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Port Security Grant Program: Good Enough, or Can It Be Made Better
From the thesis abstract: "For almost a decade and a half since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the Port Security Grant Program [PSGP] has provided funding to project proposals for improving the security and resiliency posture of the nation's ports and waterways. The United States has over 360 coastal and inland ports through which over $1.3 trillion in cargo moves annually; a safe, secure, and efficient MTS [Marine Transportation System] is critical to national security. The PSGP is intended to enhance port security and resiliency by funding proposals to provide increased risk management, measures to mitigate disruptions and facilitate port recovery, and maritime domain awareness (MDA) capabilities to prevent, respond to, and recover from attacks. The PSGP has matured to include funding for all-hazards threatening the ports-natural, accidental, and intentional. This thesis seeks to evaluate how well the PSGP has met those goals and if it should be improved, reorganized or eliminated."
Naval Postgraduate School (U.S.); Naval Postgraduate School (U.S.). Center for Homeland Defense and Security
Arnett, Paul D. J.
2016-06
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Granting Concessions and Paying Ransoms to Terrorists: A Policy Options Analysis of the U.S. Policy on Hostage Recovery
From the thesis abstract: "Nations around the world, including the United States, have been battling terrorist hostage-takings by instituting 'no-concessions' policies. The hope is that denying terrorists their demands will remove all incentives for hostage-taking, thereby eliminating its practice. However, since this policy has been in existence, research has shown that hostage-takings have increased. Considering the recent, highly publicized beheadings of hostages held by the Islamic State, is there a better policy option, such as one that protects U.S. citizens who are being held hostage? To answer this question, this thesis conducted a policy options analysis. Criteria were developed from the literature, and the current U.S. policy was compared to two other policy options. The research found that current U.S. policy does not effectively achieve its goals and, as such, does not offer the best protection to U.S. citizens. As a result, the thesis concluded that the United States would be better served by removing the no-concessions rule and focusing on a policy that punishes terrorists who participate in hostage-taking."
Naval Postgraduate School (U.S.); Naval Postgraduate School (U.S.). Center for Homeland Defense and Security
Hyatt, Rodney
2016-06
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Getting the Message Across: An Analysis of Foodborne Outbreak Communications Between Federal, State, and Local Health Agencies
From the thesis abstract: "To assure coordination of emergency response across multiple areas of responsibility, clear methods of communication between public health agencies need to be defined before responding to foodborne outbreaks. Such capacity is essential to assure the United States can satisfy its goal of achieving an Integrated Food Safety System, as mandated under the 2011 Food Safety Modernization Act. With this in mind, a comparative analysis was conducted of 21 states' general operating procedures to ascertain lines and modes of communication related to foodborne outbreaks, evaluate for procedural commonalities and best practices, identify potential barriers to effective communication, and make recommendations to enhance multi-directional coordinated information exchanges among health agencies. The analysis identified that while all states included recognize the value of a prompt response in disease identification, investigation and control, coordinated communication strategies within and between affected public health agencies is less robust. Many protocols are vague in establishing parameters for what information can be shared with other agencies, and under which circumstances. A multitude of electronic portals exist for collaborative purposes; however, these resources are not centralized. Recommendations for systemic improvement include expanding the current food protection rapid-response teams to all 50 states, assuring that formalized inter- and intra-agency communication plans exist in every outbreak response protocol, assuring the Incident Command System is explicitly stipulated in every regulatory outbreak response plan, and establishing funding opportunities for county and local health agencies related to communication training and system enhancements for collaborations in the midst of an outbreak."
Naval Postgraduate School (U.S.); Naval Postgraduate School (U.S.). Center for Homeland Defense and Security
Samarya-Timm, Michele
2016-06
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Facilitating the Medical Response into an Active Shooter Hot Zone
From the thesis abstract: "The response to active shooter attacks is not as effective as it could be. People die before receiving care because most jurisdictions have a policy in place that stipulates emergency medical services (EMS) wait to enter a scene until law enforcement (LE) announces that the scene is clear or secure. Since this can take some time, life-saving care is not immediately available to the people who most need it, and consequently, there can be a greater loss of life. How can a combined LE and EMS response, based on combat medical care, be effective in saving lives during an active shooter incident? Utilizing 10 historic active shooter cases ranging from the Texas tower shooting in 1966 and concluding with the Sandy Hook school shooting in 2012, I analyzed the responses to consider the response times of the responders, time of access to the victims, and transport time to medical facilities. The basis for the responses utilized data collected by the U.S. military from combat injuries sustained from World War II through the current conflicts in the Middle East. From these analyses, I am able to show that fast field intervention based on training, policy, and operational planning with the Incident Command System component, which includes both law enforcement and fire/EMS entry teams, will provide better patient viability prior to hospital care. This will not be a critique of right and wrong, as the responders did what was needed at the time; however, in current-day hindsight, there are points that can be noted for future response growth."
