Providing perfect security in an era of unbounded risk is impossible. In my interview with Jack Anderson (Masters 1401), we talk about caribou scapula divination among Canadian nomadic tribes, jazz standards, particle accelerators, black swan events and using photographs of concealed snipers to understand how the dangers homeland security agencies face are increasingly beyond their control. Jack’s research shows how the response to such unbounded risks presumes a greater degree of knowledge, uniformity, and control than is available and that national adaptability is more desirable than perfect knowledge when responding to the unknown.
Jessica Bress is the Director of Continuing Education for the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department. Her thesis explores United States’ drug policy and finds it...
Standard operating procedures (SOPs) guide emergency responders in a crisis, providing predetermined steps to manage anticipated events. However, modern disasters often manifest as complex...
The human-machine interface found in today’s complex machines introduces unprecedented opportunities for promise and peril. Jackie Lindsey (Masters 1601), currently the Cabinet Secretary at...
