HDIAC

Homeland Defense & Security Information Analysis Center

/ HDIAC Reports

HDIAC Reports

Release Date   Title  

Critical Infrastructure Protection

Critical Infrastructure Protection is one of the HDIAC’s eight technical focus areas. This SOAR reviews the current state of emerging technologies and methodologies relating to the protection of infrastructure and resources critical to national security. The report takes a look at the evolution of our critical infrastructure protective measures, the physical and cyber threats to our critical infrastructure, and the role government has in working with the owners of the largely privately-owned infrastructure assets.

Alternative Energy: An Enabler of Military Capability

This State of the Art Report (SOAR) reviews the current state of a selection of novel, non-traditional, and/or emerging sources and technologies for harvesting, generating, and reusing energy. It offers synopses of new programs; summaries of significant technological breakthroughs and technology applications; highlights of outstanding developments; and impacts to the DoD.

Countermeasures Against the Degradation of Warfighter Capabilities due to Infectious Disease Threats

This State of the Art Report (SOAR) explores the impact of infectious disease on military personnel, providing both an historical and ongoing risk profile of the various infectious diseases that put the warfighter at risk. It includes a look at the historical impact of infectious diseases on past conflicts before going on to detail current and future infectious disease risks, their impact on the warfighter, and challenges in prevention or treatment, and concludes with a quick-look summary of state of the art developments and recommended countermeasures to aid leaders during training and planning.

Microbe-eating Microbes

Global antimicrobial resistance is on the rise. Antimicrobial resistance affects warfighters and military personnel both on the battlefield and off. Combat wounds can be contaminated with environmental bacteria, such as S. aureus, that may confer resistance to conventional antibiotics. This was demonstrated in 2008, when multi-drug resistant bacteria were cultured from the wounds of soldiers who suffered injuries in Iraq and Afghanistan. Antibacterial resistance has challenged military medicine since the discovery of penicillin. However, the situation today is compounded by the fact that no new antibiotic classes have been discovered since 1984. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention calls this “one of the biggest health challenges of our time,” and the World Health Organization cautions that a possible “post-antibiotic era” is on the horizon.

Department of Defense Considerations for Disaster Response

This SOAR focuses on technologies and methods relevant to disaster response. The concept and practice of disaster response aligns with at least five of HDIAC’s focus areas: Critical Infrastructure Protection, CBRN Defense, Cultural Studies, Homeland Defense and Security, and Medical. Because disaster response is a broad and diverse field, this report addresses six areas in which scientific and technical (S&T) research and development (R&D) are most likely to intersect with improving disaster response practices relevant to DoD and defending the homeland. These areas are communications management, data management, responder protection, search and rescue (SAR) technologies, supply chain management, and radiation emergencies.

Methods for Investigating Chemical-Biological Weapons Use

This SOAR focuses on technologies and methods regarding the investigation of alleged chemical and/or biological weapons use as it pertains to DoD’s mission to protect U.S. forces and the homeland from chemical and biological weapons of mass destruction (WMD).

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning for Defense Applications

This State of the Art Report focuses on applications of Artificial Intelligence (AI) that are relevant to DoD and other governmental agencies that share similar goals, such as the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Intelligence Community. HDIAC collaborated with subject matter experts to obtain interpretations on relevant applications of AI to DoD and other agencies that could similarly incorporate AI into their operations. Discussions narrowed on relevant applications that have been in use for the past three years as well as advances that could become commercialized within the next 18–24 months. Given the vast amount of information, this report is not all-inclusive and is only a survey of prominent developments.

Critical Infrastructure Resilience

This State of the Art Report (SOAR) focuses on the concept of critical infrastructure resilience. In 2013, the White House issued Presidential Policy Directive 21 for Critical Infrastructure Security and Resilience to strengthen critical infrastructure. Resilience provides critical infrastructure an enhanced ability to mitigate the detrimental effects of adverse events. Resilience can be achieved through many avenues. This report highlights research, technology, and concepts that can be applied to support critical infrastructure resilience.

Cyber-physical systems and Critical Infrastructure

The systems that support our daily lives are increasingly dependent on the Internet, and having a resilient critical infrastructure is essential to our national security. This report highlights how cyber-physical systems can affect critical infrastructure.

Expandable Foams

Traumatic hemorrhaging is the leading cause of death on the battlefield, and the fifth leading cause of death in the U.S.. In contrast to lacerations and extremity injuries, deep abdominal wounds do not readily clot, are often incompressible, and cannot be sealed with tourniquets, bandages, or tissue adhesives. These injuries require prompt surgical intervention to mitigate hemorrhaging and reduce the risk of morbidity caused by exsanguination. Unfortunately, injured warfighters often have limited access to immediate surgical attention, and uncontrollable blood loss while in transit to a trauma center could potentially prove fatal.