Publications

FOILFEST :community enabled security

Moore, Judy H.; Cummings, John C.; Drayer, Darryl D.; Johnson, Curtis M.; Whitley, John B.

The Advanced Concepts Group of Sandia National Laboratories hosted a workshop, ''FOILFest: Community Enabled Security'', on July 18-21, 2005, in Albuquerque, NM. This was a far-reaching look into the future of physical protection consisting of a series of structured brainstorming sessions focused on preventing and foiling attacks on public places and soft targets such as airports, shopping malls, hotels, and public events. These facilities are difficult to protect using traditional security devices since they could easily be pushed out of business through the addition of arduous and expensive security measures. The idea behind this Fest was to explore how the public, which is vital to the function of these institutions, can be leveraged as part of a physical protection system. The workshop considered procedures, space design, and approaches for building community through technology. The workshop explored ways to make the ''good guys'' in public places feel safe and be vigilant while making potential perpetrators of harm feel exposed and convinced that they will not succeed. Participants in the Fest included operators of public places, social scientists, technology experts, representatives of government agencies including DHS and the intelligence community, writers and media experts. Many innovative ideas were explored during the fest with most of the time spent on airports, including consideration of the local airport, the Albuquerque Sunport. Some provocative ideas included: (1) sniffers installed in passage areas like revolving door, escalators, (2) a ''jumbotron'' showing current camera shots in the public space, (3) transparent portal screeners allowing viewing of the screening, (4) a layered open/funnel/open/funnel design where open spaces are used to encourage a sense of ''communitas'' and take advantage of citizen ''sensing'' and funnels are technological tunnels of sensors (the tunnels of truth), (5) curved benches with blast proof walls or backs, (6) making it easy for the public to report, even if not sure/''non-event'' (e.g. ''I'm uncomfortable'') and processing those reports in aggregate not individually, (7) transforming the resident working population into a part-time undercover security/sensor force through more innovative training and (8) adding ambassadors/security that engage in unexpected conversation with the public. The group recommended that we take actions to pursue the following ideas next: (a) A concept for a mobile sensor transport (JMP); (b) Conduct a follow-on workshop; (c) Conduct social experiments/activities to see how people would react to the concepts related to community and security; (d) Explore further aesthetically pleasing, blast-resistance seating areas; and (e) The Art of Freedom (an educational, multi-media campaign).