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• Integrating Safety, Operations, Security, and Safeguards (ISOSS) into the Design of Small Modular Reactors: A Handbook

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  "The existing regulatory environment for nuclear reactors impacts both the facility design and the cost of operations once the facility is built. Delaying the consideration of regulatory requirements until late in the facility design - or worse, until after construction has begun - can result in costly retrofitting as well as increased operational costs to fulfill safety, security, safeguards, and emergency readiness requirements. Considering the scale and scope, as well as the latest design trends in the next generation of nuclear facilities, there is an opportunity to evaluate the regulatory requirements and optimize the design process for Small Modular Reactors (SMRs), as compared to current Light Water Reactors (LWRs). To this end, Sandia has embarked on an initiative to evaluate the interactions of regulations and operations as an approach to optimizing the design of SMR facilities, supporting operational efficiencies, as well as regulatory requirements. The early stages of this initiative consider two focus areas. The first focus area, reported by LaChance, et al. (2007), identifies the regulatory requirements established for the current fleet of LWR facilities regarding Safety, Security, Operations, Safeguards, and Emergency Planning, and evaluates the technical bases for these requirements. The second focus area, developed in this report, documents the foundations for an innovative approach that supports a design framework for SMR facilities that incorporates the regulatory environment, as well as the continued operation of the facility, into the early design stages, eliminating the need for costly retrofitting and additional operating personnel to fulfill regulatory requirements. The work considers a technique known as Integrated Safety, Operations, Security and Safeguards (ISOSS) (Darby, et al., 2007). In coordination with the best practices of industrial operations, the goal of this effort is to develop a design framework that outlines how ISOSS requirements can be incorporated into the pre-conceptual through early facility design stages, seeking a cost-effective design that meets both operational efficiencies and the regulatory environment."

  Sandia National Laboratories; United States. Department of Energy

  Middleton, Bobby; Mendez, Carmen

  2013-10
• Sustainability Innovation Foundry-FY13: Merging Research and Operations

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  "Sustainability is a critical national security issue for the U.S. and other nations. Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) is already a global leader in sustainability science and technology (SS&T) as documented in this report. This report documents the ongoing work conducted this year as part of the Sustainability Innovation Foundry (SIF). The efforts of the SIF support Sandia's national and international security missions related to sustainability and resilience revolving around energy use, water use, and materials, both on site at Sandia and externally. The SIF leverages existing Sandia research and development (R&D) in sustainability science and technology to support new solutions to complex problems. The SIF also builds on existing Sandia initiatives to support transformation of Sandia into a fully sustainable entity in terms of materials, energy, and water use. In the long term, the SIF will demonstrate the efficacy of sustainability technology developed at Sandia through prototyping and test bed approaches and will provide a common platform for support of solutions to the complex problems surrounding sustainability. Highlights from this year include the Sustainability Idea Challenge, improvements in facilities energy use, lectures and presentations from relevant experts in sustainability [Dr. Barry Hughes, University of Denver], and significant development of the Institutional Transformation (IX) modeling tools to support evaluation of proposed modifications to the SNL infrastructure to realize energy savings."

  Sandia National Laboratories; United States. Department of Energy. Office of Scientific and Technical Information

  McNeish, Jerry; Mizner, Jack; Kistin-Keller, Elizabeth . . .

  2013-12
• Nationwide Water Availability Data for Energy-Water Modeling

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  "The purpose of this effort is to explore where the availability of water could be a limiting factor in the siting of new electric power generation. To support this analysis, water availability is mapped at the county level for the conterminous United States (3109 counties). Five water sources are individually considered, including unappropriated surface water, unappropriated groundwater, appropriated water (western U.S. only), municipal wastewater and brackish groundwater. Also mapped is projected growth in non-thermoelectric consumptive water demand to 2035. Finally, the water availability metrics are accompanied by estimated costs associated with utilizing that particular supply of water. Ultimately these data sets are being developed for use in the National Renewable Energy Laboratories' (NREL) Regional Energy Deployment System (ReEDS) model, designed to investigate the likely deployment of new energy installations in the U.S., subject to a number of constraints, particularly water."