Naval Postgraduate School (U.S.); Naval Postgraduate School (U.S.). Center for Homeland Defense and Security
Tierney, Martin T.
2016-06
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Costing for the Future: Exploring Cost Estimation with Unmanned Autonomous Systems
"Cost, schedule, and quality may not drive a technology, but they shape the chances of that technology becoming actualized. In recent years, the DoD, one of the leading customers of unmanned systems, has continued to struggle with management of cost and schedule causing programs to deliver products that are 'good enough,' delayed months to years, or even worse, decommissioned. Cost estimation techniques in use today are vast and based on techniques unrelated to emergent systems. One of the most prevalent requirements in the unmanned systems arena is autonomy. The acquisition community will need to adopt new methods for estimating the total cost of ownership of this new breed of systems. Singularly applying traditional software and hardware cost models do not provide this capability because the systems that were used to create and calibrate these models were not Unmanned Autonomous Systems (UMASs; Valerdi, Merrill, & Maloney, 2013). Autonomy, although not new, will redefine the entire way in which estimates are derived. The goal of this paper is to provide a method that attempts to account for how cost estimating for autonomy is different than current methodologies and to suggest ways it can be addressed through the integration and adaptation of existing cost models."
Naval Postgraduate School (U.S.)
Valerdi, Ricardo; Ryan, Thomas
2016-04-30
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Unmanned Systems Sentinel [April 20, 2016]
The following is a collection of article summaries concerning recent developments in the field of Unmanned Systems from the Navy Postgraduate School. The collection covers various aspects of emerging Unmanned Systems. All opinions expressed are those of the respective author or authors and do not represent the official policy or positions of the Naval Postgraduate School, the United States Navy, or any other government entity.
Naval Postgraduate School (U.S.)
2016-04-20
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Scoping Future Nuclear Proliferation Risks: Leveraging Emerging Trends in Socio-Cultural Modeling and Analysis
"The key objective of this project has been to identify and then refine cutting-edge sociocultural
analytic models tailored to anticipate aspiring WMD [weapons of mass destruction] actors and identify points of
leverage within their national communities. In doing so, we hope to supply insights for
strategic planners seeking to thwart, disrupt, or productively shift nuclear weapons activity. [...] This project was designed to combine two cutting-edge models in sociocultural analysis: 1) the
Cultural Topography Method (CTops), designed by Jeannie Johnson and Matthew Berrett to
isolate and assess primary socio-cultural influences impacting the decisionmaking and
behavior of a key actor on a selected policy issue, and 2) the Cultural Analytic Framework
(CAF), developed for the National Counterproliferation Center by the Center for the Advanced
Study of Language (CASL) at the University of Maryland (Joseph Danks, Marilyn Maines, John
Walker, and Anne Wright), which integrated WMD expertise and focus with the cultural
mapping approach. When combined, the two methodologies present a potent analytical tool which combines best
practices in the discipline for qualitative socio-cultural modeling focused on WMD issues.
Applied by area experts to the difficult problem of anticipating nuclear and WMD aspirants
and isolating both the operational narrative driving national decisionmaking and a selection of
critical leverage points within the decisionmaking process, this project provided the
opportunity for testing the utility of the models against real world targets as well as further
refinement of the cultural analytic approach for use against WMD concerns and the larger
scope of intelligence and policy problem sets." This document has been added to the Homeland Security Digital Library in agreement with the Project on Advanced Systems and Concepts for Countering WMD (PASCC) as part of the PASCC collection. Permission to download and/or retrieve this resource has been obtained through PASCC.
Utah State University; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.); Naval Postgraduate School (U.S.)
Johnson, Jeannie L.
