- Title
- Terror, security, and money: the risks, benefits, and costs of critical infrastructure protection
- Creator
- Stewart, M. G.; Mueller, J.
- Relation
- 22nd Australasian Conferencs on the Mechanics of Structures and Materials (ACMSM 22). Proceedings of the 22nd Australasian Conferencs on the Mechanics of Structures and Materials (Sydney 11-14 December, 2012) p. 29-40
- Relation
- ARC
- Publisher Link
- http://dx.doi.org/10.1201/b15320-1
- Publisher
- Taylor & Francis
- Resource Type
- conference paper
- Date
- 2013
- Description
- Government spending on homeland is projected to reach $300 billion by 2016. The cumulative increase in expenditures on USdomestic homeland security over the decade since 9/11 exceeds one trillion dollars. How much of this expenditure is necessary? and how much has been effective? The use of risk-based decision theory to determine acceptability of risk is crucial to prioritise protective measures for critical infrastructure. Structural reliability and probabilistic methods are used to assess risk reduction due to protective measures, particularly since loading and response of structures to explosive blast loading is subject to uncertainty and variability. The paper will describe a cost-benefit analysis that considers threat likelihood, cost of security and protective measures, risk reduction and expected losses to compare costs and benefits to decide which protective measures are cost-effective, and those which are not.We find that the protection of standard office-type buildings or bridges would be cost-effective only if the likelihood of a sizable terrorist attack on the building is a many times greater than it is at present. Secondary barriers to the cockpit on airliners is cost-effective, though the provision for air marshals is not.
- Subject
- terrorism; homeland security; risk-based decision; protective measures
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/1297368
- Identifier
- uon:19435
- Identifier
- ISBN:9780415633185
- Language
- eng
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