This book explores types of disruptions in defence and security, ways to assess disruptions triggered by technological advancements or the lack of legal frameworks; the consequent delays or disruptions to making decisions, creative idea generation and finally the innovative pathways to counter such disruptions. What do disruption, ideation and innovation have in common? How do disruptions, ideas and innovation coexist within defence and security? They all influence and impact decision-making. Disruptions drive decision-making. Ideation raises solutions to resolve the disruptions and innovation brings ideas into life. While disruptions may be common place in the business world, where disruptive technologies displace pre-existing ones; they are less prevalent in defence, even less so within the realm of security. For the last 10 years, there has been talk of disruptive technologies and even adoption of terms such as emerging and disruptive technologies by the largest military alliance—NATO, yet the means to assess these remain elusive. It offers researchers opportunities to assess different types of disruptions, ideate and innovate on scientific grounds to counter disruptions, thereby bolstering the defence and security community’s ability to make decisions better.

Proceedings of the 14th International Conference on Applied Human Factors and Ergonomics (AHFE 2023), July 20–24, 2023, San Francisco, USA

This prescient Research Handbook analyses the ethical development of Artificial Intelligence systems through the prism of meaningful human control. It encapsulates a multitude of disciplinary lenses including technical, philosophical and legal, making a crucial contribution to the ongoing discourse about control and responsibility in the field of AI.

Production Management and Process Control Proceedings of the 13th International Conference on Applied Human Factors and Ergonomics (AHFE 2022), July 24–28, 2022, New York, USA

This book delivers insights into how social science and technology might aid new advancements in managing the complexity inherent within national and international security landscape. The digital policing landscape is dynamic and intricate, emanating from crimes that are both persistent and transnational. Globalization, human and drug trafficking, cybercrime, terrorism, and other forms of transnational crime can have a significant impact on societies around the world. This necessitates a reassessment of what crime, national security, and policing mean. Recent global events such as human and drug trafficking, the COVID-19 pandemic, violent protests, cyber threats, and terrorist activities underline vulnerabilities residing in our current security and digital policing posture. As an interdisciplinary collection of studies, this book encapsulates concepts, theories, and technology applications, offering a comprehensive analysis of current and emerging trends and threats within the context of national and international security. Undertaking an evidence-based approach, this book offers an extraordinarily perceptive and detailed account of issues and solutions related to the complex national and international security landscape. To this end, the book: presents insights into emerging and potential technological and methodological solutions as well as advancements in relation to integrated computational and analytical solutions that could be deployed for the purposes of national and international security; provides a comprehensive analysis of technical, ethical, legal, privacy, and civil liberty challenges stemming from the aforementioned advancements; and, accordingly, offers detailed recommendations supporting the design and implementation of best practices including technical, ethical, and legal approaches for national and international security uses. The research contained in the book fits well into the larger body of work on various aspects of AI, cybersecurity, national security, digital forensics, cyberterrorism, ethics, human rights, cybercrime, and law. It provides a valuable reference for LEAs and security organizations, policymakers, cybersecurity experts, digital forensic practitioners, researchers, academicians, graduates and advanced undergraduates, and other stakeholders with an interest in national and global security.

In Atomic Blackmail? Simon Bennett examines the very real possibility of the ‘weaponisation’ of nuclear facilities during the Russia-Ukraine War. The War is being fought in proximity to nuclear facilities and working nuclear power stations, including the six-reactor Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (NPP), Europe’s largest, and the decommissioned four-reactor Chernobyl NPP that, in 1986, suffered a catastrophic failure that released radioactive contamination across much of Europe. In 1985, foreign affairs and nuclear expert Bennett Ramberg published Nuclear Power Plants: An Unrecognised Military Peril. In his visionary discourse, Ramberg posited that in future wars, regional or global, nuclear facilities and powerplants might be weaponised to gain political traction over an opponent and neutralise opposing forces’ capacity for battlefield manoeuvre. While, at the time of writing Atomic Blackmail?, none of Ukraine’s fifteen reactors had been damaged in an exchange of fire, the possibility remains that this could happen during Ukraine’s 2023, and subsequent, offensives to expel Russian forces from sovereign Ukrainian territory. Though Ramberg’s nightmare vision of destroyed NPPs rendering a country uninhabitable has not, yet, been realised in the Russia-Ukraine War, the longer and more intense the conflict, the greater the likelihood that one or more of Ukraine’s NPPs will be damaged or, via a credible sabotage threat, used to leverage tactical or strategic advantage. Atomic blackmail finally exampled.

This handbook offers insights into how science (physical, natural and social) and technology can support new developments to manage the complexity resident within the threat and risk landscape. The security landscape can be described as dynamic and complex stemming from the emerging threats and risks that are both persistent and transborder. Globalization, climate change, terrorism, transnational crime can have significant societal impact and forces one to re-evaluate what ‘national security’ means. Recent global events such as mass migration, terrorist acts, pandemics and cyber threats highlight the inherent vulnerabilities in our current security posture. As an interdisciplinary body of work, the Handbook of Security Science captures concepts, theories and security science applications, thereby providing a survey of current and emerging trends in security. Through an evidence-based approach, the collection of chapters in the book delivers insightful and comprehensive articulation of the problem and solution space associated with the complex security landscape. In so doing the Handbook of Security Science introduces scientific tools and methodologies to inform security management, risk and resilience decision support systems; insights supporting design of security solutions; approaches to threat, risk and vulnerability analysis; articulation of advanced cyber security solutions; and current developments with respect to integrated computational and analytical solutions that increase our understanding of security physical, social, economic, and technological interrelationships and problem space.

This book provides international perspective for those studying or working in the security domain, from enforcement to policy. It focuses on non-traditional threats in a landscape that has been described as transnational in nature and incorporates natural disasters, gang violence, extremism and terrorism, amongst other issues. Chapters provide innovative thinking on themes including cyber security, maritime security, transnational crime, human security, globalization and economic security. Relevant theoretical frameworks are presented and readers are expertly guided through complex threats, from matters pertaining to health security which pose threats not only to humans but also have significant national security implications, to issues regarding critical infrastructure vulnerability and the complexity of understanding terrorist operations. Authors reveal how emerging uncertainties regarding global critical infrastructure and supply chain security, food security, and health security are linked to the notion of human security. Security professionals, policy makers and academics will all gain from the insights, strategies and perspectives in this book. It builds understanding of the deepening and broadening domain of security studies and provides a valuable reference text for courses on security studies and international relations.