Icosystem article on networked terrorism appears in Homeland Security Affairs
Icosystem Corporation Press Release
Cambridge, MA - 01 February 2007

W. David Stephenson and Eric Bonabeau have co-authored an article, titled "Expecting the Unexpected: The Need for a Networked Terrorism and Disaster Response Strategy" which appeared in the publication Homeland Security Affairs III, no. 1 (February 2007).

Abstract

Since Hurricane Katrina, attention has focused on improving management of response to natural disasters and terrorist attacks. However, what if the current management approach is so fundamentally mismatched to the challenge at hand that, even when improved, it is still unequal to the task? This essay argues that terrorist attacks or natural disasters are likely to be so unpredictable that they frequently require improvised responses (as conventional hierarchical structures are ill-suited to such situations) and outlines a flexible and highly adaptive networked structure. Networked personal communication devices and applications that the general public can and will use in a disaster offer the possibility of a new networked strategy that can foster the “swarm intelligence” needed in a disaster, in which a community, even an ad hoc one, is capable of a higher level of collective behavior than could be predicted from the capabilities of individual members.

Read is the full article on the HSAJ web site.

About Icosystem Corporation

Icosystem Corporation, a strategy consulting firm in Cambridge, Massachusetts, has emerged as a leader in the development of business applications for network theory and complexity science. Using the tools of complexity science and advanced computational techniques, Icosystem provides a highly flexible and cost-effective technology platform for exploring business problems and discovering or designing strategies that have significant impact. Icosystem's approach uses realistic models of complex business environments and evolutionary and distributed computational techniques to validate new business ventures or improve the performance of existing enterprises.