Tom LaTourrette

Making aviation security more cost-effective is hampered by a lack of understanding of the costs and benefits of security interventions. Moreover, there will always be considerable uncertainty about terrorists' capabilities and decision making, security system performance, and the tangible and intangible costs of security measures. This volume focuses on exploring ways to use cost-benefit and other types of analysis to improve aviation security decision making in spite of such uncertainties. The authors present a set of analyses that discuss how historical data on aviation security can inform security planning; examine ways to address uncertainty about the costs of security measures; discuss the ways in which different layers of a security system interact; offer a method for incorporating deterrence into the assessment of security measures via the concept of a risk-reduction threshold, using the Federal Air Marshal Service as an example; examine tradeoffs between intended and unintended consequences of security measures, using a trusted traveler program as an example; and discuss the merits of high- versus low-resolution models of aviation terrorism for informing policy.These analyses contribute to filling some of the current gaps in the assessment of the costs, benefits, and efficiency of aviation security measures and strategies.

Nuclear power is receiving renewed interest because of its low greenhouse gas emissions. However, if nuclear power is to be sustainable option for the United States, methods for managing spent fuel that meet stringent safety and environmental standards must be implemented. This report examines technical and institutional approaches to spent fuel management and highlights policy implications of pursuing alternative strategies.

Firefighters, law enforcement officers, and emergency medical service responders play a critical role in protecting people and property in the event of fires, medical emergencies, terrorist acts, and numerous other emergencies. The authors examine the hazards that responders face and the personal protective technology needed to contend with those hazards. The findings are based on in-depth discussions with 190 members of the emergency responder community and are intended to help define the protective technology needs of responders and develop a comprehensive personal protective technology research agenda.

The government of Puerto Rico submitted a recovery plan to Congress in 2018 describing a strategic approach to recover from the 2017 hurricane destruction. HSOAC input provides a summary of damage to public buildings and the basis for 12 courses of action to repair hurricane damage and modernize the public building infrastructure to increase resilience to natural hazards, improve energy efficiency, and improve functionality and user experience.

This report serves as the technical documentation and reference document for the data, methods, and analytic approach used in the analysis of national exposures to infrastructure from natural disasters. The analysis includes 11 natural hazards and five infrastructure sectors. Analytic findings about current and future exposures of infrastructure in the United States drawn from this data analysis are documented in a separate report.

Because license plate reader (LPR) technology is relatively new in the United States, opportunities and obstacles in its use in law enforcement are still under exploration. To examine issues about this technology, RAND conducted interviews with law enforcement personnel, police officers, and others responsible for procuring, maintaining, and operating the systems.

The Catastrophe Obligation Guarantee Act, introduced in Congress in 2009, would authorize the federal government to provide committed loan guarantees to qualified state catastrophe-insurance programs. Proponents argue that lower-cost catastrophe insurance could reduce federal disaster-assistance expenditures. This report estimates the law's potential effects in California.

Police officers, firefighters, and other public safety workers face exceptionally high rates of injury and fatality relative to the general workforce. This document provides an analysis of the risk factors associated with different aspects of public safety occupations, to help policymakers in their efforts to improve the health and safety of these employees.

Terrorist threat at shopping centers is a prominent concern, with over 60 terrorist attacks against shopping centers in 21 countries since 1998. Shopping center operators are starting to explore and implement increased security efforts specifically designed to combat terrorism. This report offers qualitative and quantitative modeling approaches to help these operators evaluate security options for effectiveness at reducing terrorism risk.

The pending expiration of the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act (TRIA) of 2002 is the impetus for this assessment of how TRIA redistributes terrorism losses. The authors find that the role of taxpayers is expected to be minimal in all but very rare cases and that, even with TRIA in place, a high fraction of losses would go uninsured in each of the attack scenarios examined.

Public and private institutions in the United States have long been home to a variety of art works, antiquities, and ethnological materials. For years, these collections have been seen as important archives that allow present and future generations to enjoy, appreciate, and value the art of all cultures. In the past decade, however, questions have been raised as to exactly what constitutes legal and ethical ownership of art and other cultural property. Some observers believe that art and ethnological materials should remain in source countries, and have lobbied for an end to art trading. Recent changes to U.S. law may curtail both private and public collecting. Contributors to "Who Owns the Past?" include legal scholars, museum professionals, anthropologists, archaeologists, and collectors. In clear, nontechnical language, they provide a comprehensive overview of the development of cultural property law and practices, as well as recent case law affecting the ability of museums and private collectors to own art from other countries.Topics covered include rights to property, ethical ownership, the public responsibilities of museums, threats to art from war and development, and international cooperation to preserve collections in the developing world. Engaging all perspectives on this debate, "Who Owns the Past?" challenges all who care about the arts to work together toward policies that consider traditional American interests in securing cultural resources, and respect international concerns over loss of heritage.

This report lays the foundation for determining the gas and oil resources that are realistically available when exploration and production costs, infrasturcture and transportation costs, and environmental impacts are considered. The authors examine four recent traditional assessments of the nation's potential supply of natural gas and oil resources. They suggest a new methodology: estimating "viable" resource, which is the gas and oil resource that is available when exploration and production costs, infrastructure and transportation costs, and environmental impacts are considered. This methodology will be used in future research on specific geographic areas. The authors examine four recent traditional assessments of the nation's potential supply of natural gas and oil resources. The assessments were done by the U.S. Geological Survey National Oil and Gas Resource Assessment Team, the Minerals Management Service, the National Petroleum Council, and the Potential Gas Committee. Although the assessments vary, they each indicate that the Intermountain West contains substantial natural gas and oil resources.Traditional resource assessments, however, are intended to estimate the "technically recoverable" resource, which does not reflect the amount of resource that can realistically be produced. This report lays the foundation for determining the "viable" gas and oil resource: that which is available when exploration and production costs, infrastructure and transportation costs, and environmental impacts are considered. The next step in the research will be to apply this methodology to estimate the viable resource in individual geographic areas. The analysis will specify the relationships among gas and oil deposits, technological options, economic costs, infrastructure requirements, environmental impacts, and other variables to allow for a comprehensive assessment of the viable gas and oil resource. (MP)