April 11, 2003

Honorable Tom Ridge
Office of the Secretary
Department of Homeland Security
Washington, DC 20393

Dear Secretary Ridge:

As your new Department continues its formative activities, we are writing with regard to the contributions of the social and behavioral sciences to the research agendas for the Science and Technology Directorate and the rest of the Department.

Using the successful Office of Behavioral and Social Science Research at the National Institutes of Health as a model, we ask that you establish a similar office in the Department of Homeland Security. The Office shall be responsible for: a) coordinating research and interventions on behavioral and social issues related to homeland security; and b) identifying and prioritizing projects of behavioral and social science research that should be conducted or supported by the Department of Homeland Security or other research agencies.

In addition, we were pleased that the DHS authorizing legislation included provisions for a Homeland Security Science and Technology Advisory Committee (HSSTAC). It is our hope that the Committee structure will reflect the diverse range of scientific and technical domains critical to ensuring homeland security. We are aware that the OSTP convened four interagency working groups under the Antiterrorism Task Force to examine the existing portfolio of federally funded research germane to homeland security. A subcommittee structure within HSSTAC reflecting the organization of the four interagency working groups could provide a useful parallel to the Antiterrorism Task Force and a convenient mechanism for Ex Officio participation by agency personnel.

The President's Science Adviser, John Marburger, has pronounced on numerous occasions that the government should "take more advantage of the social sciences, and that the challenges of our times can be engaged more effectively if we use the knowledge and techniques developed in" these disciplines.

Since terrorists are people and terrorism is behavior, the social and behavioral sciences can offer insights into this scourge and have developed a research agenda to help, in President Bush's words, "lift the dark threat of violence from our people and our future." As distinguished sociologist Neil Smelser has commented: "It is…evident that while the scientific, technological, and military aspects are essential parts of understanding and containing terrorism, every aspect of that phenomenon yields human and social dimensions." Indeed, social/behavioral research into disasters has provided a basis for responding to acts of terror.

A recent article in the Chronicle of Higher Education entitled: "10 Research Projects Meant to Keep You Safer" (April 11, 2003) cited the work of sociologist Mansoor Moaddel on Muslim attitudes around the world pre- and post-9/11, and psychologist Roxane Silver, who investigated how people learned to cope with the September 11 attacks. We could provide many more examples of important studies on terrorism related topics.

Therefore, research in the social and behavioral sciences must be an indispensable element of any U.S. homeland security strategy. Three reports from the National Academy of Sciences: Making The Nation Safer: The Role of Science and Technology in Countering Terrorism; Discouraging Terrorism: Some Implications of 9/11; and Terrorism: Perspectives From the Behavioral and Social Sciences have all pointed to the crucial contributions these sciences can make to the nation's counter-terrorism efforts.

The counter-terrorism social/behavioral research agenda should include, but not be limited to:

a) Investigating terrorist organizations and networks and uncovering terrorism's root causes;

b) Determining the mental health impact on victims of and responders to terrorist acts;

c) Designing effective alert systems, which include the assessment and communication of risk, and the design of public education campaigns for a potentially prolonged state of preparedness and/or vigilance;

d) Measuring terrorism's economic impacts and society's economic resiliency;

e) Integrating human factors - the interface between technology and human behavior - into terrorism response mechanisms;

f) Designing systems for communication, decision making, and management, both inside and outside the government that would operate under extreme conditions;

g) Developing fully integrated geospatial and communication infrastructures;

h) Understanding attitudes and beliefs about terrorism both in the United States and abroad;

i) Assessing and evaluating biometrics and other lie detection techniques;

k) Improving training and education in area studies, international studies, and global studies;

l) Investigating people's responses to disasters other than terrorism;

m) Encouraging data sharing across agencies; the creation of new data entities; and the promotion of data fusion and mining; and

n) Utilizing modeling and simulation technologies to study terrorists and terrorism.

As Making The Nation Safer concluded: "None of the related problems [of terrorism] can be solved by technology alone; every solution is subject to the reality of being implemented and operated by humans. These are system issues, where individual, social and organizational behaviors are part of the system and therefore must be part of the research and design."

The Consortium of Social Science Associations (COSSA) is an advocacy organization supported by more than 100 professional associations, scientific societies, and research institutes that promotes attention to and federal funding for the social and behavioral sciences. It serves as a bridge between the research community and the policy-making community. I have attached a list of our Members, Affiliates, and Contributors. The Federation of Behavioral, Psychological, and Cognitive Sciences, an association of scientific societies with interests in basic research on problems of behavior, psychology, language, education, knowledge systems and their psychological, behavioral, and physiological bases, also supports this letter.

Thank you for your time and attention. We look forward to working with you in making America more secure.

Sincerely,

Howard J. Silver, Ph.D.
Executive Director

Cc: Hon. John Marburger, Director, White House Office of Science and Technology
Hon. Charles McQueary, Undersecretary for Science and Technology, DHS

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