  Sandia National Laboratories

  Tidwell, Vincent C.; Zemlick, Katie; Klise, Geoff

  2013-11
• Investigation of the Hydrogen Release Incident at the AC Transit Emergyville Facility

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  "This report summarizes the investigation of the release of approximately 300kg of hydrogen at the AC Transit Facility in Emeryville, CA. The hydrogen release was avoidable in both the root cause and contributing factors. The report highlights the need for communication in all phases of project planning and implementation. Apart from the failed valve, the hydrogen system functioned as designed, venting the hydrogen gas a safe distance above surrounding structures and keeping the subsequent fire away from personnel and equipment. The Emeryville Fire Department responded appropriately given the information provided to the Incident Commander. No injuries or fatalities resulted from the incident."

  United States. Department of Energy; Sandia National Laboratories

  Butler, Dennis; Levin, Jamie; San Marchi, Chris W. . . .

  2012-06
• Methodology to Quantify the Release of Spent Nuclear Fuel from Dry Casks During Security-Related Scenarios

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  "Assessing the risk to the public and the environment from a release of radioactive material produced by accidental or purposeful forces/environments is an important aspect of the regulatory process in many facets of the nuclear industry. In particular, the transport and storage of radioactive materials is of particular concern to the public, especially with regard to potential sabotage acts that might be undertaken by terror groups to cause injuries, panic, and/or economic consequences to a nation. For many such postulated attacks, no breach in the robust cask or storage module containment is expected to occur. However, there exists evidence that some hypothetical attack modes can penetrate and cause a release of radioactive material. This report is intended as an unclassified overview of the methodology for release estimation as well as a guide to useful resource data from unclassified sources and relevant analysis methods for the estimation process."

  Sandia National Laboratories

  Durbin, S.G.; Luna, R.E.

  2013-11
• Response and Recovery Knowledge Product: Key Planning Factors

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  "This report was prepared as an account of work sponsored by an agency of the United States Government. Neither the United States Government, nor any agency thereof, nor any of their employees, nor any of their contractors, subcontractors, or their employees, make any warranty, express or implied, or assume any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product, or process disclosed, or represent that its use would not infringe privately owned rights. Reference herein to any specific commercial product, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise, does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the United States Government, any agency thereof, or any of their contractors or subcontractors. The views and opinions expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of the United States Government, any agency thereof, or any of their contractors."

  Sandia National Laboratories; United States. Department of Homeland Security. Science and Technology Directorate

  2012
• Iran's Relations to the East: Nonproliferation and Regional Security in a Changing Southwest Asia

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  "The nuclear agreement with Iran contains ramifications for the regional politics of Southwest Asia. A major impact could be on policy toward Salafi jihadism, and in addressing this threat in a meaningful and effective way. It is this paper's contention that the Iran nuclear agreement could be a contributory factor for countering Salafi jihadism. A permanent P5+1 (Britain, France, China, Russia, United States and Germany)-Iran agreement could be a regional game-changer. This is because the agreement would de-escalate the problem of Iran's nuclear program, advance nonproliferation, and allow the major players to address the critical issue of radicalism. It would create a favorable environment for all regional states to find common ground in the collective identification of this key security threat. This agreement would facilitate concentrated focus on the threat of ideological radicalism and help the regional states act willingly and proactively to counter this threat. In support of addressing these issues, the regional states could work jointly through a Regional Security Forum. This would bring important regional states like Iran, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia into agreement on this central issue. Currently there are three main countries of concern in regard to Salafi jihadism -- Afghanistan in South Asia, and Syria and Iraq in the Middle East. A regional security forum would demonstrate the joint resolve to work on a single-point security agenda vis-à-vis these states of concern. Such a collaborative effort could serve as a model for future joint actions in areas of common regional interest."

