This group would serve to bring together information and research beyond the campus and beyond the System, drawing on scholars and researchers in several fields and attracting external experts. Working in partnership, these groups would address the mechanisms and ramifications of terrorist acts, conduct research on technical problems involved in bioterrorism, and provide information and knowledge that could be transferred for immediate use to defend the country and its citizens. We envision that this group would include experts from the other institutions in the System, from private institutions in Maryland, business and civic leaders from the State and region, experts from other universities and not-for-profit think tanks who could effectively contribute to projects that fashion appropriate preventions and responses to terrorist acts.

The expertise at the University falls into four categories: 1) security and policy implications; 2) technical methods for detection or intervention of terrorists; 3) studies of the basic mechanisms of toxins, pathogens, and diseases that might be used as bioweapons; and 4) rapid information dissemination and education to appropriate personnel.

1. Security and Policy Studies

Maryland has an outstanding collection of security experts who are routinely called upon for their assessment of current events. The School of Public Affairs counts among its faculty nationally-renowned scholars and researchers who have had major experience in the government or in national think-tanks and who are involved in research and activities related directly and indirectly to anti-terrorism efforts in general and bio-terrorism in particular.

The Center for International and Security Studies at Maryland (CISSM) is the principal research center at the School addressing such issues. CISSM's activities currently involve work on two related grants under the auspices of the "Advanced Methods of Cooperative Security" Project. This initiative focuses on potential international security regimes and other cooperative undertakings to address the dangers posed by advanced biological pathogens, space activities, and fissile material management. The Project is funded by a $1.2 million grant from the MacArthur Foundation and a $500,000 grant from the Sloan Foundation (specifically on the "Controlling Dangerous Pathogens" component of the broader initiative).

The following is a selected list of some of the Faculty and Research Scholars at the School who are engaged in anti-terrorism research. Admiral Stansfield Turner (Senior Research Scholar; former Director of the CIA). Admiral Turner speaks and writes on terrorism. He is the author of a book and a recent monograph on Terrorism and Democracy and will teach on the subject in the Spring.

Dr. Jacques Gansler (Roger C. Lipitz Chair in Public Policy and Private Enterprise; former Under Secretary of Defense for Technology, Acquisition and Logistics). Dr. Gansler is leading development of a proposal to the Sloan Foundation for a Biotech Industry Center. He has extensive knowledge about responses to terrorist threats.

Dr. John Steinbruner (Professor and Director of CISSM; former Director of Foreign Policy Studies at the Brookings Institution; author of a recent book on global security). Dr. Steinbruner is principally responsible for CISSM's Advanced Methods of Security Cooperation Project. He is participating in a National Academy of Sciences initiative on preventing the destructive misapplication of biotechnology and is a member of commissions that address national security and nonproliferation issues.

Dr. Thomas Schelling (Professor of Public Policy and Economics). Dr. Schelling is a preeminent scholar on strategy and conflict, arms control, nonproliferation, etc. He is a contributor to the National Academy of Sciences initiatives in response to terrorism.

Dr. Nancy Gallagher (Associate Director, Advanced Methods of Security Cooperation Project; former State Department official and expert in arms control). Dr. Gallagher co-directs CISSM's initiative on advanced methods of security cooperation (MacArthur and Sloan Foundation grants).

Elisa Harris (Research Fellow; former National Security Council director for nonproliferation and export controls, including chemical and biological weapons issues). Ms. Harris is project coordinator for CISSM's Controlling Dangerous Pathogens Project (Sloan Foundation grant).

Dr. Robert Sprinkle (Associate Professor and new Editor-in-Chief, Politics and the Life Sciences). Dr. Sprinkle holds a Ph.D. in Public Policy and an M.D degree. He is part of CISSM's advanced pathogens project.

Milton Leitenberg (CISSM Senior Fellow). Trained as a bio-chemist, Mr. Leitenberg was a member of the team that produced the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute's six volume study, The Problem of Chemical and Biological Warfare and has written extensively on related topics. He is currently engaged in a multi-year study of the biological weapons program of the former Soviet Union.

The Center for International Development and Conflict Management and its Director, Dr. Ernest Wilson, in the College of Behavioral and Social Sciences, bring parties to the table in international areas of conflict. The Center also has a major project called the State Failure Project, sponsored by a White House task force, which helps our government identify states whose internal conditions are such that they are likely to collapse, leading to serious humanitarian challenges including terrorism.

