Climate and Social Stress
Climate and Social Stress

Author: National Research Council

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2013-02-14

Total Pages: 253

ISBN-13: 0309278562

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Climate change can reasonably be expected to increase the frequency and intensity of a variety of potentially disruptive environmental events-slowly at first, but then more quickly. It is prudent to expect to be surprised by the way in which these events may cascade, or have far-reaching effects. During the coming decade, certain climate-related events will produce consequences that exceed the capacity of the affected societies or global systems to manage; these may have global security implications. Although focused on events outside the United States, Climate and Social Stress: Implications for Security Analysis recommends a range of research and policy actions to create a whole-of-government approach to increasing understanding of complex and contingent connections between climate and security, and to inform choices about adapting to and reducing vulnerability to climate change.

The Energy Security Dilemma
The Energy Security Dilemma

Author: David Bernell

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2016-04-14

Total Pages: 232

ISBN-13: 1136731652

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This book analyzes the energy security of the United States – its ability to obtain reliable, affordable, and sufficient supplies of energy while meeting the goals of achieving environmental sustainability and protecting national security. The economic and national security of the United States is largely dependent upon fossil fuels, especially oil. Without significant changes to current practices and patterns of energy production and use, the domestic and global impacts – security, economic, and environmental – are expected to become worse over the coming decades. Growing US and global energy demands need to be met and the anticipated impacts of climate change must be avoided – all at an affordable price, while avoiding conflict with other nations that have similar goals. Bernell and Simon examine the current and prospective landscape of American energy policy, from tax incentives and mandates at the federal and state level to promote wind and solar power, to support for fracking in the oil and natural gas industries, to foreign policies designed to ensure that markets and cooperative agreements — not armies, navies and rival governments — control the supply and price of energy resources. They look at the variety of energy related challenges facing the United States and argue that public policies designed to enhance energy security have at the same time produced greater insecurity in terms of fostering rising (and potentially unmet) energy needs, national security threats, economic vulnerability, and environmental dangers.

Economic Security: Neglected Dimension of National Security ?
Economic Security: Neglected Dimension of National Security ?

Author: National Defense University (U S )

Publisher: Government Printing Office

Published: 2011-12-27

Total Pages: 132

ISBN-13:

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

On August 24-25, 2010, the National Defense University held a conference titled “Economic Security: Neglected Dimension of National Security?” to explore the economic element of national power. This special collection of selected papers from the conference represents the view of several keynote speakers and participants in six panel discussions. It explores the complexity surrounding this subject and examines the major elements that, interacting as a system, define the economic component of national security.

Terrorism and the Electric Power Delivery System
Terrorism and the Electric Power Delivery System

Author: National Research Council

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2012-11-25

Total Pages: 165

ISBN-13: 0309114047

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The electric power delivery system that carries electricity from large central generators to customers could be severely damaged by a small number of well-informed attackers. The system is inherently vulnerable because transmission lines may span hundreds of miles, and many key facilities are unguarded. This vulnerability is exacerbated by the fact that the power grid, most of which was originally designed to meet the needs of individual vertically integrated utilities, is being used to move power between regions to support the needs of competitive markets for power generation. Primarily because of ambiguities introduced as a result of recent restricting the of the industry and cost pressures from consumers and regulators, investment to strengthen and upgrade the grid has lagged, with the result that many parts of the bulk high-voltage system are heavily stressed. Electric systems are not designed to withstand or quickly recover from damage inflicted simultaneously on multiple components. Such an attack could be carried out by knowledgeable attackers with little risk of detection or interdiction. Further well-planned and coordinated attacks by terrorists could leave the electric power system in a large region of the country at least partially disabled for a very long time. Although there are many examples of terrorist and military attacks on power systems elsewhere in the world, at the time of this study international terrorists have shown limited interest in attacking the U.S. power grid. However, that should not be a basis for complacency. Because all parts of the economy, as well as human health and welfare, depend on electricity, the results could be devastating. Terrorism and the Electric Power Delivery System focuses on measures that could make the power delivery system less vulnerable to attacks, restore power faster after an attack, and make critical services less vulnerable while the delivery of conventional electric power has been disrupted.

The Resilience of the Electric Power Delivery System in Response to Terrorism and Natural Disasters
The Resilience of the Electric Power Delivery System in Response to Terrorism and Natural Disasters

Author: National Research Council

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2013-10-22

Total Pages: 61

ISBN-13: 0309293987

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The Resilience of the Electric Power Delivery System in Response to Terrorism and Natural Disasters is the summary of a workshop convened in February 2013 as a follow-up to the release of the National Research Council report Terrorism and the Electric Power Delivery System. That report had been written in 2007 for the Department of Homeland Security, but publication was delayed because of security concerns. While most of the committee's findings were still relevant, many developments affecting vulnerability had occurred in the interval. The 2013 workshop was a discussion of the committee\'s results, what had changed in recent years, and how lessons learned about the grid's resilience to terrorism could be applied to other threats to the grid resulting from natural disasters. The purpose was not to translate the entire report into the present, but to focus on key issues relevant to making the grid sufficiently robust that it could handle inevitable failures without disastrous impact. The workshop focused on five key areas: physical vulnerabilities of the grid; cybersecurity; mitigation and response to outages; community resilience and the provision of critical services; and future technologies and policies that could enhance the resilience of the electric power delivery system. The electric power transmission and distribution system (the grid) is an extraordinarily complex network of wires, transformers, and associated equipment and control software designed to transmit electricity from where it is generated, usually in centralized power plants, to commercial, residential, and industrial users. Because the U.S. infrastructure has become increasingly dependent on electricity, vulnerabilities in the grid have the potential to cascade well beyond whether the lights turn on, impacting among other basic services such as the fueling infrastructure, the economic system, and emergency services. The Resilience of the Electric Power Delivery System in Response to Terrorism and Natural Disasters discusses physical vulnerabilities and the cybersecurity of the grid, ways in which communities respond to widespread outages and how to minimize these impacts, the grid of tomorrow, and how resilience can be encouraged and built into the grid in the future.