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Security and Defense Program
The Security and Defense program at the Institute of the North conducts research and educates policymakers on strategic issues relating to the defense of the United States that particularly concern decision makers in Alaska and at the state and local level throughout the nation.
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Since its creation, the Security and Defense program has assisted Alaska’s legislature in calling for a missile defense which provided protection to all 50 states. Further, the Institute has joined with think tanks and policy analysts from many other states to form an independent working group which closely follows security threats to the United States and seeks to illuminate the value of land, sea, air and space-based missile defense. Recently the program has worked to educate state leaders on issues ranging from the threat of electromagnetic pulse to critical infrastructure because state governments will be first responders in any scenario that disables telecommunications, power, transportation and medical services in their region. The program’s director, Mead Treadwell, has also fostered continued dialogue with leaders in Japan on joint U.S.-Japan cooperation of missile defense. |
The Vanguard
The Institute of the North’s Security and Defense Program publishes the Vanguard, a newsletter to provide information on national security to state and local policymakers. In a series of articles that to help local and state-level policymakers weigh in on homeland security issues, these weekly e-newsletters address such issues as missile defense and the space-based option, energy security, state portfolio reviews and divestment, electromagnetic pulse attack and port and coastline security, in addition to highlighting the ways in which local leaders are contributing to security at their level.
There are many venues toward achieving a better prepared civil and military response force. The Vanguard addresses the current challenges facing America’s homeland security structure while highlighting the innovation of other states in confronting those challenges and suggesting practical ways for the state and local leader to implement security strategies of their own.
For more information, please contact the Security and Defense Program.
Click to download the latest Vanguard newsletter.
VANGUARD ARCHIVES
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Power Games in the Arctic Ocean
This paper was originally published in the second issue Arctic Ocean Quarterly Bulletin, an Ocean Policy Research Foundation quarterly publication. Kazumine Akimoto, Retired Rear Admiral, JMSDF and MarSecNet member, is a friend of the Institute of the North's Security and Defense Program and has participated in past programs.
Power Games in the Arctic Ocean (English summary, PDF format)
by RADM (Retired) Kazumine Akimoto
Senior Research Fellow, Ocean Policy Research Foundation
Independent Working Group 2009 Report:
Missile Defense, the Space Relationship, & the Twenty-First Century
(PDF format, 5.5 MB)
July 10, 2008: EMP testimony before the House Armed Services Committee
Dr. William R. Graham, who served as President Ronald Reagan’s top science advisor and currently chairs the Commission to Assess the Threat to the United States from Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) Attack, reported to Congress on this threat at a hearing of the House Armed Services Committee on Thursday, July 10.
Link to Dr. Graham's testimony
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Project Report: Missile Defense and the Role of the States
The Institute of the North, in conjunction with The Claremont Institute, released results of a survey on missile defense and the role of the states. The survey was sent to Adjutants General (TAG) of all 50 states and the project report reflects responses of the 26 participating. Key findings indicate that no TAGs are fully prepared to deal with an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) attack, they highlight overwhelming agreement that the United States needs an effective missile defense system, findings state that TAGs are unsatisfied that federal agencies trump the National Guard in developing a response effort to major terrorist attack, and that respondents strongly supported threat briefings to state emergency response agencies. The report promotes state contingency planning and increased education of state military and policy officials on missile, WMD and EMP threats.
Report: Missile Defense and the Role of the States
Press Release: Survey Finds Nation Vulnerable to EMP Attack: States Not Preparing
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Paul Harvey News broadcasts item on EMP
Paul Harvey News broadcast a news item stemming from a study conducted by the Institute of the North/Claremont Institute concerning the threat of electromagnetic pulse (EMP) attack. The study included a survey of Adjutants General on missile defense and the role of the states in which our nation's National Guard leaders unanimously responded that they feel unprepared to respond to an EMP attack.
Hear the broadcast segment: Paul Harvey News, 10 May 2007
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Alaska to revise emergency response plan to include preparation
for EMP attack
Alaska will include electromagnetic pulse (EMP) attack in the range of risks, threats and hazards confronting the state. The next revision of its emergency response plan will outline how to prepare for and recover from an EMP attack that could simultaneously shut down all of Alaska's electric power and telecommunications grids, according to Alaska's Homeland Security Director, John Madden.
May 29, 2007: Alaska to revise emergency response plan to include preparation for EMP attack (PDF file)
May 22, 2007: Presentation by Senior Fellow Mead Treadwell to the Alaska State Emergency Response Commission, Anchorage, Alaska
The EMP Commission Report and Homeland Security
(PowerPoint in PDF format)
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Independent Working Group Report: Missile Defense, the Space Relationship, and the Twenty-first Century
The Institute of the North’s Security and Defense Program is a participant in an Independent Working Group of experts on missile defense.
This report provides an assessment of missile defense requirements beyond the limited ground-based system currently being deployed, together with opportunities to benefit from existing and new technological opportunities. More specifically, it is intended to provide a greater understanding of proven technology options that should form the basis for deployment of an innovative missile defense that draws upon the legacy of technologies developed during the Strategic Defense Initiative program of the Reagan administration and the first Bush administration.
Report of the Independent Working Group
Summary presentation of IWG Report (PDF file)
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