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Activities Related to Homeland Security
President Zimbardo Meets With National Security Council Staff
In the wake of September 11th, the Science Directorate and Science PPO have been
proactive in developing collaborative relationships with federal agencies and
panels tasked with addressing terrorism issues, to ensure the involvement of
behavioral scientists with expertise in these areas. On June 11th, APA President
Philip G. Zimbardo joined Senior Scientist Susan Brandon and PPO's Heather Kelly
for an initial meeting with two senior staff members in the National Security
Council's (NSC's) Office of Combating Terrorism. NSC staff were well-versed in
and very supportive of behavioral research and its relevance to national
security issues, and asked APA to: provide lists of researchers and
"one-pagers" on work germane to counter-terrorism efforts; facilitate
interactions between NSC staff, U.S. psychologists and those in other countries
with specific expertise; and collaborate on a small conference focusing on
communications issues related to terrorism.
Congress Takes Steps to Create Department of Homeland Security
When one provision of the President's plan called for transferring
certain public health preparedness functions to the new department from the
Department of Health and Human Services, APA joined over two dozen other public
health organizations in protesting the transfer because of the likelihood that
it would lead to inefficiencies and distract from the on-going efforts to
prevent and treat chronic health conditions. The letter can be viewed at: http://www.apa.org/ppo/issues/securitycltnltr.html.
In addition, APA staff worked closely with the Consortium of Social Science
Associations, the office of Rep. Brian Baird (D-WA), and House Science Committee
staff to outline the role of behavioral and social science research in the new
department. Although, the House bill did not include specific language on
behavioral research. The House Select Committee on Homeland Security did include
Rep. Baird's mental health provision in its version that can be viewed at: http://www.house.gov/baird/prhomesec.htm.
APA Hosts Meeting With FBI Behavioral Science Unit
On October 1st, the Science Policy Office hosted a meeting between leaders of
the behavioral and social science research community and the FBI's Behavioral
Science Unit (BSU). The planning dinner was convened as a follow-up to a
successful half-day colloquium entitled, "The Role of Human Factors in
Homeland Security" at the annual meeting of the Human Factors and
Ergonomics Society (HFES) in Baltimore. The overall purpose of these and other
meetings APA has held in conjunction with FBI Academy staff is to help
facilitate their interaction with a range of behavioral scientists to help guide
the FBI as it begins re-orienting to a domestic terrorism agenda. A full summary
of the meeting can be viewed at:
http://www.apa.org/ppo/issues/fbimeeting.html.
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APA President Sternberg Visits the CIA
On December 12, APA Senior Scientist Susan Brandon and Science Policy Director
Geoff Mumford arranged for Robert Sternberg, PhD, President-Elect of APA, to
provide a presentation on intelligence and cognitive assessment to a group of
psychologists from the Intelligence Community who are directly involved in
operations. As most of our readers know Dr. Sternberg, is the IBM Professor of
Psychology and Education, Department of Psychology, Yale University and
Director, Center for the Psychology of Abilities, Competencies, and Expertise
(PACE). Dr. Sternberg addressed cross-cultural assessment issues and summarized
his research on successful intelligence. The Central Intelligence Agency hosted
the presentation. To view Dr. Sternberg's Powerpoint presentation see: http://www2.apa.org/ppo/psych.ppt.
APA Staff Invited To "Teach" At The FBI Academy
Since the terrorist attacks on 9/11 and the anthrax incidents in the autumn of
2001, APA Science/Science Public Policy has been gathering and offering the
resources of psychological science to counter-terrorism efforts across the
United States. Staff in these offices have attended workshops and meetings, held
conferences and Congressional briefings, and created resource files that
describe the multitude of psychological researchers whose expertise is germane
to such efforts. It has been heartening to see how generous our community is
with its time, energy and skills.
The challenge is to share this expertise with those who might make use of it.
How can "first responders" make their problems and concerns known to
psychological researchers and theorists? How can such researchers translate
their findings into the kind of concrete, operational tactics that police,
medics and fire fighters are likely to need on a daily basis?
Geoffrey Mumford, Director APA Science Policy, and Susan Brandon, APA Science
Senior Scientist, have begun a project that offers a unique opportunity to
listen to the concerns and questions of police from across the United States.
They have been invited by FBI Agents and faculty from the FBI's National Academy
in Quantico VA to visit several ongoing classes and discuss behavioral science
with the Academy students. The National Academy, currently in its 211th session,
was instituted "to support, promote and enhance the personal and
professional development of experienced law enforcement officers by providing
relevant education and training and to increase their information networks in
order to prepare them for increasingly complex and dynamic leadership roles in
the law enforcement community" (FBI National Academy General Instructions,
Feb. 27 2002). There are about 500 law enforcement personnel who take courses at
the National Academy during an 11-week semester; three such sessions are held
each year.