2016-04-01
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U.S. Strategic Communications Against Islamic Fundamentalists
From the thesis abstract: "Strategic communications play a vital role in the fight against terrorist groups, especially in Muslim nations. This thesis analyzes the United States' policies and strategic communications in the post-September 11, 2001 war against Islamic fundamentalists to determine if U.S. strategic communication policies have been effective in countering Islamic extremism. From the findings, it is evident that U.S. strategic communications have failed in countering radicalization and moderating the minds of Muslim populations overseas-or among diaspora populations in Western countries. Marginalization and poor assimilation strategies; awkward distribution of competencies between the Central Intelligence Agency, the Pentagon, and the State Department; a lack of global perspective; and failure to learn from past military operations are some of the factors that have contributed to the problem. Reinstatement of a central agency for strategic communications, modeling of solutions for specific groups, and analysis of historical war successes and failures are important in ensuring the effectiveness of strategic communications in the fight against terrorist groups."
Naval Postgraduate School (U.S.)
Schouten, Dustin J.
2016-03
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Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction: A Preliminary Field Study in Improving Collaboration
From the thesis abstract: "The proliferation of emerging and disruptive technologies such as additive manufacturing continues unabated. Such trends vastly increase the likelihood of a pernicious non-state actor acquiring weapons of mass destruction in the near future. In addition, these emerging novel threats have proved particularly vexing for the existing U.S. bureaucracies. Absent the major restructuring of the government, significantly higher levels of proactive inter-agency collaboration will be required to successfully respond to these grave challenges. In this project, we first operationalized a concept of collaboration in terms of increases in transparency, resource sharing, and interdependence across inter-agency actors. In other words, actors are deemed to be collaborating when they share information, make assets available to one another, and become jointly invested in (and responsible for) the resulting decisions. Second, we explored if the use of a formal collaborative process and the choice of venue would have significant impacts on the degree of collaboration observed. A preliminary field study conducted at the U.S. Embassy in Singapore confirmed our intuitions regarding increased collaboration, and provided the springboard for additional research, as well as for a number of policy recommendations."
Naval Postgraduate School (U.S.)
Lothringer, Derek W.; McGraw, Matthew S.; Rautio, Matthew D. . . .
2016-03
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Enhancing SAARC Disaster Management: A Comparative Study With Asean Coordinating Centre For Humanitarian Assistance On Disaster Management
From the thesis abstract: "The devastating earthquakes that ravaged Nepal in the spring of 2015 demonstrated the risk of disaster that affects all of South Asia. They also demonstrated the real limits to a regional disaster management and response. According to The Kathmandu Post, almost 4175 troops from 18 countries were deployed for rescue and relief operations. All South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) member states except Afghanistan and Maldives rushed to help in the Nepalese tragedy. SAARC had no plan for this response mode of transporting relief materials. The lack of a pre-coordinated plan or resource management created tensions even in the capital Kathmandu. The situation in remote areas, where the road links were damaged and helicopters were the only mode of transporting relief materials, was even worse. The elements of a more effective structure for disaster response in the region may be at hand within SAARC. Political leaders all voice their support for regional effort to respond to or mitigate the frequent natural disasters in South Asia, but SAARC has not been able to establish strong institutions for coordinated response to higher magnitude disasters. This thesis examines why SAARC has not been able to form or sustain a strong disaster management organization and, based in part on other regions' experiences with coordinated disaster management, which elements would contribute to a more effective regional disaster management within SAARC framework."
Naval Postgraduate School (U.S.)
Lamichhane, Sharad
2016-03
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Strategies Used in Capture-the-Flag Events Contributing to Team Performance
From the thesis abstract: "Capture-the-flag (CTF) exercises are useful pedagogical tools and have been employed, both formally and informally, by academic institutions. Much like their physical counterparts, cyber CTF exercises hold pedagogical value and are gaining wide popularity. Existing studies on CTF exercises examined either how they benefit learning, or are best conducted. To our knowledge, no formal study has yet looked at the relationship between the strategies and tactics that the CTF participants employ (as defined by their offensive and defensive tactics), and the performance of participants in these events. In this thesis, we studied network traffic and game state data from the DEFCON 22 CTF event. We developed tools to extract features from large volumes of network data; we then correlated these features with game state data to piece together strategies that the participating teams seemingly employ. We learned that several teams employed effective tactics such as capturing their opponents' exploits from the network to reuse them, employing automation to help with launching their exploits, obfuscating their attacks and attack responses, and attacking the client hosts of other teams."