  Sandia National Laboratories; United States. Department of Energy

  Tehsin, Muhammad

  2014-08
• Human Dimensions in Cyber Operations Research and Development Priorities

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  "Within cyber security, the human element represents one of the greatest untapped opportunities for increasing the effectiveness of network defenses. However, there has been little research to understand the human dimension in cyber operations. To better understand the needs and priorities for research and development to address these issues, a workshop was conducted August 28-29, 2012 in Washington DC. A synthesis was developed that captured the key issues and associated research questions. Research and development needs were identified that fell into three parallel paths: (1) human factors analysis and scientific studies to establish foundational knowledge concerning factors underlying the performance of cyber defenders; (2) development of models that capture key processes that mediate interactions between defenders, users, adversaries and the public; and (3) development of a multi-purpose test environment for conducting controlled experiments that enables systems and human performance measurement. These research and development investments would transform cyber operations from an art to a science, enabling systems solutions to be engineered to address a range of situations. Organizations would be able to move beyond the current state where key decisions (e.g. personnel assignment) are made on a largely ad hoc basis to a state in which there exist institutionalized processes for assuring the right people are doing the right jobs in the right way. These developments lay the groundwork for emergence of a professional class of cyber defenders with defined roles and career progressions, with higher levels of personnel commitment and retention. Finally, the operational impact would be evident in improved performance, accompanied by a shift to a more proactive response in which defenders have the capacity to exert greater control over the cyber battlespace."

  Sandia National Laboratories

  Forsythe, Chris; Silva, Austin; Stevens-Adams, Susan M. . . .

  2012-11
• Omen: Identifying Potential Spear-Phishing Targets Before the Email is Sent

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  "We present the results of a two year project focused on a common social engineering attack method called 'spear phishing'. In a spear phishing attack, the user receives an email with information specifically focused on the user. This email contains either a malware-laced attachment or a link to download the malware that has been disguised as a useful program. Spear phishing attacks have been one of the most effective avenues for attackers to gain initial entry into a target network. This project focused on a proactive approach to spear phishing. To create an effective, user-specific spear phishing email, the attacker must research the intended recipient. We believe that much of the information used by the attacker is provided by the target organization's own external website. Thus when researching potential targets, the attacker leaves signs of his research in the webserver's logs. We created tools and visualizations to improve cybersecurity analysts' abilities to quickly understand a visitor's visit patterns and interests. Given these suspicious visitors and log-parsing tools, analysts can more quickly identify truly suspicious visitors, search for potential spear-phishing targeted users, and improve security around those users before the spear phishing email is sent."

  Sandia National Laboratories

  Wendt, Jeremy Daniel

  2013-07
• Network Randomization and Dynamic Defense for Critical Infrastructure Systems

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  "Critical Infrastructure control systems continue to foster predictable communication paths, static configurations, and unpatched systems that allow easy access to our nation's most critical assets. This makes them attractive targets for cyber intrusion. We seek to address these attack vectors by automatically randomizing network settings, randomizing applications on the end devices themselves, and dynamically defending these systems against active attacks. Applying these protective measures will convert control systems into moving targets that proactively defend themselves against attack. Sandia National Laboratories has led this effort by gathering operational and technical requirements from Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) and performing research and development to create a proof-of-concept solution. Our proof-of-concept has been tested in a laboratory environment with over 300 nodes. The vision of this project is to enhance control system security by converting existing control systems into moving targets and building these security measures into future systems while meeting the unique constraints that control systems face."

  Sandia National Laboratories; United States. Department of Energy

  Chavez, Adrian; Hamlet, Jason R.; Lee, Erik . . .

  2015-04
• Radar Design to Protect Against Surprise

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  "Technological and doctrinal surprise is about rendering preparations for conflict as irrelevant or ineffective. For a sensor, this means essentially rendering the sensor as irrelevant or ineffective in its ability to help determine truth. Recovery from this sort of surprise is facilitated by flexibility in our own technology and doctrine. For a sensor, this means flexibility in its architecture, design, tactics, and the designing organizations' processes."

