Homeland Security Initiative Projects

Carnegie-Aspen Brainstorming Session on the Real Role of Islam in Motivating Terrorists, July 25, 2007, Washington, DC (password protected).
Thanks to a generous grant from the Carnegie Corporation’s Islam Initiative, the Aspen Institute’s Homeland Security Program convened a small group of experts on July 25, 2007 to discuss the role that Islam does and does not play in motivating terrorists. Please find the highlights of that discussion.

Next Generation Inter-organizational Emergency Communications: Making Tangible Progress While Broader Efforts Continue. Thanks to a generous grant from the Ford Foundation, the Aspen Institute's Homeland Security Initiative convened a series of meetings last year among leaders in government, industry, the first responder community, and the non-profit sector to recommend a solution to the problem of the lack of interoperable communications among police, fire fighters, and emergency medical personnel in crises. People died on 9/11 and in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina who might otherwise have been saved had "first responders" been able to communicate with each other. People will continue to die in future natural disasters and terror attacks unless and until this problem is finally solved. In the report, the task force proposes an 18 month pojrect to achieve three short-term goals that will move the nation closer to the day when first responders can communicate with one another fully, quickly, and easily.

In Open Target: Where America is Vulnerable to Attack (Palgrave MacMillan), Clark Ervin, former Inspector General of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), identifies where and how the US is safer than in 2001 yet not as safe as it should be 5 years after the establishment of the DHS.