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The Zika Threat. Why Now?
This is a summary of the Zika virus that supposes something of its burgeoning effects from 1947 to present.
Threat Identification Parameters for a Stolen Category 1 Radioactive Source
Radioactive sources are used very widely for research and practical applications across medicine, industry, government, universities, and agriculture. The risks associated with these sources vary widely depending on the specific radionuclide used to make the source, source activity, and its chemical and physical form. Sources are categorized by a variety of classification schemes according to the specific risk they pose to the public. This report specifically addresses sources that are classified in the highest category for health risk (category 1). Exposure to an unshielded or lightly shielded category 1 source is extremely dangerous to life and health and can be fatal in relatively short exposure times measured in seconds to minutes. A Category 1 source packaged according to the guidelines dictated by the NRC and U.S. Department of Transportation will typically be surrounded by a large amount of dense shielding material, but will still exhibit a significant dose rate in close proximity. Detection ranges for Category 1 gamma ray sources can extend beyond 5000 ft, but will depend mostly on the source isotope and activity, and the level of shielding around the source. Category 1 sources are easy to detect, but difficult to localize. Dose rates in proximity to an unshielded Category 1 source are extraordinarily high. At distances of a few hundred feet, the functionality of many commonly used handheld instruments will be extremely limited for both the localization and identification of the source. Radiation emitted from a Category 1 source will scatter off of both solid material (ground and buildings) and the atmosphere, a phenomenon known as skyshine. This scattering affects the ability to easily localize and find the source.
Elena Guardincerri: Tracking muons to reduce nuclear threats and help preserve architectural treasures
When Elena Guardincerri was a physics PhD student at the University of Genova, she considered muons a nuisance. She built muon detectors to snare these secondary cosmic rays, which were interfering with her experiments to study elusive neutrinos.
The Antibacterial Resistance Threat. Are We Heading Toward a Post-Antibiotic Era?
This report summarizes the persistence of bacterial strains and their resistance to antibacterial drugs, as well as how they have emerged.
Optimizing the Performance of Radionuclide Identification Software in the Hunt for Nuclear Security Threats
The Radionuclide Analysis Kit (RNAK), my team’s most recent nuclide identification software, is entering the testing phase. A question arises: will removing rare nuclides from the software’s library improve its overall performance? An affirmative response indicates fundamental errors in the software’s framework, while a negative response confirms the effectiveness of the software’s key machine learning algorithms. After thorough testing, I found that the performance of RNAK cannot be improved with the library choice effect, thus verifying the effectiveness of RNAK’s algorithms—multiple linear regression, Bayesian network using the Viterbi algorithm, and branch and bound search.
Radiation Signatures of Potential Nuclear Threats
This report gives a brief overview of the DOE Triage and JTOT programs, gamma and neutron signatures in select measurements, software demos of FRAM and PeakEasy, and discussions of GADRAS as an analysis tool.
Ubiquitous Nuclear Threat Detection Final Report, Harvey Mudd College Engineering Clinic
The Lawrence Livermore National Labs clinic team was asked to design a repeatable, portable procedure that would incentivize participants to carry detectors that form a radiation sensor network along repeated paths, to precisely known locations and past known radioactive sources. To achieve these goals, the team designed day-long and week-long data collection procedures in the form of puzzle hunt events. The team also created an Android app in order to support this measurement campaign and foster engagement. A ground truth collection method was constructed and validated through repeated use. Information concerning effective deployment of the data-collection procedure was gathered for future iterations. Over the course of procedural testing, 6 de 17 HMC students participated and collected 250 hours of data. 3 deployments of the procedure were conducted in each semester. A total of 63 students participated and collected 300 hours of data over the year. Deployment 1: 16 students, Deployment 2: 17 students, Deployment 3: 8 users, ~18 active hours, Deployment 4: 4 students, ~10 active hours, and Deployment 5: 18 students, ~40 active hours.
The Radiological and WMD Threat Posed to National Security By Hezbollah in Latin America
Beginning in the 1980s, Hezbollah and other international terrorist organizations took root in unstable portions of Latin America. Over the years, they have built up considerable capabilities that threaten US national security and the security of allies in the region. However, Hezbollah has separated itself from its counterparts through its actions in Latin America, namely the Israeli Embassy and AMIA bombings in the early 1990s, and continues to do so. While it mainly operates out of the Tri-Border Area (TBA) of Paraguay, Brazil, and Argentina in South America, Hezbollah commands cells that span the Western Hemisphere. In the modern-day, Hezbollah conducts drug, weapons, and contraband trafficking and smuggling operations, in addition to its violent attacks. New revelations, involving the increased trafficking and stealing of nuclear and WMD material, populate the world’s nonproliferation roundtables. Latin America is no exception to this trend. It is possible that terrorist organizations, such as Hezbollah, could acquire, develop, and use stolen or illegally obtained nuclear material in a radiological dispersal device (RDD) or some form of WMD. In light of these revelations, the United States should focus more on Hezbollah’s illicit activities in Latin America in the interests of its own national security and its allies’.
Insider Threat Symposium Curated Questions
Abstract not provided.
Best Paper Award: Gathering Threat Intelligence Through Computer Network Deception
Presented at the 2016 IEEE International Symposium on Technologies for Homeland Security (HST), this LDRD-funded research received a Best Paper award, the highest award presented at the conference. The research focused on developing, implementing, and testing a novel computer network operations architecture that enables proactive defense by managing and monitoring enterprise resource allocations and network flows. The architecture leverages three emerging concepts: software-defined networks, cloud computing, and deception, to enable the detection and identification of anomalous access and intrusions to adjust to the dynamic nature of the adversary and to provide a mechanism to discover and react to the adversary’s attacks in a methodical and proactive manner. Additionally, the work allows network defenders to gather information on an adversary’s tools, tactics and procedures, providing insight into the “what, why, and how” of the adversary’s operations. A summary of the work presented at IEEE can be found at http://tiny.sandia.gov/8d8lu.
Thoughts on a Cyber Threat Model for a High-Consequence System
Abstract not provided.
Security Measures to Address Emerging Nuclear/Radiological Threats at Major Public Events
International Conference on Nuclear Security: Commitments and Actions International Atomic Energy Agency, Vienna, Austria December 5-9, 2016 Presenter: Richard Maurer
DETECTION OF NUCLEAR OR OTHER RADIOLOGICAL MATERIALS OUT OF REGULATORY CONTROL AS CRIMINAL/UNAUTHORIZED THREATS TO MAJOR PUBLIC EVENTS
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Relationship Extraction: Automatic Information Extraction and Organization for Supporting Analysts in Threat Assessment
In order for analysts to be able to do their work, they sift through hundreds, thousands, or even millions of documents to make connections between entities of interest. This process is time consuming, tedious, and prone to potential error from missed connections or connections made that should not have been. There exist many tools in natural language processing, or NLP, to extract information from documents. However, when it comes to relationship extraction, there has been varied success. This project began with a goal to solve the relationship extraction problem which developed into a deeper understanding of the problem and the associated challenges for solving this problem on a general scale. In this report, we explain our research and approach to relationship extraction, identify other auxiliary problems in NLP that provide additional challenges to solving relationship extraction generally, explain our analysis of the current state of relationship extraction, and postulate future work to address these problems.
Platform for Rapidly Identifying and Engineering Novel Tissue Targeted Antibody Therapeutics for Chemical and Biological Threats.
Abstract not provided.
Presentation on Evaluating the Effectiveness of Insider Threat Mitigation Systems.
Abstract not provided.