  Sandia National Laboratories

  Doerry, Armin W.

  2015-02
• Areas for US-India Civilian Nuclear Cooperation to Prevent/Mitigate Radiological Events

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  "Over the decades, India and the United States have had very little formal collaboration on nuclear issues. Partly this was because neither country needed collaboration to make progress in the nuclear field. But it was also due, in part, to the concerns both countries had about the other's intentions. Now that the U.S.-India Deal on nuclear collaboration has been signed and the Hyde Act passed in the United States, it is possible to recognize that both countries can benefit from such nuclear collaboration, especially if it starts with issues important to both countries that do not touch on strategic systems. Fortunately, there are many noncontroversial areas for collaboration. This study, funded by the U.S. State Department, has identified a number of areas in the prevention of and response to radiological incidents where such collaboration could take place."

  Sandia National Laboratories

  Balachandran, G.; Forden, Geoffrey E.

  2013-01
• WeaselBoard: Zero-Day Exploit Detection for Programmable Logic Controllers

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  "Critical infrastructures, such as electrical power plants and oil refineries, rely on programmable logic controllers (PLCs) to control essential processes. State of the art security cannot detect attacks on PLCs at the hardware or firmware level. This renders critical infrastructure control systems vulnerable to costly and dangerous attacks. WeaselBoard is a PLC backplane analysis system that connects directly to the PLC backplane to capture backplane communications between modules. WeaselBoard forwards inter-module traffic to an external analysis system that detects changes to process control settings, sensor values, module configuration information, firmware updates, and process control program (logic) updates. WeaselBoard provides zero-day exploit detection for PLCs by detecting changes in the PLC and the process. This approach to PLC monitoring is protected under U.S. Patent Application 13/947,887."

  Sandia National Laboratories

  Mulder, John; Schwartz, Moses; Berg, Michael J. . . .

  2013-10
• Conceptual Framework for Developing Resilience Metrics for the Electricity, Oil, and Gas Sectors in the United States

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  From the Abstract: "This report has been written for the Department of Energy's Energy Policy and Systems Analysis Office to inform their writing of the Quadrennial Energy Review in the area of energy resilience. The topics of measuring and increasing energy resilience are addressed, including definitions, means of measuring, and analytic methodologies that can be used to make decisions for policy, infrastructure planning, and operations. A risk-based framework is presented which provides a standard definition of a resilience metric. Additionally, a process is identified which explains how the metrics can be applied. Research and development is articulated that will further accelerate the resilience of energy infrastructures." This document uses various charts, graphs and tables to illustrate the text.

  Sandia National Laboratories

  Watson, Jean-Paul; Guttromson, Ross; Silva Monroy, Cesar A. . . .

  2014-09
• Water Security Toolkit User Manual Version 1.2

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  "The Water Security Toolkit (WST) is a suite of open source software tools that can be used by water utilities to create response strategies to reduce the impact of contamination in a water distribution network. WST includes hydraulic and water quality modeling software, optimization methodologies, and visualization tools to identify: (1) sensor locations to detect contamination, (2) locations in the network in which the contamination was introduced, (3) hydrants to remove contaminated water from the distribution system, (4) locations in the network to inject decontamination agents to inactivate, remove, or destroy contaminants, (5) locations in the network to take grab samples to help identify the source of contamination and (6) valves to close in order to isolate contaminated areas of the network. This user manual describes the different components of WST, along with examples and case studies."

  Sandia National Laboratories

  Mann, Angelica; McGee, Shawn; Hackebeil, Gabriel . . .

