Newswise — For the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, Cornell University has assembled 13 researchers, professors and professionals who can discuss a variety of issues – from a lead architect’s perspective on redesigning the World Trade Center to a researcher working with the Department of Defense to study how social media might uncover future attack plans.
All experts are available for interviews on campus, by telephone, in our ISDN studio or in our television studio.
■ Jeffrey Holmes: Rebuilding World Trade Center means embracing past and future.
A 20-year veteran of New York City and global architecture, Jeffrey Holmes was the lead designer for One World Trade Center with architect David Childs, is a graduate of Cornell University’s College of Architecture, Art and Planning (AAP), and is a visiting lecturer at Cornell’s AAP-NYC studio. Holmes led the studio at Skidmore, Owings and Merrill responsible for the design One World Trade Center as well as 383 Madison, Time Warner Center and the New Research Laboratory at Memorial Sloan-Kettering.
Jeffrey can speak to the practical and symbolic hurdles that faced the World Trace Center designers - as well as the opportunity to establish a renewed connection to the life of the city through these iconic structures.
“The project was not only about respecting the legacy of the past – but also about reaching for the opportunities and aspirations of our collective future. As an architect, it’s about imagining what something might be, and how we can make vibrant and vital cities even among the most challenging circumstances,” Holmes said.
Homes joined global architectural firm Woods Bagot in 2008 to launch the design firm’s New York practice. He and the team at Woods Bagot are currently working on large-scale mixed-use projects in Beijing, Shanghai, Delhi, Mumbai and Melbourne.
■ Barbara Ganzel: Terror attacks altered the brains of those near Ground Zero
Human Development Professor Barbara Ganzel co-authored a study finding that people close to the World Trade Center during the attacks have brains that are more reactive to emotional stimuli than those who were more than 200 miles away.
“Our studies suggests that there may be long-term neural correlates of trauma exposure in people who were near the Sept. 11 attacks in New York City, even in people who have looked resilient,” said Ganzel.
Ganzel found that even three years after the attacks, targeted nuclei within the brain were most sensitive in those who were close to the World Trade Center. These individuals tended to experience lingering symptoms that were not severe enough to be diagnosed as a mental disorder, but showed significantly more sensitive emotional reactions in the brain when stimulated by photographs of fearful faces.
■ Matthew Brashears: Social networks might expose terrorist cells
Sociology Professor Matthew Brashears is developing methods of identifying covert social networks, including terrorists who are preparing attacks, using a three-year, $797,000 grant from the Defense Threat Reduction Agency.
“Essentially, we’re trying to replace the profiling techniques that are in use now with much better, more reliable methods for detecting terrorist cells that are preparing for a weapons of mass destruction attack. The idea is to pick up indicators that can be detected with passive information collection mechanisms, things that don’t require expensive or advanced intelligence capabilities, and use those to tip off intelligence agencies that somebody’s planning one of these destructive attacks.”
■ Thomas D. O’Rourke: NYC’s infrastructure was ‘extraordinarily resilient’
Engineering Professor Thomas O’Rourke examined the infrastructure in New York City after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks for the National Science Foundation. He reported that New York City’s electrical network was able to operate in an “extraordinarily resilient” way after the disaster, despite the loss of two electrical substations near the World Trade Center.
“In many other cities, the way the electrical systems are configured would have resulted in a cascade effect as one substation shut down the next. But in New York City, there is a system of local networks allowing one network to operate independently of another,” O’Rourke said.
“The rapid restoration of electric power after the event owes much to the commitment and skill of utility crews. The lessons from extreme events, like the World Trade Center destruction, can help create more resilient networks of resources and services.”
Thomas O’Rourke studies earth retention systems, foundations and soil/structure interaction, earthquake engineering, underground construction technology; as well as the engineering of large, geographically distributed systems such as water supplies and electric power and transportation facilities.
■ Yasamin Miller: Lack of confidence in government increases fear of Muslims
Yasamin Miller is the director of the Survey Research Institute at Cornell. The institute released results of a telephone survey on July 20 that found the death of Osama bin Laden triggered a jump in negative views of Muslim Americans.
After the killing, one-third of Americans agreed with positive descriptors of Muslim Americans, down from half of Americans before the killing and prolonged media coverage of the death. After the killing, survey respondents also reported that they were less likely to oppose restrictions on Muslim American civil liberties, and opposition to religious profiling of Muslims as potential terrorists dropped from 71 percent to 63 percent.
Miller said the survey “underlines people’s unease and nervousness. They’re not fully confident that the government is truly protecting its citizens. Immediately after this killing there was suspicion of more terrorist attacks, and therefore there was a lack of confidence that the government can keep people safe.”
■ Fred B. Schneider: Information network security requires more than stopgap fixes
In addition to being a Professor of Computer Science, Fred Schneider is a member of the Defense Science Board at the Department of Defense. Schneider researches trustworthy systems — systems that will perform as expected, despite failures and attacks.
“We cannot afford simply to develop technologies that plug holes faster; we need to think of security research more holistically, determining how most efficiently to block and disrupt opponents,” Schneider said.
