Fighting Terrorist Networks Requires Networked Homeland Security Strategy combination of networked personal communications & social networks can make public full partners

Homeland Security strategist W. David Stephenson warned Friday that "only a networked homeland security strategy that empowers the public as full partners can thwart networked terrorism." Stephenson, principal of Stephenson Strategies (Medfield, MA), spoke at the Wharton School Alumni Association "Powerful Leadership for Perilous Times conference" (9:30 AM, Academy for Educational Development, 1825 CT Ave., NW).

Stephenson said that the "netwars" strategy of military theorists John Arquilla and David Ronfeldt, which argues only a networked defense can counter a networked offense is equally relevant to homeland security. However, the problems with response to Hurricane Katrina showed that the Department of Homeland Security is still "locked in a strategy that is hierarchical and lacks the flexibility to adapt to rapidly changing, unpredictable situations, whether terrorist attacks, natural disasters, or the impending flu pandemic."

Stephenson said that a key to the strategy is capitalizing on the full range of personal communications technology that people carry daily (cell- and camera-phones, PDAs, laptops, GPS devices in cars) "and that we'll use in a disaster, whether or not government approves" to make the public full partners in preparation and response to the disaster, rather than pawns to be manipulated, as happened in Katrina. He said that, increasingly, these devices can be used even if central telecomm facilities are down because they are IP- and packet-based, and that they are adding more potential to send and receive location-based, real-time information, "which can be critical in a disaster because the situation changes so rapidly and because it's more likely that a member of the public would be on the scene first than a trained responder (as happened during the London subway bombings)." In a worst case, scenario, low-tech solutions such as the "National SOS Radio Network," which links ham radio and cheap, hand-held walkie-talkies, can still allow ad hoc networks of neighbors and friends to still plan an effective response.

Equally important, Stephenson said, was capitalizing on the full power of these networked communication devices by applying the lessons learned in the recent past from research on social and technological networks. Among other things, this research has documented "emergent behavior," in which members of even ad-hoc, self-organizing networks are capable of a higher level of group behavior than individual members were capable of.

"Combined, networked communications and networked behavior can mean that members of the general public, corporate employees, and others can be self-reliant, and can make valuable contributions to documenting and coping with fast-changing situations, allowing overburdened first-responders to stretch their resources further," Stephenson said.

He also suggested that one of the most economical and rapid ways to create such a networked system would be to leverage existing devices and services already used by the public daily that could be quickly repurposed in a disaster to provide two-way location-based, real-time information, such as:
• the growing array of new Google Map "mash-ups" that couple Google Maps with text information, which could be used to locate the elderly, handicapped and others needing special assistance in a disaster, or to document damage.
• Dodgeball.com, a social networking system that, in ordinary times, allows people to invite friends on the spur-of-the-moment to meet at a bar or restaurant by sending a single text message that's repeated to all of your friends who are within a 10-block radius at the time, or, in a disaster, could be used to immediately notify your family that your are safe (while using a minimum of bandwidth) or to gather family and friends in an area to plan a common escape strategy.

Stephenson concluded with a warning to government, especially regarding the impending flu pandemic, which he said can only be dealt with by a combination of collaboration technologies such as wikis, and an exceptional level of cooperative behavior in which there's no room for secrecy or proprietary information. "There really isn't a choice whether to embrace this kind of networked homeland security system. Given the power of networked communications and the science of emergent behavior, government has already effectively lost control of the flow of information during emergencies. We the people have the power at our fingertips to network — and human nature dictates that we'll use it in an emergency. Government can either capitalize on networks and treat the public as full partners in prevention and response, or we will simply take matters into our own hands and circumvent government."