  2014-08
• Trusting National Security Systems: Issues for National Security Leadership

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  From the report's Abstract: "Senior leaders rightly expect defense systems to be reliable and experience supports this expectation. However, today's competitive electronics design and manufacturing environment has led to components and software equally sourced by military and commercial entities. These technologies are in the supply chain of Critical Defense Systems. Wide availability permits reduced cost and increased communication, but also opens access to subversion by an Advanced Persistent Threat. Senior leaders must consider including trust as a design discipline. Senior leaders resist focus on trust because its complex, dynamic, and non-data driven. Trust has interdependent elements that place it in the category of a 'Wicked Problem,' one whose requirements and solutions are always changing. Research for this paper included a review of internal and external literature to understand human responses to trust; wicked problems; the relationship between trust and current technology, quality assurance and production practices; and examples of successful subversions of the past. The paper concludes with how the three principles of trust, prevention, detection, and mitigation, may be implemented, and presents paths for senior management to establish trust and resolve wicked problems."

  Sandia National Laboratories

  Ackermann, Mark R.

  2014-08
• Cognitive and Economic Decision Theory for Examining Cyber Defense Strategies

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  From the Introduction: "Cyber attacks pose a major threat to modern organizations. These attacks can have nefarious aims and serious consequences, including disruption of operations, espionage, identity theft, and attacks on critical infrastructure. Organizations must put substantial resources into protecting themselves and their customers, clients, and others against cyber attacks. Even with a substantial investment in cyber defense resources, however, the risk of harm from a cyber attack is significant for many organizations. The effectiveness of cyber defense can likely be enhanced if programs are implemented that allow organizations that face similar cyber threats to share information and resources. The threats faced by different organizations may be similar or identical (figure 1), and much of the work done by cyber defenders at these organizations may be redundant (Hui et al. 2010). By sharing information about cyber attacks, effective defense strategies, and personnel with specific expertise, organizations may better protect themselves against cyber threats while maintaining or even reducing the resources dedicated to cyber security."

  United States. Department of Energy. Office of Scientific and Technical Information; Sandia National Laboratories

  Bier, Asmeret

  2014-01
• Development of Self-Remediating Packaging for Safe and Secure Transport of Infectious Substances

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  "As George W. Bush recognized in November 2001, 'Infectious diseases make no distinctions among people and recognize no borders.' By their very nature, infectious diseases of natural or intentional (bioterrorist) origins are capable of threatening regional health systems and economies. The best mechanism for minimizing the spread and impact of infectious disease is rapid disease detection and diagnosis. For rapid diagnosis to occur, infectious substances (IS) must be transported very quickly to appropriate laboratories, sometimes located across the world. Shipment of IS is problematic since many carriers, concerned about leaking packages, refuse to ship this material. The current packaging does not have any ability to neutralize or kill leaking IS. The technology described here was developed by Sandia National Laboratories to provide a fail-safe packaging system for shipment of IS that will increase the likelihood that critical material can be shipped to appropriate laboratories following a bioterrorism event or the outbreak of an infectious disease. This safe and secure packaging method contains a novel decontaminating material that will kill or neutralize any leaking infectious organisms; this feature will decrease the risk associated with shipping IS, making transport more efficient."

  Sandia National Laboratories

  Gaudioso, Jennifer; Tucker, Mark D.; Salerno, Reynolds M. (Reynolds Mathewson), 1966- . . .

  2006-10
• Applying New Network Security Technologies to SCADA Systems

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  "Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems for automation are very important for critical infrastructure and manufacturing operations. They have been implemented to work in a number of physical environments using a variety of hardware, software, networking protocols, and communications technologies, often before security issues became of paramount concern. To offer solutions to security shortcomings in the short/medium term, this project was to identify technologies used to secure 'traditional' IT [information technology] networks and systems, and then assess their efficacy with respect to SCADA systems. These proposed solutions must be relatively simple to implement, reliable, and acceptable to SCADA owners and operators."

  Sandia National Laboratories

  Duggan, David Patrick; Chavez, Adrian; Stamp, Jason E. . . .