Naval Postgraduate School (U.S.)
Yam, Wye Kede Jerel
2016-03
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CRUSER News [March 2016]
This March 2016 newsletter from the Naval Postgraduate School's (NPS) Consortium for Robotics and Unmanned Systems Education and Research (CRUSER) contains the following articles: "12 Days Before the MASTT [Mobile Anti-Submarine Training Target]" by J. Overton; and "Finding the Right Fit: UAVs [unmanned aerial vehicles] for UTACC [unmanned tactical autonomous control and collaboration]" by Brian Roth and Jade Buckler.
Naval Postgraduate School (U.S.)
2016-03
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Organized-Crime Growth and Sustainment: A Review of the Influence of Popular Religion and Beliefs in Mexico
From the thesis abstract: "In 2006, Mexican President Felipe Calderon announced the 'war on drugs,' an ongoing, low-intensity, asymmetrical war between the government and various drug cartels that has proven the bloodiest conflict since the Mexican civil war a century ago. Meanwhile, the subculture of narco-cultura continues to grow, under the influence of powerful drug cartels throughout Mexico. The narco-cultura has its own dynamic form of dress, music, literature, film, religious beliefs and practices, and slang, which have become standard in some parts of the country, especially among the lower class and uneducated. This thesis investigates the relationship between the narco-cultura and organized crime in Mexico, as viewed from multiple perspectives. It considers this subculture's historical origins and its influence on popular religion and narco-corridos (ballads). More precisely, this thesis explores how the narco-cultura appropriates religion and religious symbolism to maintain the growth of organized criminal groups."
Naval Postgraduate School (U.S.)
Martinez Pena, Michael E.
2016-03-01
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United States Civil Military Relations: Defense Reform
"This thesis investigates how communication between civilians and military elites can create better defense institutions. The Goldwater-Nichols Act of 1986 and the 9/11 Commission Report are used as case studies to analyze the creation of the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004, and how it reformed defense institutions. This thesis examines the causes, processes, results, and implementations of the two case studies to determine the level of civil-military relations used in U.S. defense reform. Rational political interests are revealed as the major concern for U.S. elites responsible for passing laws in the executive, legislative, and military branches. When rational interests become the main concern, however, it is difficult to achieve effective defense institutions. This thesis recommends continuous defense reforms, instead of reactionary reforms, for two reasons: ensuring the effectiveness of defense institutions and achieving better communication between civilian and military elites."
Naval Postgraduate School (U.S.)
Rori, Stifani M.
2016-03-01
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Sailing the Calm and Rough Seas: The Influence of Wealth and Sovereignty in Southeast Asian Maritime Disputes
From the thesis abstract: "Under what conditions do the Association of Southeast Asian Nations members use peaceful means to resolve their maritime disputes? Why do they resort to military action in some cases, and compromise peacefully in others? This thesis answers these questions by investigating two variables that influence the course of such disputes: the presence of natural resources and disputes over sovereign control of maritime features. This thesis examines four cases of maritime dispute resolution: maritime delimitation in the Singapore Strait by Indonesia and Singapore; joint-development in the Gulf of Thailand; the Pedra Branca dispute between Singapore and Malaysia; and recurring violence in the South China Sea, involving multiple states in the region. After analyzing the case studies, this research finds that the presence of natural resources, and of conflicting claims of sovereignty over islands or other related features, strongly affect the outcome of the maritime disputes. In general, four different outcomes are possible: maritime delimitation, joint development, third-party settlement, and violent conflict. Southeast Asian countries are likely to employ peaceful measures in a situation where at least one of the two variables studied here is absent. If both of them are present, maritime disputes will likely end in violence."
Naval Postgraduate School (U.S.)
Ciptadi, Andromeda W.
