Wiesner lecturer to discuss role of science and technology in combating terrorism

America's vulnerability to catastrophic terrorisma product of the economy's high efficiencycan be reduced by the imaginative use of science and technology, says a Harvard University professor who will speak at U-M.

Lewis M. Branscomb will discuss the serious national security challenge encompassed by international terrorism and how science and technology can be brought to bear on it at 4 p.m. Jan. 14 in the Hussey Room of Michigan League. His talk is the second lecture in the Jerome B. Wiesner Science, Technology and Policy Lecture Series, which is sponsored by the Office of the Provost and the Office of the Vice President for Research.

Branscomb, the Aetna Professor of Public Policy and Corporate Management (emeritus) at Harvard University, recently co-chaired the National Academy of Sciences study, "Making the Nation Safer: The Role of Science and Technology in Countering Terrorism."

Branscomb, whose visit is co-sponsored by the Ford School of Public Policy, will review public policy alternatives for the United States and discuss ways that science and technology can address the direct threats from terrorism, as well as the threats to civil liberties and economic prosperity that may stem from the methods we use to thwart terrorism.

"The private sector is still waiting for guidance on who is responsible for 'hardening' our critical infrastructure, and the cities understand they are the battlefield but have no funds with which to prepare for the worst," he says. "Thus, the nation is ill-prepared for the attacks that are almost certain to come."

So what can be done? Branscomb offers several suggestions:

• Design sensor networks for rapid inspection of imported goods and create detectors for pathogens that might be introduced into packaged foods;

• Restructure office building ventilation intakes with superior air filters equipped with chemical analytic sensors;

• Install electronic monitors to identify the location and contents of rail cars containing toxic chemicals;

• Use explosive materials detection devices that "smell" bombs as well as the best-trained dogs.

Using such technologies, however, requires organization, training and information management involving city, state, federal and private institutions, which will be difficult, expensive and time consuming, he says.

Branscomb is emeritus director of Harvard's Science Technology and Public Policy Program. He served on the President's Science Advisory Committee under President Lyndon Johnson and the National Productivity Advisory Committee under President Ronald Reagan.

The lecture is open to the public. For additional information, contact Judy Crecelius at (734) 647-9085 or judithtc@umich.edu.

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