Engineers are doing their part in combating terrorism, joining forces with security agencies and applying such tactics as motivational game theory to the protection of critical infrastructure.
In designing against terrorism today, engineers navigate uncharted territories. In the terrorist episodes prior to September 11, 2001, engineers were consulted to modify building codes and redesign the hulls of ships for greater durability, among other tasks considered routine and within the domain of traditional risk management. The attacks of September 11, however, altered the way in which risk is assessed and measured.
"September 11 presented a new risk item that wasn't on the table before," says the September 2002 issue of Mechanical Engineering, a publication of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME). To acquire a deeper understanding of how the probability of terrorism influences risk, says the magazine, engineers need to consider new and unfamiliar tools and methodologies.
One of these is motivational game theory, which provides a mathematical structure to organizing possible outcomes. Says Mechanical Engineering: "Motivational game theory could be used to determine where and how a terrorist attack is most likely to occur. The probability of a strike on a particular facility, coupled with a plan to deal with any secondary impact, will go a long way toward combating terrorism."
Another option for engineers in the war against terrorism is to join forces with security and intelligence experts. According to Mechanical Engineering, security personnel offer engineers a way of restoring logical and predictable variables in standard equations of risk that disappeared in the aftermath of September 11.
Security firms can also assist engineers involved in counter-terrorism design by providing "information about the capability, history, and motivation of particular terrorist groups," according to the ASME magazine.
For more information on Mechanical Engineering, or for a copy of the article, "Designing for Sabotage," (http://www.memagazine.org/contents/current/features/sabotage/sabotage.html) visit the Web site, http://www.memagazine.org (http://www.memagazine.org/about/about.html)
ASME International (www.asme.org/about) is a 125,000-member organization focused on technical, educational and research issues. ASME conducts one of the world's largest technical publishing operations, holds numerous technical conferences worldwide, and offers hundreds of professional development courses each year. ASME sets internationally recognized industrial and manufacturing codes and standards that enhance public welfare and safety.
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