2016-03
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Fighting the Network: Manet Management in Support of Littoral Operations
From the thesis abstract: "Advances in computer processing and communications capabilities have contributed to the recent explosion of mesh network technologies. These technologies' operational benefits are of particular interest for those operating in the littorals. The dynamic complexities of the littorals force tactical decision-makers to adapt to a constantly changing battlespace in a constrained temporal and spatial environment. Ongoing research into the integration of unmanned systems and sensors as mobile ad-hoc network (MANET) nodes highlights the significant potential to improve situational awareness and force efficiency in the littoral environment. However, difficulties associated with tactical network operations and management make the littorals particularly challenging. There remains a need for a unified approach to managing these networks in a coherent and effective manner. The complexity of the littorals emphasizes the inherent interconnectedness of MANET management and command and control (C2). As a result, new and innovative approaches to C2 are also required. This thesis explores the value of modern network management systems as they contribute to the richness of the human-network interface, as well as the integration of network management and maneuver at the tactical level. The result is a proposal for a novel framework for littoral MANET management and C2 as a corollary of cyber-physical maneuver."
Naval Postgraduate School (U.S.)
Maupin, Matthew S.
2016-03
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Framework for Synthesizing the United States Code in Support of Cyberspace Operations
From the thesis abstract: "In recent years, federal agencies and organizations have witnessed their jurisdictions converge in a number of areas that support U.S. national security. For operations that rely heavily upon information technology, the complexity associated with clarifying statutory authority has been met with inconsistent responses. Attempts to comprehend the technological implications of these operations has been accompanied by a shift in seeing the United States Code (U.S.C.) as providing mutually exclusive authorities to government entities operating in cyberspace. While many recognize that cyberspace poses new and unique challenges to inter-title operations, it is unclear whether this de facto shift in the application of U.S.C. statutes is necessary. The U.S.C. has a limited number of exclusionary distinctions de jure, which is attested to by a long history of inter-title cooperation that efficiently and effectively supports government operations. Most of the concerns over the United States Code can be appropriately categorized in terms of oversight and compliance requirements, fiscal controls, and statutory responsibilities. This thesis addresses these statutory concerns and culminates with a planning framework that can be used to enable military and other government agencies to support multiple title authorities cooperating seamlessly to effectively plan and execute cyberspace operations."
Naval Postgraduate School (U.S.)
Stonehouse, Joshua C.
2016-03
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Embedded Efficiency: A Social Networks Approach to Popular Support and Dark Network Structure
From the thesis abstract: "This thesis poses the question, What is the nature of the relationships between social embeddedness, structural efficiency, and organizational behavior within dark networks? The objectives of this thesis are twofold. The primary objective is to illuminate the interaction between embeddedness, structure, and activity within dark networks, the aim being to study if changes in embeddedness manifest in observable fluctuations in a network's topography or behavior. The secondary objective is to evaluate the results of a novel, permutation-based methodology. Throughout, this thesis combines qualitative elements of social movement theory and social network analysis with quantitative statistical techniques to provide a mixedmethod examination of three empirical dark network case studies (the Provisional Irish Republican Army, the Noordin Top Terrorist Network, and a Southeast Asian Foreign Fighter Facilitation network). The results of both the qualitative and quantitative methods are synthesized to highlight the strengths and limitations associated with each approach. This thesis reveals that, although embeddedness may contribute to rapid mobilization or organizational security, exogenous factors such as network shocks and endogenous variations in core membership may preclude such advantages from influencing internal network structure. Finally, this thesis recommends potential intelligence applications and areas for future social network research."
Naval Postgraduate School (U.S.)
Raabe, Leopele S.; Blount, Gary S.
2016-03
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Insurgents to Presidents: Contemporary Civil-Military Relations in Brazil, El Salvador, and Uruguay
From the thesis abstract: "This thesis analyzes contemporary civil-military relations in three Latin American countries: Brazil, El Salvador, and Uruguay. Since 2010, each country has elected a president who was previously an armed insurgent resisting authoritarian regimes of the 1970s and 1980s. Considering this phenomenon and evaluating recent trends across Latin America to expand military roles and missions, civil-military relations are assessed using a new framework. The framework, adapted from the 'trinity' model employed by scholars at the Naval Postgraduate School's Center for Civil- Military Relations, shows significant differences among the three cases and their respective degrees of positive civil-military relations; however, the specific phenomenon of electing a former insurgent to the presidency has not resulted in a significant deterioration of the relationship between the armed forces and their civilian executives. In fact, civil-military relations under ex-insurgent presidents have been improved over the last decade in each country. Ultimately, this thesis concludes that Uruguay has achieved the greatest degree of positive civil-military relations, and trends are presented for consideration in improving civil-military relations across the region."