Professors Ted Gurr and Christian Davenport of the Department of Government and Politics and the Center for International Development and Conflict Management study populations which are at risk for these situations on a multi-year grant from Carnegie Corporation.

Dr. Shibley Telhami, Sadat Chair for Peace and Development, is one of the country's leading scholars on Mid-East struggles and serves as advisor to national and international leaders who are working on the Palestinian-Israeli conflicts. Dr. Doug Parker and Dr. Ivar Strand of the Department of Agricultural Economics work on the economic impacts of food scares and the impact of bioterrorism on the economy.

2. Technical Methods for Detection, Intervention, or Response to Terrorists

In every department in the A. J. Clark School of Engineering, faculty are engaged in research on adequate detection, prevention, and response to acts of terrorism. Some of the specific projects and faculty involved are listed below.

Harbor and Ship Safety. Professors Steve Buckley, Don Robbins, Greg Jackson and Dave Anand of the Department of Mechanical Engineering have been working with the Navy Maritime Intelligence on detonation calculations related to harbor safety. There is also work underway by Gilmer Blankenship and a group in the UK addressing counter-terrorism in shipping, including night vision, acoustic detectors, surveillance equipment, etc. One client is sending ships carrying UN food aid to Pakistan during the coming week.

Fire Safety and Performance of Fire-Protection Materials. Professor Jim Milke is studying the collapse of the WTC towers under contract.

Integrity of Buildings. Dr. Don Vannoy of Civil and Environmental Engineering is a consultant to the U.S. State Department on the integrity of U.S. embassies around the world against various attacks including biological agents.

Information Security. Professor Virgil Gligor of Electrical and Computer Engineering serves on a panel organized by a White House initiative on the role of information security in the current national crisis.. Other faculty members, John Baras, Mark Shayman, Ray Liu, Carol Smidts, and Michel Cukier, conduct research on information and software security

Knowledge Management Systems. Professor Greg Baecher, Department of Civil Engineering, is working under the US Navy (NAVFAC) anti-terrorism force protection (ATFP) program on knowledge management systems in support of facilities engineering.

Chemical and Bio Sensors. Dr. Chris Davis of Electrical and Computer Engineering works with the Army Research Laboratory on the tapered optical fiber hybridization sensor. Ray Adomaitis works on spatially distributed networked chemical sensors for anti-terrorism applications. Don DeVoe works on chemical microsensor development in collaboration with NIST for both air- based and water-based chemical contaminants.

Detection and Elimination of Biological Agents. Sheryl Ehrman , Luz Martinez-Miranda and Tracy Pulliam-Holoman, professors in the Department of Chemical Engineering, work on magnetic nanoparticles for manipulation and control of biological processes. Peter Bernard works on turbulent mixing for the purpose of neutralizing bio-hazards.

Landmine Detection. Dr. Tim Barbari of Chemical Engineering works on sensors that detect TNT at one part per trillion levels.

Food and Water Safety. Yang Tao, Lewis Carr, Jennifer Becker, Gary Felton and Fred Wheaton, professors in the Biological Resources Engineering Program, work on safety of food and food supply, water quality, clean up of water supplies, and bioremediation of contaminated sites.

Tracking Gases and Radioactive Material. Richard Calabrese and Sheryl Ehrman, Department of Chemical Engineering, have been working on biological aerosols. Professors Jim Wallace, Ugo Piomelli, and Ilias Balaras of Mechanical Engineering conduct research in tracking radioactive plumes and chemical spills as well as dispersion of liquids in waterways and gases into the atmosphere.

Biological Warfare. Peter Kofinas, Materials and Nuclear Engineering, works on molecularly imprinted polymeric materials which only bind specific sugars (applicable to biological warfare, since a lot of these bacteria work and multiply through enzymatic reactions involving sugars), and polymers that bind phosphates and phosphonates, mimicking agents used in chemical warfare gases. There is also work underway by Bill Bentley, Chemical Engineering and CAB, on the production of vaccines, vaccine mimics, and reagents for detection of biological compounds.

The research of faculty in the Department of Computer Science and the Institute for Research in Electronics and Applied Physics in the College of Computer, Mathematical, and Physical Sciences is directly relevant to anti-terrorism. In such areas as visual computer identification, forming and protecting wireless networks, and processing map databases, University of Maryland research groups are among the top two or three in the entire country.

