering or bouncing back from disasters. Jill Raycroft discusses her thesis, "Realizing Resilience: A Study of Definition, Indicators, and Operationalization," and provides insight into improving resilience by bridging how it is studied in theory and practiced in the field.

Today’s cyber risks to critical infrastructure and public services affect all levels of government. Eric Rosner (MA 1601/2) explores the current state of cybersecurity, examines what role each level of government should play, and finds that many of these entities lack the capabilities and workforce necessary to successfully defend against and respond to a significant cyber incident.

Criminals are often early adopters of new technology and artificial intelligence is no different. Kevin Peters (Masters 1705/6), Chief for the National Threat Evaluation and Reporting (NTER) Program in the Office of Intelligence & Analysis at DHS takes a close look at how transnational criminal organizations and cybercriminals may leverage developing AI technology to conduct more sophisticated criminal activities and evade detection. He uses a future-scenario methodology to identify how this technology can be used and what steps the homeland security enterprise should take to prepare.

Experts draw on years of experience to detect patterns and make predictions when facing novel situations. US Secret Service Assistant Special Agent In Charge James Huse (Masters 1601/2) investigates decision making, cognitive biases, and how expert performance compares to those of novices with the same information.

COVID19 has swept the globe in little more than 3 months.  Health officials have enacted quarantine orders to reduce the disease’s spread but who enforces those orders?  Lieutenant Don Lowenthal (Masters 1803/4) is the Infection Control Officer with the Philadelphia Police Department and a Registered Nurse at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital.  His research explores the efficacy of forced, self and hybrid quarantines and how local law enforcement and community stakeholders should move between these different approaches as the situation evolves.

Why does the click-through rate on threatening headlines far exceed those that are more benign?  Calling something a threat through a provocative headline or soundbite initiates a biological reaction that almost compels a person to find out more, but why is that?  Multnomah County, OR Chief Operating Officer Marissa Madrigal (Masters 1605/1606 aka 1611) explores how the process of securitization (declaring something is an external threat) initiates a neurobiological process that often causes people to adopt a ‘better safe than sorry’ posture when deciding what actions to take in response to the perceived threat.  Her research found evidence that this behavior is having an impact on homeland security-related decisions by creating a bias toward compulsive precautionary behavior rather than clear-minded cognitive reassessment and that our predictable behavior can be used against us.

First responders prepare themselves physically for complex and chaotic situations but what about mental preparedness.  Yonkers Fire Department Assistant Chief John Flynn (Masters 1501/ELP 1301) wanted to know if responders could optimize their crisis decision making through mindfulness training.  He studied the predominant decision-making paradigms, frameworks, models and systems, alongside various mindfulness training programs and practices, to determine if mindfulness training would be a worthwhile means of enhancing first-responder crisis decision-making.  John’s research found that mindfulness training may improve certain human factors, skills and abilities which correlate with enhanced first responder crisis decision-making, with a consequent significant improvement of outcomes during future emergencies and disasters.

The human-machine interface found in today’s complex machines introduces unprecedented opportunities for promise and peril. Jackie Lindsey (Masters 1601), currently the Cabinet Secretary at the New Mexico Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, studied several theories that try to explain this human-intelligent machine interface and predict how the future will look. Her research into the causal variables that led to the first vehicular auto-pilot fatality generated unique insights. Lindsey combined accident investigation findings with human-machine interface heuristics, cognitive psychology theories to evaluate the human-machine interface, and offers a counter-narrative called Brown’s Point that ensures the most benefit and safe way forward for humanity in this rapidly evolving environment.