Preparing for the Psychological Consequences of Terrorism
Preparing for the Psychological Consequences of Terrorism

Author: Institute of Medicine

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2003-08-26

Total Pages: 184

ISBN-13: 0309167922

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The Oklahoma City bombing, intentional crashing of airliners on September 11, 2001, and anthrax attacks in the fall of 2001 have made Americans acutely aware of the impacts of terrorism. These events and continued threats of terrorism have raised questions about the impact on the psychological health of the nation and how well the public health infrastructure is able to meet the psychological needs that will likely result. Preparing for the Psychological Consequences of Terrorism highlights some of the critical issues in responding to the psychological needs that result from terrorism and provides possible options for intervention. The committee offers an example for a public health strategy that may serve as a base from which plans to prevent and respond to the psychological consequences of a variety of terrorism events can be formulated. The report includes recommendations for the training and education of service providers, ensuring appropriate guidelines for the protection of service providers, and developing public health surveillance for preevent, event, and postevent factors related to psychological consequences.

Worst Cases
Worst Cases

Author: Lee Clarke

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Published: 2006

Total Pages: 226

ISBN-13: 0226108597

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The author surveys the full range of possible catastrophes that animate and dominate the popular imagination, from toxic spills and terrorism to plane crashes and pandemics. Along the way, he explores how the ubiquity of worst cases in everyday life has rendered them ordinary and mundane: very real threats like a killer flu or an American Hiroshima have become so common that they have lost their ability to shock us. Fear and dread, Clarke argues, are often completely sensible: when the public has more substantial information and more credible warnings it will take worst cases as seriously as it should.

Terrorism and Disaster Paperback with CD-ROM
Terrorism and Disaster Paperback with CD-ROM

Author: Robert J. Ursano

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2003-06-05

Total Pages: 370

ISBN-13: 9780521533454

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Experts assess the lessons learned from the most recent terrorist atrocities in terms of psychiatric interventions and sequelae.

Global Catastrophic Risks
Global Catastrophic Risks

Author: Nick Bostrom

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2011-09-29

Total Pages: 577

ISBN-13: 0199606501

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A Global Catastrophic Risk is one that has the potential to inflict serious damage to human well-being on a global scale. This book focuses on such risks arising from natural catastrophes (Earth-based or beyond), nuclear war, terrorism, biological weapons, totalitarianism, advanced nanotechnology, artificial intelligence and social collapse.

NATO AND TERRORISM Catastrophic Terrorism and First Responders: Threats and Mitigation
NATO AND TERRORISM Catastrophic Terrorism and First Responders: Threats and Mitigation

Author: Friedrich Steinhäusler

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2007-05-22

Total Pages: 218

ISBN-13: 1402035853

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September 11, 2001 in the U.S., March 11, 2004 in Madrid – just two examples of a series of major terror attacks against NATO member states on both sides of the Atlantic. We now know that international terrorism is capable of transboundary planning and military style execution of attacks, resulting in several thousand dead and wounded. In the future even larger terror attacks can no longer be ruled out, including the deployment of weapons of mass destruction. This new form of catastrophic terrorism poses a major challenge to the first responder community in their search and rescue operations, since these new threats represent an unprecedented risk for their health, possibly even questioning their own survival. Since the first responders are the first line of defence of every community in the aftermath of such a terror attack, it is essential for every community to ensure that its first responders are able to provide their valuable services even in such extreme situations. In this important new book a group of experts represents the current knowledge on the various terrorism threats to first responders resulting from the novel use of conventional weapons, as well radiological, nuclear, biological and chemical weapons. Also, the current situation in selected countries of different sizes and practical experience with terrorism countermeasures (Austria, Israel, Slovenia, Russia, U.S.) is reviewed, focusing on the national operational logistics and the individual needs for improving the present situation. Finally, this book offers innovative solutions to strengthen the level of protection of the first responders, culminating in fifty-one practically applicable recommendations.

The Next Catastrophe
The Next Catastrophe

Author: Charles Perrow

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 2011-02-07

Total Pages: 430

ISBN-13: 1400838517

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Charles Perrow is famous worldwide for his ideas about normal accidents, the notion that multiple and unexpected failures--catastrophes waiting to happen--are built into our society's complex systems. In The Next Catastrophe, he offers crucial insights into how to make us safer, proposing a bold new way of thinking about disaster preparedness. Perrow argues that rather than laying exclusive emphasis on protecting targets, we should reduce their size to minimize damage and diminish their attractiveness to terrorists. He focuses on three causes of disaster--natural, organizational, and deliberate--and shows that our best hope lies in the deconcentration of high-risk populations, corporate power, and critical infrastructures such as electric energy, computer systems, and the chemical and food industries. Perrow reveals how the threat of catastrophe is on the rise, whether from terrorism, natural disasters, or industrial accidents. Along the way, he gives us the first comprehensive history of FEMA and the Department of Homeland Security and examines why these agencies are so ill equipped to protect us. The Next Catastrophe is a penetrating reassessment of the very real dangers we face today and what we must do to confront them. Written in a highly accessible style by a renowned systems-behavior expert, this book is essential reading for the twenty-first century. The events of September 11 and Hurricane Katrina--and the devastating human toll they wrought--were only the beginning. When the next big disaster comes, will we be ready? In a new preface to the paperback edition, Perrow examines the recent (and ongoing) catastrophes of the financial crisis, the BP oil spill, and global warming.

Nuclear Terrorism
Nuclear Terrorism

Author: Graham Allison

Publisher: Macmillan

Published: 2004-08-09

Total Pages: 292

ISBN-13: 1429945516

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A leading strategist opens our eyes to the greatest terrorist threat of all-and how to prevent it before it's too late Americans in the twenty-first century are keenly aware of the many forms of terrorism: hijackings, biological attacks, chemical weapons. But rarely do we allow ourselves to face squarely the deadliest form of terrorism, because it is almost too scary to think about-a terrorist group exploding a nuclear device in an American city. In this urgent call to action, Graham Allison, one of America's leading experts on nuclear weapons and national security, presents the evidence for two provocative, compelling conclusions. First, if policy makers in Washington keep doing what they are currently doing about the threat, a nuclear terrorist attack on America is likely to occur in the next decade. And if one lengthens the time frame, a nuclear strike is inevitable. Second, the surprising and largely unrecognized good news is that nuclear terrorism is, in fact, preventable. In these pages, Allison offers an ambitious but feasible blueprint for eliminating the possibility of nuclear terrorist attacks. The United States once relied on the threat of mutually assured destruction to deter the Soviet Union from launching a nuclear strike. But in today's fragmented world, a new strategy is needed, especially with nuclear material vulnerable to theft or sale through black-market channels. The choice is ours: to grab this beast by the horns or to be impaled on those horns. We do not have the luxury of hoping the problem will go away, and Allison shows why.