The Spratly Islands have represented a potential political and military flashpoint in the South China Sea for years, involving as they do various claims by China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Taiwan. This edited volume examines the issues involved in light of confidence- building measures that new high-resolution satellite imagery can offer to this, and other, regions.

Baker, Wiencek, and their contributors assess the potential role for cooperative monitoring in mitigating the risk of conflict arising from multinational disputes over the Spratly Islands. They analyze how this new generation of civilian and commercial observation satellites can be used to reduce the changes of armed conflict breaking out by providing transparency that will detect and identify politically significant activities occurring at disputed islands and reefs among the Spratlys. Of particular interest to policy makers, scholars, and other researchers involved with military issues in Asia and international security concerns.

The end of the Cold War has created a new group of technology providers in the international marketplace less inclined to exhibit self-restraint in exporting sensitive dual-use technologies that can contribute to the global proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and long-range missile systems. John C. Baker focuses on the technology export challenges posed by the nuclear and aeropsace industries inherited by Russia and Ukraine, which are driven by economic difficulties to export sensitive dual-use technologies as an attractive source of gaining hard currency. He proposes an ambitious non-proliferation strategy that takes advantage of new opportunities for using international economic and political incentives to discourage irresponsible export behaviour by these former Soviet defence enterprises while seeking long-term changes in the non-proliferation attitudes of enterprise managers and government leaders.

This report addresses the protection of emergency responders against injury, illness, and death on just such rare occasions, when emergencies become disasters. This report focuses on preparedness (especially planning and training) and management as means of controlling and reducing the hazards emergency responders face. It provides a set of recommendations on how disaster site safety and health management might be improved.

Understanding how terrorist groups learn may aid in developing strategies to combat terrorist activities Better ways are needed to understand how terrorist groups become more effective and dangerous. Learning is the link between what a group wants to do and its ability to actually do it; therefore, a better understanding of group learning might contribute to the design of better measures for combating terrorism. This study analyzes current understanding of group learning and the factors that influence it and outlines a framework that should be useful in present analytical efforts and for identifying areas requiring further study.

Assesses the homeland security implications of publicly available geospatial data and information. Following the attacks of September 11, 2001, many agencies within the federal government began restricting some of their publicly available geospatial data and information from such sources as the World Wide Web. As time passes, however, decisionmakers have begun to ask whether and how such information specifically helps potential attackers, including terrorists, to select U.S. homeland sites and prepare for better attacks. The research detailed in this book aims to assist decisionmakers tasked with the responsibility of choosing which geospatial information to make available and which to restrict.

Case studies of the organizational learning activities of five major terrorist groups and a methodology for ascertaining what and why they learned Better ways are needed to understand how terrorist groups increase their effectiveness and become more dangerous. Learning is the link between what a group wants to do and its ability to actually do it; therefore, a better understanding of group learning might contribute to the design of better measures for combating terrorism. This study analyzes current understanding of group learning and the factors that influence it. It presents detailed case studies of learning in five terrorist organizations and develops a methodology for ascertaining what and why groups have learned, providing insights into their learning processes.