  2006-11
• Cooperation and Learning in Cyber Security Training Exercises

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  "Cyber attacks pose a major threat to many organizations, and cooperation within and between organizations has potential to improve defensive capabilities. Tracer FIRE, a training program for cyber security incident responders, has begun to explore whether cooperation during training exercises can enhance learning. A system dynamics model was created using the Behavioral Influence Assessment framework, which uses well-established psychological, social, and economic theory to simulate cognition and interactions between people and their environments. The model was used to understand the relationship between cooperation and learning during Tracer FIRE, and to explore methods, using scenario exploration and sensitivity analysis, of increasing participants' learning."

  Sandia National Laboratories

  Anderson, Ben J.; Bier, Asmeret

  2013-07-21
• Organizational Participation in Cooperative Cyber Security

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  "Cyber attacks pose a major threat to modern organizations. The effectiveness of cyber defense can likely be enhanced if programs are implemented that allow organizations that face similar cyber threats to share information and resources. To begin to understand the potential for cooperation to improve cyber security, we modeled a simple cooperative structure that allows resource sharing between two organizations whose defense teams do a significant amount of redundant work. This model is a first step toward understanding the social and operational issues involved in implementing a program of cooperative cyber defense between organizations."

  Sandia National Laboratories

  Bier, Asmeret

  2012-07-22
• Climate-Derived Tensions in Arctic Security

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  "Globally, there is no lack of security threats. Many of them demand priority engagement and there can never be adequate resources to address all threats. In this context, climate is just another aspect of global security and the Arctic just another region. In light of physical and budgetary constraints, new security needs must be integrated and prioritized with existing ones. This discussion approaches the security impacts of climate from that perspective, starting with the broad security picture and establishing how climate may affect it. This method provides a different view from one that starts with climate and projects it, in isolation, as the source of a hypothetical security burden. That said, the Arctic does appear to present high-priority security challenges. Uncertainty in the timing of an ice-free Arctic affects how quickly it will become a security priority. Uncertainty in the emergent extreme and variable weather conditions will determine the difficulty (cost) of maintaining adequate security (order) in the area. The resolution of sovereignty boundaries affects the ability to enforce security measures, and the U.S. will most probably need a military presence to back-up negotiated sovereignty agreements. Without additional global warming, technology already allows the Arctic to become a strategic link in the global supply chain, possibly with northern Russia as its main hub. Additionally, the multinational corporations reaping the economic bounty may affect security tensions more than nation-states themselves. Countries will depend ever more heavily on the global supply chains."

  Sandia National Laboratories

  Strickland, James H.; Backus, George A.

  2008-09
• Data Validation and Security for Reprocessing

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  "Next generation nuclear fuel cycle facilities will face strict requirements on security and safeguards of nuclear material. These requirements can result in expensive facilities. The purpose of this project was to investigate how to incorporate safeguards and security into one plant monitoring system early in the design process to take better advantage of all plant process data, to improve confidence in the operation of the plant, and to optimize costs. An existing reprocessing plant materials accountancy model was examined for use in evaluating integration of safeguards (both domestic and international) and security. International safeguards require independent, secure, and authenticated measurements for materials accountability--it may be best to design stand-alone systems in addition to domestic safeguards instrumentation to minimize impact on operations. In some cases, joint-use equipment may be appropriate. Existing domestic materials accountancy instrumentation can be used in conjunction with other monitoring equipment for plant security as well as through the use of material assurance indicators, a new metric for material control that is under development. Future efforts will take the results of this work to demonstrate integration on the reprocessing plant model."

  Sandia National Laboratories

  Merkle, Peter B.; Cipiti, Benjamin B.; Duran, Felicia A.

  2008-10
• International Biosecurity Symposium: Securing High Consequence Pathogens and Toxins, Symposium Summary

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  "The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) Office of Nonproliferation Policy sponsored an international biosecurity symposium at Sandia National Laboratories (SNL). The event, entitled 'Securing High Consequence Pathogens and Toxins', took place from February 1 to February 6, 2004 and was hosted by Dr. Reynolds M. Salerno, Principal Member of the Technical Staff and Program Manager of the Biosecurity program at Sandia. Over 60 bioscience and policy experts from 14 countries gathered to discuss biosecurity, a strategy aimed at preventing the theft and sabotage of dangerous pathogens and toxins from bioscience facilities. Presentations delivered during the symposium were interspersed with targeted discussions that elucidated, among other things, the need for subsequent regional workshops on biosecurity, and a desire for additional work toward developing international biosecurity guidelines."

