National security risks

Increased attention to both local and global environmental issues over the past few decades has resulted in heightened focns on these issues. This new attention has increased the workload, knowledge base, and responsibilities of environmental professionals. Issues ranging from the impact of pollution on human health, global climactic change, national security risks, and nuclear fuel processing pose serions concerns. 

As stated previously, traceability is fundamental to establishing and eliminating the root cause of nonconforming product and therefore it should be mandatory in view of the requirements for Corrective Action. Providing traceability can be an onerous task. Some applications require products to be traced back to the original ingot from which they were produced. In situations of safety or national security it is necessary to identify product in such a manner because if a product is used in a critical application and subsequently found defective, it may be necessary to track down all other products of the same batch and eliminate them before there is a disaster. It happens in product recall situations. It is also very important in the automobile and food industries in fact, any industry where human life may be at risk due to a defective product being in circulation. 

Bolton s opinion was bolstered in June 2005 by Senator Richard Lu-gar s survey of 85 non-proliferation and national security analysts from the United States and other nations. It was designed in part to characterize the risks related to the terrorist use of CBRN. The survey revealed that experts believe the probability of an attack somewhere in the world with a CBRN weapon was 50% over the next five years and 70% over the next ten. An attack with a radiological weapon was seen as the most probable with the likelihood of an attack with a nuclear or biological weapon considered about half as plausible [37]. The average probability of a nuclear attack in the next ten years was nearly 30%, with experts almost evenly divided between terrorist acquisitions of a working nuclear weapon versus self-construction [37]. The average risk estimate over ten years for major chemical and biological attacks was 20%. Senator Lu-gar concluded The bottom line is this for the foreseeable future, the United States and other nations will face an existential threat from the intersection of terrorism and weapons of mass destruction. ... 

Hank C. Jenkins-Smith is professor of public policy at the George H.W. Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A M University in College Station. He holds the Joe R. and Teresa Lozano Long Chair of Business and Government at the Bush School. He was previously professor of political science and director of the Institute for Public Policy at the University of New Mexico. Professor Jenkins-Smith s areas of research include science and technology policy, environmental policy, public perceptions of environmental and technical risks, and national security policy. Professor Jenkins-Smith has written books on the public policy process and policy analysis and has served on a number of committees for the National Research Council. 

Nuclear processes, however, have certainly impacted society and have raised many issues regarding our health, energy sources, and national security. At the same time, the atomic nucleus is one of the most misunderstood areas of science. Public fears about anything nuclear are much like the fears people had about electricity a century ago. Since that time, however, society has determined that the benefits of electricity outweigh the risks. Today, we are making similar decisions... 

No significant risk to the national security of either party that might be caused by a treaty violation shall go undetected and unidentified. 

The National Security Strategy expresses this fear as follows In the Cold War, weapons of mass destruction were considered weapons of last resort whose use risked the destruction of those who used them. Today, our enemies see weapons of mass destruction as weapons of choice (ibid., p. 15). 

Those posing a risk to National Security, such as anthrax, botulism, cyanide,... 

High Risk (Personal) Property property that, because of its potential impact on public health and safety, the environment, national security interests, or proliferation concerns, must be controlled, and dispositioned in other than the routine manner. The categories of high risk property are (1) Especially designed or prepared property, (2) Export controlled property, (3) Proliferation-sensitive property, (4) Nuclear weapon components or weapon-like components, (5) Hazardous property, (6) Automatic data processing equipment, (7) Export controlled information, (8) Radioactive property, (9) Special nuclear material, and (10) Unclassified controlled nuclear information. 

Table A-2 in Appendix A displays disposition options for chemicals that are subject to abandonment or destruction (Section 4.7). Such non-t5 ical disposition methods, which require prior DOE authorization, may be appropriate for chemicals identified as High Risk property (see definition also Section 4.1.2) that have the potential to adversely impact national security interests, proliferation concerns, public health and safety, or the environment.

Involve either low-level radioactive wastes or nuclear materials with very low risks of proliferation regarding the national security interests of Russia or the United States ... 

The term critical infrastmcture is often used for technological networks, such as electric supply, transport services, water supply, oil and gas supply, banking and finance, and information and communication technology (ICT) systems (Doorman et al. 2006 Rostum et al. 2008 Rinaldi et al. 2001 Kroger 2008). Since failures in these systems can cause major damage to population, economy or national security, there is a need for risk analysis of critical infrastmctures. 

Intelligence/Information Section. The Intelligence/Information section is responsible for gathering intelligence about the incident. This includes not only national security and other classified information, but also other operational information such as risk assessments, medical intelligence (disease surveillance), weather information, toxic chemical or radiation levels, and any other important data. 

Wireless Priority Service (WPS) can improve connection capabilities for a limited number of authorized national security and emergency preparedness mobile phone users. In the event of congestion in the wireless network, an emergency call using WPS will take priority queuing for the next available channel. Obtain a last-resort backup means of communication such as wireless, WIFI, or satellite. Consider HF radio as an option, recognizing that HF usually requires a skilled operator such as a licensed HAM radio operator. Evaluate the resiliency, redundancy, and interoperability of the system while performing your inventory and risk assessment analysis. 

---