The Los Angeles Times article “Pondering the Costs of Terror Protection” centers upon a discussion of the federally-funded University of Southern California “think tank,” the Center for Risk and Economic Analysis of Terrorism Events (CREATE), which is the first university center of excellence funded by the US Department of Homeland Security. The Center was given $12 million over the last three years to evaluate the most likely terrorism threats and determine the most efficient way to deter and prepare for them. CREATE’s website states their mission is to “improve our Nation’s security through the development of advanced models and tools for the evaluation of the risks, costs and consequences of terrorism and to guide economically viable investments in homeland security.” The CREATE team of experts, including partnerships with New York University and the University of Wisconsin at Madison, focus on risk and economic analyses of the US. The Center aims to become the world’s leading “academic” program for modeling the risks and vulnerabilities of terrorism. The Times points out that, “CREATE is helping state government rank the most important and defensible big targets in California, such as sports arenas and dams, in anticipation of another batch of federal anti-terrorism grants known as Buffer Zone Protection. Last year, the state received about $13 million from that program” (source). Chris Bertelli, a spokesman for the California Office of Homeland Security, said, “CREATE will have a very significant role in awarding those funds.” Assisting the California state government with grant language and data to support the quest for federal homeland security funds may be a major reason for CREATE’s existence.
Federal examiners recently visited CREATE to determine whether federal funds should be renewed for three more years. The loss of federal funds would affect four administrative staff members, about 34 professors, and 70 researchers and graduate students on fellowships and stipends. An informal inquiry of California public safety officials charged with the protection of critical infrastructure in their jurisdictions indicated that CREATE is a worthwhile academic institution but that it has provided little analysis of current trends in terrorism events. However, Jack Riley, from the Rand Corporation’s Homeland Security Division, indicated that CREATE’s influence goes beyond basic research: “As the first such center, it is helping build up terrorism studies much as colleges developed Soviet studies in the Cold War.”
The federal funding of a careful academic examination of terrorism events is great. However, more jurisdictions with ever increasing desires are chasing the limited Homeland Security funds. For CREATE to be of use and warrant federal funding, the Center needs to produce and distribute timely, actionable intelligence to the first responders who are charged with the protection of citizens. To “ponder terror protection” without providing actionable intelligence to the public safety community is akin to a self-licking ice cream cone.