Mumford and Brandon already met with one class on November 22. They invited
Deborah Frisch, PhD, a decision scientist from the National Science Foundation,
also to attend the class. Dr. Frisch started the class off with a scenario about
the Washington sniper incidents that illustrated human decision-making
behaviors. The discussion then was opened up to more general concerns. Some of
the questions posed were:
- How to predict panic in populations under assault, and how to normalize
community behavior in a crisis.
- How to understand the terrorist mindset so as to be able to predict the
selection of terrorist targets.
- Why some cops leak information to media knowing that it may harm an
investigation.
- The negative impact of media in high profile law enforcement investigations.
- How to communicate information that the public wants during a crisis in a way
that cannot be used to the detriment of the investigation.
- How to articulate the needs of the police to focus limited resources on
likely suspects without appearing to apply profiling techniques.
- How to deal with police anxiety, which sometimes make it difficult for police
to serve as a calming influence for the public.
- The American cultural preoccupation with assigning blame.
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On January 21, Brandon and Mumford arranged another meeting to include Bryan
Vila, PhD, the Director of the Crime Control and Prevention Research Division at
the National Institute of Justice out to the FBI Academy yesterday to talk about
future collaborations with the Behavioral Sciences Unit. BSU had invited APA
member Ellen Scrivner, PhD (a detailee from the Dept. of Justice working on
counter-terrorism). Dr. Vila has an interesting background as a former Marine, a
police officer in South Central LA, head of Micronesia's Bureau of
Investigation, and an emergency preparedness coordinator for the Dept. of
Interior. He has a doctorate in human ecology and worked as an academic at UC
Irvine and the University of Wyoming before taking his present position.
One goal of the meeting was to discuss possibilities for a follow-up to last
February's conference and Dr. Vila has authored a draft proposal seeking NIJ
funds for a follow-on conference this summer. Dr. Brandon has left APA for a
position with the National Institute on Mental Health (NIMH) but will continue
collaborating with APA in these activities.
Longer-range ideas include the possibility of following a model the FBI uses
with chaplains to connect more psychologists to field office operations. The
goal would be link each of the 56 FBI field offices across the US with a
point-person-psychologist in the event the local office has an issue that a
psychologist(s) could help with. Because of the range of issues psychologists
might be expected to cover...we suggested that it might be best to consider
trying to put together some sort of local advisory team (to the extent that's
possible in a given geographic area) that might consist of practitioners and
scientists/academicians.
Meeting with Transportation Security Administration
Geoff Mumford and APA member Peter Hancock, PhD, (Provost Distinguished Research
Professor, University of Central Florida) met with Paul Paulski, the Chief of
Staff of TSA's new Chief Technology Officer on January 15th. The meeting was an
effort to set the stage for his appearance at the National Research Council's
Committee on Human Factors (CoHF) the following day. CoHF had scheduled
presentations from Jim Griffin, PhD, Assistant Director of Social Behavioral and
Economic Sciences at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and
Tom Sanquist, PhD, a psychologist doing maritime security research for Batelle
in Seattle.
During the NRC meeting Mumford suggested that the Committee help TSA think
about broadening the scope of their advisory committee (following a suggestion
Kurt Salzinger delivered in writing to the TSA Undersecretary last February) and
to propose a study to help TSA define a research agenda.
Behind Every Good Workforce is a Psychologist
Everyone is probably aware that the Transportation Security Administration (TSA)
has been responsible for federalizing the airport screener workforce, but it's
unlikely many know that APA member Elizabeth Kolmstetter, PhD, was in charge of
the effort. On January 29th, Dianne Maranto, APA's Director for Psychology in
the Workplace, and Geoff Mumford, PhD, Director of Science Policy, met with Dr.
Kolmstetter, an I/O psychologist who is now the Director of Standards, Testing
& Accreditation for TSA. For the past year she has been responsible for
establishing the selection, training and certification of airport security
screeners and will be developing such systems in the future for air marshals,
Federal Flight Deck Officers (armed pilots), and for security personnel in
relation to other modes of transportation.
Dr. Kolmstetter's office is within Training and Quality Performance but they
apparently have a close working relationship with the human factors research
group at what used to be the Howard Hughes Technical Center in NJ, (now in
effect the intramural research laboratory for TSA). Its not clear at this point
exactly how TSA will meld the research and development needs within Training and
Quality Performance with the programs directed by the Office of Science and
Technology. However, as noted in the January 15th, item above, APA and various
human factors groups will be working to facilitate those connections because
research is critical to the development of screening tests and integral to the
job design and development of selection and training programs for the baggage
screeners. While there are no immediate plans to establish a scientific advisory
group to provide oversight for the Training & Performance area, there may be
a future need to establish one in the area of certification.