■ Stephen Yale-Loehr: Sept. 11 attacks still impact immigration law a decade later
The Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks had a profound impact on immigrants and U.S. immigration policy, according to Professor Stephen Yale-Loehr, who teaches immigration and asylum law at Cornell University Law School. He notes:
- More than 1,200 non-citizens were detained on immigration violations after Sept. 11, 2001. Many were of Middle Eastern origin; few were actually terrorists.
- The government imposed special entry/exit registration requirements on foreign nationals from 26 countries. The government terminated the program earlier this year, effectively acknowledging its ineffectiveness.
- Thousands of immigrants, asylum seekers and refugees were delayed in entering the United States or denied entry because of lengthy background checks imposed after 9/11.
“Overall, the U.S. government overemphasized the use of the immigration system to try to combat terrorism, with only limited success. In particular, arresting a large number of noncitizens on grounds not related to domestic security only gave the nation a false sense of security. Because of these immigration policy changes, many foreigners now perceive the United States as a less welcoming country.
Professor Yale-Loehr has written or coauthored several articles about 9/11’s impact on immigration policy, including “America’s Challenge: Domestic Security, Civil Liberties, and National Unity After September 11” and “Secure Borders, Open Doors: Visa Procedures in the Post-September 11 Era.”
■ Jens Ohlin: Obama solving torture issue with Predator drone killings
Law Professor Jens Ohlin is an expert on terrorism, torture, criminal tribunals and war crimes. He is the co-author of “Defending Humanity: When Force is Justified and Why,” in which he argues that humanitarian intervention is legal under certain circumstances. Ohlin also is an expert on targeted killings, including predator drone strikes and commando raids such as the killing of Osama Bin Laden in Pakistan. He is currently co-editing a new book called “Targeted Killings: Law & Morality in an Asymmetrical World,” coming in March 2012.
“While on the campaign trial, Obama vigorously promised a departure from Bush-era policies regarding torture and military commissions. The former would be banned, he promised, and the latter would be restructured and even curtailed in favor of civilian trials.
“While Obama did ban torture, his attempt to restructure the military commissions has fallen flat in the face of congressional opposition. No major military trials have been completed, and every attempt to hold a major civilian trial, whether in New York City or elsewhere, has been stymied.
“Obama has solved these problems by radically escalating another War on Terror technique first used by Bush: the use of Predator drones to perform targeted killings against terror suspects in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Yemen and even Somalia. Now, instead of detaining and torturing suspected terrorists, we kill them remotely.”
■ Matthew Evangelista: ‘Backlash’ to wars can breed more terrorism
Professor Evangelista is the chair of Cornell University’s Department of Government and a member of the Costs of War project (http://costsofwar.org), intended to assess the human and economic costs of U.S. wars fought since 2001. Regarding the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Evangelista warns that military operations that harm civilians serve as a potent recruiting tool for terrorist organizations.
“If states have a choice to address terrorist threats without resorting to war, they are likely to be more successful because they avoid the backlash that can breed further terrorism,” Evangelista wrote in his book “Law, Ethics, and the War on Terror,” an analysis of the legal and ethical dimensions of the U.S. response to the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
■ Barry Strauss: Is this the end of the American empire?
Professor Strauss is the chair of Cornell University’s Department of History and author of 11 books on military history, and can analyze the long-term implications of President Barak Obama’s plan for a substantial drawdown of American troops from Afghanistan. He says:
“Wars aren’t won by troop withdrawals. By following the President’s course of action, we go down the road to losing Afghanistan. The Taliban will wait and strike as soon as we are weak enough. Then they will retake Afghanistan.
“All empires overextend themselves and then pull back. Sometimes they pay a price, as the Soviets did when they lost Afghanistan and then saw the collapse of communism at home. But the Romans withdrew from Germany after a humiliating defeat under Augustus – and the Roman Empire in the West went on to flourish for another four centuries. Which model fits the beginning of the American retreat from Afghanistan, Rome or the Soviets? That is the question.”
■ Peter Katzenstein: Expert on anti-Americanism in world politics
History Professor Peter Katzenstein is an expert in international relations and comparative politics. His current research interests focus on the role of anti-imperial sentiments, including anti-Americanism. He is co-editor of “Anti-Americanism in World Politics,” and editor of “The Culture of National Security,” which was selected by Choice Magazine as one of the top 10 international relations books in 1997.
■ Stephen B. Wicker: Expert on information networks, security and disaster recovery
Electrical and Computer Engineering Professor Stephen Wicker teaches and conducts research into wireless information networks, cellular networks, packet-switched computer networks and digital telephony. His interests include the application of artificial intelligence and game theory to self-configuring wireless sensor networks. Such networks are being developed for national security, disaster recovery and infrastructure monitoring.
■ Jonathan Kirshner: Expert on the role of economics in national security
Government Professor Jonathan Kirshner is the director of the Reppy Institute for Peace and Conflict Studies at Cornell University, and an expert on economics as it relates to national security. He previously chaired the Economics and National Security Program at the Olin Institute of Strategic Studies at Harvard University – a multi-year project that led to the book “Globalization and National Security,” edited by Kirshner.
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