Naval Postgraduate School (U.S.)
Berg, John Richard
2016-03
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Emergence of Organizational Fit: Applying Configuration Theory to the Snohomish County (WA) Emergency Operations Center
From the thesis abstract: "An emergency operations center (EOC) plays a critical role during a community's response to a disaster. Yet, little research exists that assesses the impact of the organization's structure on an EOC staff's performance. This thesis explores how configuration theory, which emphasizes the need for an organization's structure to fit the situation, can help emergency managers organize an EOC's staff to improve its performance. Specifically, it uses configuration theory to examine the Snohomish County (WA) EOC's response to the State Route 530 flooding and mudslides incident. From that case study, three workgroups were selected, and members of each workgroup were interviewed. The results were analyzed twice, first by distinct workgroup and then cumulatively. Among the findings is the diversity of influences on the task environments of different workgroups responding to the same incident; the findings also reveal that the groups implemented aspects of more than one structure. Based on these analyses, recommendations are made to update EOC doctrine and training to focus on situational factors and flexible configurations, including hybrid configurations. And while the setting for this research is a local EOC, its outcomes reinforce the applicability of configuration theory to any organization responding to a crisis."
Naval Postgraduate School (U.S.); Naval Postgraduate School (U.S.). Center for Homeland Defense and Security
Biermann, Jason M.
2016-03
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No Nation is Home Alone: Understanding the International Dimension of Homeland Security Through Global Transportation Security Programs
From the thesis abstract: "Terrorist actors focus on the global transportation system to introduce threats and target attacks. As the lead department for securing the transportation system into the United States, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) works both domestically and internationally to implement programs and foreign assistance activities to secure the global transportation network. This thesis examines DHS' international role by analyzing programs and policies implemented by its three largest global transportation agencies: the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Agency, the Transportation Security Administration, and the U.S. Coast Guard. Due to the breadth of DHS programs and activities, their stated goals and objectives, and their legal mandates, this thesis determines that a U.S. foreign assistance framework provides minimal insight into DHS' international footprint. Instead, this research developed a simple model for understanding the primary components of DHS' international mission space and identified operations, policy, outreach and engagement, and training and technical assistance as core concepts in DHS' international mission. Using this model, DHS can pursue the additional recommendations developed in this thesis-applying systems theory as a basis for an international transportation security strategy as well as pursuing direct funding for its international transportation programs and activities as a fully integrated department-within the traditional U.S. foreign policy and national security institutions."
Naval Postgraduate School (U.S.); Naval Postgraduate School (U.S.). Center for Homeland Defense and Security
Tarpey, Dominique
2016-03
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Crowds As Complex Adaptive Systems: Strategic Implications for Law Enforcement
From the thesis abstract: "Law enforcement attempts to control unruly crowds have come under increased scrutiny in light of recent unrest in Ferguson, Missouri; Baltimore, Maryland; and other locales across the United States. Resultant criticism is forcing law enforcement agencies nationwide to review their civil-unrest policies. Crowd behavior resulting from police actions is an important component of crowd control. Viewing crowds from a systems perspective, as done in this thesis, provides powerful new insights to help law enforcement assess potential crowd behaviors. Through this new awareness, this thesis makes recommendations regarding policies, training, and equipment that law enforcement can use to make better-informed decisions related to crowd control."
Naval Postgraduate School (U.S.); Naval Postgraduate School (U.S.). Center for Homeland Defense and Security
Leverone, Robert H.
2016-03
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Assessing the Cannabis Legalization Debate: Lessons Learned from the Colorado and Washington Experiment
From the thesis abstract: "Cannabis is illegal as far as federal law is concerned; yet recent trends in the United States indicate it is moving toward more widespread legalization. While both sides of the legalization debate pose valid arguments, it has been difficult to assess aspects of these arguments in the past. Now that Colorado and Washington have fully legalized cannabis, what does data demonstrate to support or rebut these arguments and what problems have sporadic legalization led to in the drug control space? This thesis examines regulatory, financial, and criminal data in Colorado and Washington to identify advantages and disadvantages of legalizing cannabis. Findings indicate commercialization of legal cannabis creates a sizeable economic stimulus due to demand satisfaction and displacement of drug trafficking organizations for supply. Crime levels increased as compared to national averages while drug arrest rates remained stable, which could be influenced by other factors. Overall, as a result of disparate national policy, Colorado and Washington have become source states for cannabis distribution as findings indicate spillage of legal cannabis into black markets nationally. This thesis recommends rescheduling cannabis in the Controlled Substances Act to further research the drug while increasing state civil asset forfeiture options in prohibitionist states to facilitate criminal enforcement."