Automatic Human Recognition. Dr. Larry Davis of Computer Science and Dr. Rama Chellappa of Electric and Computer Engineering are funded by the Department of Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) on the recognition of humans at a distance and close ranges using video processing technology.

Software Systems for Large-scale Networks In the Department of Computer Science, Drs. V. Subramanian and Jim Hendler are working on the development of sofware systems that can operate on hundreds of thousands of systems simultaneously, which would enable the establishment of sensor networks that detect movements, a project underway with researchers from UCLA.

Securing Information Systems The Department of Computer Science is the country's leading center for research on security in wireless networks. The work of Professors William Arbaugh, Samrat Bhattacharjee and Ashok Agrawala focuses on how to secure networks and information and how to intercept information from other networks.

Processing Map Data Bases Work led by Dr. Haman Samet of Computer Science is leading research on methods for processing map data bases. This research will have significant importance in military applications, for example, in the movement of troops.

3. Studies of the basic mechanisms of toxins, pathogens, and diseases that might be used as bioweapons.

The contributions of several researchers in the College of Life Sciences and in the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources relate to the likely toxins, pathogens, or diseases that could be turned into weapons, including threats from radioactivity.

Several of Maryland's outstanding researchers are engaged in basic research that provides insight into the mechanisms and effects of toxins and pathogens. The following studies are particularly relevant to bioterrorist threats.

Dr. Jeff DeStafano--retroviruses; AIDS; Professor Catherine Fenselau--MALDI mass spectrometry for rapid characterization of airborne microorganisms (DARPA funding).

Dr. Bruce Jarvis--fungus- and plant-derived antibiotics; analysis of mycotoxins.

Dr. Sam Joseph--bacterial toxins; mechanisms of virulence.

Dr. David Mosser--Immunology of macrophages and dendritic cells. Dr. Dan Stein--Virulence mechanisms of pathogenic bacteria.

Dr. Sarah Tishkoff--The genetic basis of human disease. Professor Marco Columbini--membrane molecular transport systems and channels.

In Plant Biology, research on fundamental problems that might have relevance to anti-terrorism issues includes studies of international crop protection protecols (Dr. Dale Bottrell) and response of plants to external signalling molecules (Dr. Caren Chang).

Entomology research studies pesticide effects on human health (Dr. Amy Brown); plant virus interactions; virion assembly; long distance migration of viruses (Dr. Jim Culver); biology of malaria parasite (Dr. Adam Richman) and insect pathogens (Dr. Ray St. Leger).

Specialists in the neuroscience program focus on effects of pathogens and toxins on the nervous system and include research in motor physiology and control (Dr. Avis Cohen); functional brain imaging (Dr. David Poepel); molecular neurobiology (Dr. Elizabeth Quinlan); mechano- activated ion channels in the nervous system (Dr. Sergei Sukharev).

Researchers are also studying tracers of atmospheric particles and development of semicontinuous monitors for airborne particles (Dr. John Ondov) and short-lived radioactive isotopes (Dr. William Walters).

4. Rapid information dissemination and education to appropriate personnel.

Finally, through the work of individual researchers and through the connections the university has with agencies throughout the state, the University can provide essential information that must be shared with a wide range of audiences to guarantee an appropriate and immediate response to acts of terrorism.

Dr. Catherine E. Woteki, Senior Research Scientist in the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources and former head of emergency planning for the USDA, has been asked to chair a working group for the College to prepare for the University's role in roviding information to farmers and the general public in emergency situations. An example of one possible approach is to author review articles so veterinary practitioners have ready access to information on signs, symptoms, and treatment of animal diseases known to have been weaponized.

Dr. Thomas Carr who heads our High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Initiative (HIDTA) also heads the Public Safety Training and Technical Assistance Unit. It has been asked to assemble teams of instructors to offer training courses to the law enforcement community in response to terrorists threats. HIDTA is also developing intelligence and conducting records checks for law enforcement agencies related to drug money laundering operations which are funding terrorists groups.

Sociology Professors David Segal and Mady Segal, who head the University's Center on Military Sociology (the only such government-funded center), work with the armed services on how to best protect the families of military personnel - particularly those deployed in the current campaign from acts of terrorism. They have also been working with the military on how to prepare families for threats that do not involve conventional military forces.