  Sandia National Laboratories

  2004-06-01
• Leveraging U.S. Nuclear Weapons Policy to Advance U.S. Nonproliferation Goals: Implications of Major Theories of International Relations

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  "National policymakers are currently considering a dilemma of critical importance to the continued security of the United States: how can U.S. nuclear weapons policies be leveraged to benefit U.S. nuclear nonproliferation goals in the near-term, without sacrificing U.S. national security? In its role supporting U.S. nuclear weapons policy, Sandia National Laboratories has a responsibility to provide objective technical advice to support policy deliberations on this question. However, to best fulfill this duty Sandia must have a broader understanding of the context of the problem. To help develop this understanding, this paper analyzes the two predominant analytical perspectives of international relations theory to explore their prescriptions for how nuclear weapons and nonproliferation policies interact. As lenses with which to view and make sense of the world, theories of international relations must play a crucial role in framing the trade-offs at the intersection of the nuclear weapons and nonproliferation policy domains. An analysis of what these theories suggest as courses of action to leverage nuclear weapons policies to benefit nonproliferation goals is then offered, with particular emphasis on where the policy prescriptions resulting from the respective theories align to offer near-term policy changes with broad theoretical support. These policy prescriptions are then compared to the 2001 Nuclear Posture Review to understand what the theories indicate policymakers may have gotten right in their dealing with the nuclear dilemma, and where they may have gone wrong. Finally, a brief international relations research agenda is proposed to help address the dilemma between nuclear deterrence and nuclear nonproliferation policies, with particular emphasis on how such an agenda can best support the needs of the policy community and a potential 'all things nuclear' policy deliberation and decision-support framework."

  Sandia National Laboratories

  Walter, Andrew

  2009-06
• Modified Perspective of Decision Support in C2

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  "Information processing and transformation in support of operations in combat environments have evolved well beyond the capabilities of classic deductive-inductive information systems. Unconventional warfare, and modern terrorism operate under conditions that do not lend themselves to pattern recognition techniques. The effort at Sandia National Laboratories is approaching the problem from an adaptive decision aid perspective in which new technologies are being hybridized to provide new and unique capabilities to deal with this new threat. These technologies are founded in Peircean reasoning and provide support for the various components needed to formulate a solution. The supporting technologies include formal concept analysis for knowledge representation, modal logic to provide guidelines for the movement and transformation of data and information, and a unique neural construct based on Hawkins concept of the neocortex. When integrated into a co-evolutionary game theoretic environment we believe we can provide capabilities of predicting the trends that will emerge in insurgency use of IEDs [improvised explosive device] against combatants and non-combatants in theater."

  Sandia National Laboratories; United States. National Nuclear Security Administration

  Senglaub, Michael E.

  2002-02
• Metrics for Border Management Systems

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  "There are as many unique and disparate manifestations of border systems as there are borders to protect. Border Security is a highly complex system analysis problem with global, regional, national, sector, and border element dimensions for land, water, and air domains. The complexity increases with the multiple, and sometimes conflicting, missions for regulating the flow of people and goods across borders, while securing them for national security. These systems include frontier border surveillance, immigration management and customs functions that must operate in a variety of weather, terrain, operational conditions, cultural constraints, and geopolitical contexts. As part of a Laboratory Directed Research and Development Project 08-684 (Year 1), the team developed a reference framework to decompose this complex system into international/regional, national, and border elements levels covering customs, immigration, and border policing functions. This generalized architecture is relevant to both domestic and international borders. As part of year two of this project (09-1204), the team determined relevant relative measures to better understand border management performance. This paper describes those relative metrics and how they can be used to improve border management systems."