Naval Postgraduate School (U.S.); Naval Postgraduate School (U.S.). Center for Homeland Defense and Security
Neener, Michael C.
2016-03
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Sovereign Citizen Movement: The Shifting Ideological Winds
From the thesis abstract: "The FBI [Federal Bureau of Investigation] has identified the Sovereign Citizen Movement (SCM) as a significant threat to the domestic security of the United States. The movement's adherents are capable of significant acts of violence and creating civil unrest. They also embrace harassing tactics such as filing lawsuits, false liens, and restraining orders as a method to harass government and financial institutions. This is known as paper terrorism. The modern SCM has its roots in the Posse Comitatus movement and in racialist philosophies such as the Christian Identity Movement. It was primarily a movement embraced by right-wing Caucasians. Over time, the SCM has morphed from a primarily racialist platform to a more inclusive anti-government platform. The current SCM model is decentralized and largely leaderless, and its narrative is often driven by circumstances. Using social identity theory as a framework, what conclusions can be drawn regarding this change, and how can the government prepare for the emerging ideation of SCM? If not handled appropriately, government reactions to economic and social crisis could validate the SCM narrative. Government entities must embrace training, transparency, and ethical decision making in an effort to nullify the SCM narrative."
Naval Postgraduate School (U.S.); Naval Postgraduate School (U.S.). Center for Homeland Defense and Security
Bell, Devon M.
2016-03
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Ethics on the Fly: Toward a Drone-Specific Code of Conduct for Law Enforcement
From the thesis abstract: "This thesis examines the issue of law enforcement's use of unmanned aerial systems (UAS) from an ethical perspective. As UAS have only recently been introduced into the National Airspace System (NAS), legislation regarding their use in America's skies is lacking. This dearth of statutory guidelines creates a circumstance wherein self-imposed limits on UAS use by law enforcement take on greater importance. The primary research question posed by this thesis is whether a prevailing ethical framework exists to govern the use of UAS by domestic law enforcement functions. It concluded no consensus exists. Using the case study method, this thesis considered documentary evidence of ethical frameworks for UAS currently in use by law enforcement. A comparative policy analysis is then performed to identify overlapping areas of concern, in order to arrive at a template that recommends seven dimensions that law enforcement executives should consider in creating a drone-specific code of conduct for policing. A case is made for publicly declaring an agency's code of conduct in the interest of strengthening the relationship between police and the public vis-à-vis the social contract."
Naval Postgraduate School (U.S.); Naval Postgraduate School (U.S.). Center for Homeland Defense and Security
Smith, Brian T.
2016-03
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Establishing the Intelligence Required by the Fire Department City of New York for Tactical and Strategic Decision Making
From the thesis abstract: "Following the tragic events of September 11, 2001, numerous reports came to the same conclusion: there was an urgent need to enhance information sharing throughout the homeland security community (HSC). The report of the National Commission of the Terrorist Attacks upon the United States set forth numerous failures of information sharing that occurred throughout the HSC involving events leading up to 9/11, the attacks, and the response. The necessity of information to enable the fire service (FS) to make proper decisions is clear. Groups working on how to best provide the FS with intelligence believe that in order to assist the Intelligence Community (IC) in providing the intelligence, a specific list should be developed. This has become the goal of this thesis. In analyzing what intelligence is required by the FS, it has become apparent that there are a vast number of variables. Taking into account these variables and the dynamic environment has revealed that compiling a list of specific requirements is not practical. In lieu of a specific list, a better option would be to make available to the IC an understanding of the operations of the FS. By providing an explanation of the information that the FS utilizes to respond to emergencies, an understanding, as opposed to a stagnant list, of the intelligence needs of the FS could be established. To accomplish this, a guide for the IC could be established-a guide similar to those available to the FS explaining the IC. This guide could explain the intelligence needs of the FS at a level that is understandable and pertinent to those tasked with fulfilling them. A draft guide is included in the appendix of this thesis."
