Join HDIAC Thursday, November 5, from 1200 to 1300 EST for a webinar presentation titled "USAID: Conflict Assessment Framework." Please register in advance for the webinar at: https://www.anymeeting.com/PIID=EF55D884864F3F In order to best understand the environments where they work, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) uses a diagnostic tool called the Conflict Assessment Framework to analyze national and sub-national conflict. A conflict assessment is a systematic process used to analyze and prioritize the dynamics of peace, conflict, stability, and instability in a given country context. The assessment consists of two stages: diagnosis and response. During the diagnosis phase, the assessment team gathers information about the country’s internal conflict dynamics. The team then uses its findings to identify likely future scenarios that could alter a country’s risk of violent conflict. During the response stage, the assessment team draws on its rich diagnostic analysis to formulate actionable responses. Conducting a field-based conflict assessment is challenging. It involves applying a set of rigorous analytical tasks in a dynamic process, which must be sensitive to issues from policy positions, organizational interests, interpersonal and intercultural dynamics, language, and logistical constraints. This webinar will provide an overview of the assessment process and methods, as well as provide illustrative examples from previously conducted field assessments.
Series: HDIAC Webinars
HDIAC offers free webinars on a regular basis with experts in the technical subject areas of Alternative energy, Biometrics, CBRN Defense, Cultural Studies, Critical Infrastructure Protection, Homeland Defense & Security, Medical, and Weapons of Mass Destruction.
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Biostasis
Join HDIAC Thursday, October 29, from 1200 to 1300 EDT for our next webinar presentation titled "Biostasis." Please register in advance for the webinar at: https://www.anymeeting.com/PIID=EF55DC85814E39 This webinar provides an overview of the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency’s (DARPA) Biostasis program. The Biostasis program aims to extend the time for lifesaving medical treatment, often referred to as “the Golden Hour,” following traumatic injury or acute infection, thus increasing survivability for military personnel operating in far-forward conditions with limited access to medical professionals or trauma centers. To do so, Biostasis is developing novel chemical biology approaches that reversibly and controllably slow biological systems without cold-chain to stabilize and protect their functional capacity until medical intervention is possible.
Agnostic Compact Demilitarization of Chemical Agents (ACDC)
The safe destruction of chemical warfare agents (CWAs) and organic precursors is a timely, costly, and significant challenge for the international community. Today, for example, there are no approaches that exploit chemistries that are truly agnostic in terms of the agents that can be processed. Additionally, current approaches require transport of agents from the storage site to a neutralization site, which can add significant cost and time to the destruction process. DARPA's ACDC program explored new technologies for neutralization of bulk stores of CWAs and organic precursors at or near the site of storage. ACDC developed and demonstrated the technologies needed to construct a transportable, prototype system that converts organic compounds into constitutive carbon/nitrogen/phosphorous/sulfur oxides and stable alkali or alkaline earth metal salts. The ACDC system featured chemistries for agent destruction and sequestration of halogens and other components using locally available or easily transportable resources. This webinar describes the DARPA ACDC program and its exploration of neutralization of bulk stores of CWAs and organic precursors at or near the site of storage.
Facial Recognition Performance and Its Measurement
In this webinar, Patrick Grother will describe the fundamentals of face recognition, its evaluation, and the performance results from the four ongoing tracks of the Face Recognition Vendor Test (FRVT). The session will detail gains from the new generation of algorithms, failure modes, quantification of demographic effects, aging, scalability, and give an overview of limitations and open research topics. Additionally, the session will cover standards for performance and attack detection measurement, face image quality assessment, face-aware capture, and future activities under FRVT.
Department of Homeland Security Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction Office
The Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction (CWMD) Office within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is tasked, by Congress, to coordinate the federal government’s efforts to prevent chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) terrorism within the United States. DHS/CWMD works with many interagency partners, bringing 872 authorities to engage with state, local, tribal, and territorial governments. Its mission is to support the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy and Assistant Secretary of Defense for Homeland Defense & Global Security by developing and overseeing strategies, policies, and their implementation to prevent the proliferation of WMD and WMD-related materials. Strategic goals include anticipating, identifying, and assessing current and emerging WMD threats; strengthening detection and disruption of CBRN threats; and synchronizing homeland counter-WMD with health security planning and execution. This webinar will provide insight into the relationships, capabilities, and authorities that make the DHS/CWMD office a unique and valuable resource.
Big Data and Big Implications for Bio-cybersecurity
In this webinar, Professor James Giordano of Georgetown University Medical Center, and Senior Fellow in Biosecurity, Technology, and Ethics at the US Naval War College describes the uses and value of big data and cyber-capabilities in bioscience and biotechnology; addresses the national security, intelligence, and defense applications of these tools and methods; illustrates vulnerabilities in these systems' infrastructures and functions, and posits the importance and necessity of bio-cybersecurity as a multi-organizational posture and enterprise.
Small Nuclear Reactors – Project Pele
The Defense Science Board has identified energy as one of the main enablers of future military operations and has noted that military energy usage could grow significantly in the near future, outpacing improvements to alternative energy sources. In March of 2020, the Pentagon issued several contracts to facilitate a design work “competition” for mobile, small nuclear reactors and the winning prototype will potentially be forward deployed with forces outside the United States. The project is managed through the Strategic Capabilities Office’s “Project Pele” which was formed to ensure the safe development of mobile and advanced nuclear microreactors for a variety of DoD missions. Desired features for the new reactors include quick set-up, shut-down, and the ability to facilitate rapid movement by road, sea, air, or train. This prototyping project will ensure that critical functions remain operational regardless of the status of the local power grid and allow users to combat physical or cyber espionage from weak grids.
Power Beaming & Space Solar Innovation
Wireless power beaming is the transmission of electrical energy without a physical link. In a wireless power transmission system, a transmitter device, driven by electric power from a power source, transmits power across space to a receiver device, which extracts power from the field and supplies it to an electrical load. The technology of wireless power transmission can eliminate the use of the wires and batteries, thus increasing the mobility, convenience, and safety of an electronic device for users. In this presentation, Dr. Jaffe will present the visions for power beaming and space solar, and delve into their technical, regulatory, and economic challenges and opportunities.
Flash Blindness
This webinar discusses the risk of retinal burns or flash blindness to friendly troops following nuclear weapon use. In order to understand this threat, one must have a fundamental understanding of how the eye reacts to extremely luminous objects, considerations for the environment and time of day, and thermal effects of nuclear weapons. Historically, this has been a heavily studied topic, however previous studies have applied the question to pilots and aircrew operating at cruising altitude. Additionally, there are some counterintuitive aspects of the problem involving the inverse-square law applied to the weapon output and how yield influences the potential for eye injury. For planners, modelers, and subject matter experts, it is extremely important to understand the assumptions and technical aspects of the problem set in order to provide safe separation distances to servicemembers on the battlefield.
Nuclear Power for the Modern Grid
Electric power production in the United States faces challenges on several fronts. This includes the near-term retirement of aging coal-fired power plants, grid stability challenges arising from increased penetration of variable power generators, regional energy imbalances, and the need for more carbon-free power to meet government mandates. The reliability and resilience of power production systems are also gaining attention and thought must be given to hardening power generation systems against natural events such as severe weather events and the potential for man-made events such as aircraft impact, cybersecurity attacks, or electro-magnetic pulses. This webinar explores nuclear power and small modular reactors and discusses associated implementation challenges as part the US transformation to a 21st century power grid.