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Countering Terrorism: Integration of Practice and Theory-Report Available
The report of the February 28, 2002 conference held at the FBI Academy, called
"Countering Terrorism: Integration of Practice and Theory," is
available online at http://www.apa.org/ppo/issues/ct.pdf. This report will also
be on the FBI and Solomon Asch Center websites. The FBI will distribute the
report among its offices and personnel.
Briefing Papers on Research Psychology and Counter-Terrorism
A list of one-page briefing items describing how various research programs in
psychology might be germane to counter-terrorism, or to understanding terrorism,
is continually updated and is available online at http://www.apa.org/ppo/issues/svignetteterror2.html.
These have been made available to the Office of Science & Technology Policy.
We also have used them in other situations where an argument about the
applicability of such research to counter-terrorism needs to be made, for
example, to members and committee staff at the National Academy of Sciences and
personnel in the Office of Homeland Security.
Congressional Briefings Sponsored by Decade of Behavior
Science Public Policy Office and Science arranged for two congressional
briefings.
April 24, 2002: The Human Response to Disaster. Speakers were Baruch Fischhoff
("What's worth knowing - and saying - about terrorism?"), Douglas
Richardson ("Geographical dimensions of terrorism: Implications for Public
Policy"), Eduardo Salas ("Responding to Crises: The science of team
performance"), and Kathleen Tierney ("Social science and disaster
research perspectives on the September 11 attacks: Building on Our knowledge to
make our communities safer").
June 18, 2002: Reactions to Terrorism: Attitudes and Anxieties. Speakers were
Michael Traugott ("Six months later: American attitudes and beliefs changed
by 9/11"), Len Lecci & Dale Cohen ("Anthrax fears: Determinants of
perceived health risks"), and Mansoor Moaddel ("The impact of 9/11 on
value orientations of the Islamic Public in Egypt").
Nominations to National Academy Project
Names of psychological scientists and mental health practitioners were provided
for consideration as committee members or consultants for the National Academy
Institute of Medicine, Division of Neuroscience and Behavioral Health project,
"Responding to the Psychological Consequences of Terrorism." Only one
of our suggestions was included on the committee membership (Gerard A. Jacobs,
Director of the Disaster Mental Health Institute and a Professor of Psychology
at the University of South Dakota). However, the first public meeting of the
committee (October 7, 2002) included speakers from our list to serve as
consultants (Elizabeth Todd-Bazemore, Associate Professor, Clinical Psychology
Training Program, and faculty member of the Disaster Mental Health Institute at
the University of South Dakota, and Roxanne Silver, Professor of Psychology and
Social Behavior at the University of California at Irvine).
National Center on Disaster Psychology & Terrorism
Science is serving as a partner and liaison with a group in California who are
creating a "National Center on Disaster Psychology & Terrorism" as
a joint venture of Stanford University Psychology Department, Stanford
Psychiatry, the Pacific Graduate School of Psychology, and the Palo Alto
Veterans Administration. Key players are Larry Beutler, Bruce Bongar, and Phil
Zimbardo. A start-up meeting was held October 4-5, 2002 in Palo Alto, that was
attended by representatives of each of these institutions as well as a variety
of others, including James Breckenridge from Palo Alto VA; John Clizbe and Susan
Hamilton, American Red Cross; Richard Gist from the University of Missouri;
Larry Jacobs from the University of South Dakota; Larry James from Walter Reed
Army Medical Center; John Kalafat from Rutgers University; Brett Litz from
Boston VA; Clark McCauley from the University of Pennsylvania; Douglas Paton
from Massey University in New Zealand, Dori Reismann from the CDC; Lee Ross and
Alan Schatzberg from Stanford University; Roxanne Silver from UC Irvine; Phil
Zimbardo, two men from the CIA and one from the FBI Academy, and Susan Brandon
from APA Science.
The topics addressed were what is known, what needs to be known, and how can we
fund research in a variety of areas related to disasters and terrorism: Theory
and History of Disaster Psychology and Terrorism; What is Terrorism? Weapons of
Mass Destruction: Immediate and Long-Term Consequences; Disaster Psychology:
Conceptual Issues, Theories, and Definitions; Assessment; and Intervention.
Because the primary focus of two of the three key faculty integral to the
creation of the Center is clinical practice, it was our goal to (a) broaden the
research basis of the Center to include other topics relevant to preparedness,
response, mitigation, prevention aspects of terrorism, and (b) invite people
that we know in the FBI and CIA and Solomon Asch Center, so as to connect the
Center to other institutions and groups with similar needs and goals, as well as
broaden the scope of its concerns.
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