Naval Postgraduate School (U.S.); Naval Postgraduate School (U.S.). Center for Homeland Defense and Security
Kiesling, James W.
2016-03
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Fluid Leadership: Inviting Diverse Inputs to Address Complex Problems
From the thesis abstract: "History is replete with examples of misapplied leadership strategies. When singular methods are used to solve multifaceted problems, negative results are often the consequence. Complex issues in a complex environment require complex perspectives; the homeland security enterprise (HSE) needs leaders who can adapt their leadership styles according to emerging environments. Furthermore, the diverse agencies within the HSE must work together more frequently and dependably to make coordinated decisions that impact their broad community. This thesis proposes integrating multiple leadership models to generate innovative, diverse solutions that will strengthen the HSE. By examining dozens of models, the research developed a conceptual synthetic leadership model. It is recommended that this proposed model be implemented within HSE components and studied organizationally."
Naval Postgraduate School (U.S.); Naval Postgraduate School (U.S.). Center for Homeland Defense and Security
Moir, Sylvia
2016-03
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Leveraging State and Local Law Enforcement Maritime Homeland Security Practices
From the thesis abstract: "This thesis explores the practices of six state or local law enforcement agencies in the field of maritime homeland security. Using the Delphi Survey Method on a sample of the highest-risk, most strategically located, and most commercially important ports in the United States, this thesis looks at the successes and challenges of grant funding, training practices, recovery efforts, and state government role in maritime homeland security. The resounding and underlying theme of the best practices cited by these port areas is centered on collaborative efforts across federal, state, local, and tribal agencies. Respondent agencies noted that the most successful practices in their respective ports were the result of coordination across information sharing, exercises and drills, task forces, and centers (fusion centers, operations centers, coordination centers, and training centers)."
Naval Postgraduate School (U.S.); Naval Postgraduate School (U.S.). Center for Homeland Defense and Security
Nichols, Kirk L.
2016-03
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Sports-related Riots: Understanding Group Behavior to Improve Police Strategy
From the thesis abstract: "When a celebration following a college sporting event turns into a riot, the consequences may be devastating to a school, a community, and the police department. This trend is increasing on campuses across the country, and the perceived randomness of violence has police departments and communities alarmed. Based on several assumptions, current police training and policy focuses on crowd movement and riot suppression, which minimizes the ability to influence a crowd to the point of preventing a riot. One assumption is that large crowds share group similarities. Police also use inaccurate behavioral markers to identify the changing mood of a crowd and base their response on these markers. This thesis identifies the differences among disturbances and focuses specifically on riots that occur following college sporting events in the United States, using supporting data from case studies of college sporting events between 1997 and 2015. Using the normative and social identity theories as models, this thesis shows that sports riots follow a specific pattern of social behaviors and shows how early intervention may influence the behavior of the crowd. Finally, it concludes with recommendations for police when managing the crowd before, during, and following a college sporting event."
Naval Postgraduate School (U.S.); Naval Postgraduate School (U.S.). Center for Homeland Defense and Security
Mammana, Gregory N.
2016-03
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Strategic Planning for the Fire Service
From the thesis abstract: "Fire Service leaders at large need a non-confrontational process to collaborate on a long-range strategic plan to shape the Fire Service over the next 20 to 30 years. Fire Service 2.0 conceptually calls for expanding interoperability between fire agencies over a large geographic region to increase service while decreasing costs. Futures methodology scenario planning would allow Fire Service leaders to think through plausible what if scenarios before they occur. Three plausible future scenarios for the Fire Service have been created for this thesis using futures methodology. The drivers for these scenarios were drawn from FEMA's [Federal Emergency Management Agency] Strategic Foresight Initiative, which identified drivers that are expected to impact emergency managers' operations in the future. Conclusions range from the death of the Fire Service as we know it, to its transformation into a relevant business sector leader that embraces emerging mission requirements. The goal is to begin strategic conversations today that will shape the Fire Service of tomorrow."
Naval Postgraduate School (U.S.); Naval Postgraduate School (U.S.). Center for Homeland Defense and Security
Holder, Glen M.
2016-03