  Sandia National Laboratories

  Duggan, Ruth A.

  2009-07
• When Materials Matter--Analyzing, Predicting, and Preventing Disasters

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  "The mission of the Architectural Surety program at Sandia National Laboratories is to assure the performance of buildings, facilities, and other infrastructure systems under normal, abnormal, and malevolent threat conditions. Through educational outreach efforts in the classroom, at conferences, and presentations such as this one, public and professional awareness of the need to defuse and mitigate such threats is increased. Buildings, airports, utilities, and other kinds of infrastructure deteriorate over time, as evidenced most dramatically by our crumbling cities and aging buildings, bridges, and other facility systems. Natural disasters such as tornadoes, earthquakes, hurricanes, and flooding also stress the materials and structural elements of our built environment. In addition, criminals, vandals, and terrorists attack our federal buildings, dams, bridges, tunnels, and other public and private facilities. Engineers and architects are beginning to systematically consider these threats during the design, construction, and retrofit phases of buildings and infrastructures and are recommending advanced research in new materials and techniques. Existing building codes and standards do not adequately address nor protect our infrastructure or the public from many of these emerging threats."

  Sandia National Laboratories

  Matalucci, Rudolph V.; O'Connor, Sharon L.

  2000-04-24
• War on Terrorism and What We Can Learn from our War with Fire

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  "The highly leveraged, asymmetric attacks of September 11th have launched the nation on a vast "War on Terrorism". Now that our vulnerabilities and the enemies' objectives and determination have been demonstrated, we find ourselves rapidly immersed in a huge, complex problem that is virtually devoid of true understanding while being swamped with resources and proposed technologies for solutions. How do we win this war? How do we make sure that we are making the proper investments? What things or freedoms or rights do we have to give up to win? Where do we even start? In analyzing this problem, many similarities to mankind's battle with uncontrolled fire and the threat it presented to society were noted. Major fires throughout history have destroyed whole cities and caused massive loss of life and property. Solutions were devised that have gradually, over several hundred years, reduced this threat to a level that allows us to co-exist with the threat of fire by applying constant vigilance and investments in fire protection, but without living in constant fear and dread from fire. We have created a multi-pronged approach to fire protection that involves both government and individuals in the prevention, mitigation, and response to fires. Fire protection has become a virtually unnoticed constant in our daily lives; we will have to do the same for terrorism. This paper discusses the history of fire protection and draws analogies to our War on Terrorism. We have, as a society, tackled and successfully conquered a problem as big as terrorism. From this battle, we can learn and take comfort."

  Sandia National Laboratories

  Whitley, John; Yonas, Gerold

  2002-07
• Concept for the Use of Red Teams in Homeland Defense

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  "Immediately after the attacks on 9/11, Sandia National Laboratories' management initiated the Sandia Study of the War on Terrorism (SSWOT). Run by Sandia's Advanced Concepts Group and supported by experts from all parts of the Lab, the study was organized into three teams (Red, Yellow, and Green) that focused on the following three questions, respectively: How do we find and stop terrorists? How can we protect the homeland? How do we address the root causes of terrorism?... At the center of this constellation was a cluster of ideas related to red teams and how they might benefit the war on terrorism. The goal of this paper is to capture Sandia's thinking in this area. Clearly, refining and bringing these ideas to fruition will require the expertise and involvement of many organizations. Even though much of this paper is written in a definitive tone--"We will do X, then Y, then Z"--the ideas in this paper should be seen as nothing more than Sandia's current opinions on this subject. While Sandia's expertise in certain areas addressed by this paper (e.g., system attack methodologies) is quite deep, in other areas (e.g., war gaming) Sandia is a relative novice, and feedback from more expert organizations is needed to strengthen the concepts and approaches articulated in this document."

  Sandia National Laboratories

  Craft, Richard L.

  2002-09-26