The objective of the RNSA's Research Group for COUNTER TERRORISM (CT) is to develop tools that aid Australia's capacity to fight terrorism.

This research combines tools developed in risk assessment, and appreciation method, seeking to identify facility loss and critical infrastructure loss. We also look at mitigation options. This is closely aligned with the FEMA 426 Standard

Defining Counter Terrorism (CT)

The Model for the RNSA CT Collaborative Research Group seeks to unite the different academic and professional steams of anti- or counter-terrorism, and translate these into either one of the three CT – Strategies: Intelligence-based; Hardening/Denial-based; and Resilience-Based.

Developing Industry CT/CIP Security Capabilities

The RNSA CT Collaborative Research Group is facilitating an Industry Discussion Group to look at how the Security Industry in Australia can develop Australia’s CT capacity and translate this into better security practices. If you want to know more please contact Steve Barlow [SBarlow@skm.com.au], SKM Australia.

What the RNSA seeks to achieve?

The RNSA’s key CIP (Critical Infrastructure Protection) outcome for collaborative CT research, developed through conferences, workshops and focus groups, is to develop and enable collaborative research that brings together the four key CT research areas. The RNSA is intended to provide a vehicle for achieving a national agenda in Australian CT research. To that end, a number of significant gains have been made over 2005. In particular, assisting with the development at Macquarie University of the Centre for Policing, Intelligence and Counterterrorism, and playing a key role in the development of ECU's Centre for Counterterrorism, Security and Intelligence, which will be offering Australia’s first full degree Bachelor of Counterterrorism, Security and Intelligence, in 2006.

The RNSA has also established collaborative CT research links with Imperial College, London, and the Resilience Centre, Royal Military College of Science, Cranfield, UK; and the Italian Agency for New Technology, Energy and the Environment. Over 2005, Dr Flaherty, has been organizing a number of special CT collaborative research workshops that have enabled researchers and end-users to identify gaps in CT research within Australia.

Since the start of 2004 the RNSA CT Research group has held a number of CT Research and Focus groups including the PhD Workshop on CT CIP and related National Security Areas (Canberra, June 15th, 2005).

The RNSA’s recent Science, Engineering and Technology (SET) Summit (Canberra, 14 July 2005) included a number of CT-SET research papers, including:

• Eleven principles of creativity and terrorism. D.H. Cropley (Systems Engineering and Evaluation Centre, University of South Australia).
  
• Towards intelligent networked video surveillance for the detection of suspicious behaviors. M.J. Brooks; A.R. Dick; A. van den Hengel (School of Computer Science, University of Adelaide).
  
• Performance of ultra-high strength concrete panels subjected to blast loading. T. Ngo; P. Mendis; N. Lam, (Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, The University of Melbourne); B. Cavill (VSL Pty Ltd).
  
• Design and development of a portable, lightweight and rapidly deployable vehicle barrier. N. Buckley; Z. Macher (AVS-elli).
  
• Fragmentation and weaponisation of buildings: A review. A. Gupta; R Lumantarna; T. Ngo; P. Mendis; C. Flaherty (Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, The University of Melbourne).

The RNSA CT Research Group's has a number of core partners:

• The APTES at the University of Melbourne.
• The Resilience Centre, The Royal Military College of Science, Cranfield University. Ms. Shima Keene is one of the Key Resilience Centre personnel with RMCS, Shrivenham, and can be contacted for information on the UK link to RNSA collaborative CT research.
• The Centre for Policing, Intelligence and Counter Terrorism (PICT) is an independent academic unit of Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia.
• Centre for Counterterrorism, Security and Intelligence, contact Bill Hutchinson (ECU).

• Clive Williams, Masters course elective on "Terrorism and Counterterrorism" at the ANU

The current areas of RNSA CT Related Research are:

• Fragmentation and Weaponisation of Buildings.
• 3D GIS Modeling (Modeling of Blast Events in Urban Environments).
• Development of Vulnerability analysis tools for building terrorism rating.
• Evidence v/s intelligence assessment: what are the relationship issues.
• The value of disruption tactics.
• Evacuation planning and modelling crowd behaviour.
• Identification of clustered targets, and mitigation.
   

For more information on this research visit the APTES website.