JournalTOCs

European Journal for Security Research
Number of Followers: 2

Hybrid journal (It can contain Open Access articles)
ISSN (Print) 2365-0931 - ISSN (Online) 2365-1695
Published by Springer-Verlag

[2643 journals]

Russia’s Critical Infrastructure Policy: What do we Know About
it'
- Abstract: Abstract The article is an analytical state-of-the-art review of the Russian Federation’s critical infrastructure policy, starting from the 1990s but zooming in on the current situation. The article discusses what does critical infrastructure mean in the Russian context. It explores the country’s threat scenarios in this field, and asks what part is played by cyber security threats in this context. Further, the article elaborates the issue whether Russia’s policy is focused on critical infrastructure protection, or has the country adopted the more recent concept of resilience that puts emphasis on adaptive measures and recovery. Finally, it is considered who are the actors in Russian critical infrastructure policy and, in particular, how does Russia deal with the fact that the respective infrastructure operators even in Russia usually are not directly state-owned entities, but private companies.
  PubDate: 2020-10-29
Regression, Progression and Renewal: The Continuous Redevelopment of
Expertise in Police Use of Force Coaching
- Abstract: Abstract Professionalism in law enforcement requires the identification and development of expertise of police use of force (PUOF) coaches. Effective PUOF training includes the transfer from the training into the real-world environment of policing. This difference between working in the field and working as a PUOF coach has not been thoroughly investigated. However, research in other professional domains has shown that practical competence in the subject matter itself does not make a coach effective or successful. With this article, we conceptualize expert practice in PUOF instruction on the basis of a conflict management training setting in the security domain. First, by discussing a model of “territories of expertise”, we point out the dynamic and contextual character of expertise within the PUOF domain. Second, by conceptualizing expertise as a process and effect of communication, we provide a framework that describes and examines the interdependency between performance-based and reputation-based expertise. These considerations present two practical challenges, which we recommend professional law enforcement institutions to engage. We close by providing practical orientations and pointers for addressing these issues.
  PubDate: 2020-10-16
Risk and Resilience Analysis of Public Civil Buildings Against Shelling
with Explosive Sources in Urban Contexts
- Abstract: Abstract Due to their high availability and low cost level, passive protection measures are a key factor for reducing the vulnerability of persons within and close to assets against potentially impacting mortar, rocket and artillery threats. Particularly, mortar shelling has even most recently been reported. At risk are permanent and nonpermanent assets of civil, (non)governmental or peacekeeping organizations with corresponding effects, e.g., on civil society, civil services or successful nation building, respectively. Of interest are the identification of vulnerable areas and the assessment of the effectiveness of protective structures while taking also other counter measures into account. To this end, a seven-step quantitative risk and resilience analysis and management methodology is described and applied. It consists of the analysis of scenarios, frequencies, hazards, damage effects and risks and yields individual and collective risks for multi-threat scenarios. Local individual or collective risks can be minimized below criteria, thus reducing vulnerability and increasing resilience in an efficient way, e.g., by using geometrical changes, by structural roof, wall and window retrofits, by mitigating barriers and/or organizational measures. The approach is demonstrated along with three detailed example cases.
  PubDate: 2020-10-01
A Review of Methods for Evaluating Security Awareness Initiatives
- Abstract: Abstract The ‘human factor’ is commonly considered to be the weakest link in an organization’s security chain, and a significant percentage of companies have implemented security awareness (SA) programs to address this vulnerability. However, an element whose usefulness is still underestimated is the importance to perform measurements of the different SA programs’ effectiveness in order to assess their adequateness for achieving the intended goals. This gap has serious consequences as most of the security awareness campaigns have resulted to be largely unsuccessful. Awareness measurement tools might be determinant in providing feedback on the outcome of a program as well as in helping with the strategic planning for endorsing security. This article will introduce and critically compare a set of measurement methods. It will then discuss their attributes and suggested applications.
  PubDate: 2020-10-01
Editorial
- PubDate: 2020-09-14
Intraorganisational Knowledge Transfer in Security-Critical Environments:
A Conceptual Framework for High Reliability Organisations
- Abstract: Abstract The purpose of this paper is to discuss the central role of knowledge transfer for high reliability organisations (HROs) and to present new empirically based findings in this context. An explorative approach is used to investigate how HROs deal with the transfer of operational knowledge. Twenty-eight expert interviews with members of five different HROs were conducted and analysed by means of a qualitative data analysis. The conceptual framework presents intraorganisational knowledge transfer in a cyclical way, defining operational knowledge as particularly relevant for HROs. Four influencing factors are highlighted in this context. Informal forms of knowledge transfer turn out to be particularly relevant for HROs, despite their hierarchical structures. Although previous contributions investigate the management of knowledge and its transfer in a broad sense, this paper specifically addresses HROs as a research subject, analysing the transfer of operationally relevant knowledge in several HROs on an empirically substantiated basis.
  PubDate: 2020-08-28
The Christmas Market Attack in Berlin and Attitudes Toward Refugees: A
Natural Experiment with Data from the European Social Survey
- Abstract: Abstract Using a quasi-experimental research design, this study examines changes in attitudes toward refugees after the terrorist attack on the Berlin Christmas market of December 19, 2016. In our analysis, we make use of random variation in the field period of the European Social Survey (ESS) to fashion a natural experimental design. The survey’s field period took place in Germany from August 23, 2016, to March 26, 2017. Hence, the Christmas market attack took place approximately halfway through the ESS’s field phase, thus making it possible to study the causal effect on changing attitudes toward minorities before and after the attack. We argue that the terrorist attack creates a spillover effect and negatively shapes public opinion of uninvolved ethnic minorities. Our data analysis suggests that immediately after the event, only people with a right-wing political attitude appear to be affected by the proposed spillover effect. However, we find that the worsening of attitudes toward refugees can also be observed in the general population as time progresses. We do not find variation according to educational levels.
  PubDate: 2020-05-12
Cowardice and Military Security: Some Heuristic Reflections
- Abstract: Abstract While cowardice is sanctioned by military law in most countries, the impact of cowardice on modern warfare and security politics is low. This might be the reason why cowardice—as notion, phenomenon, and topic—has widely been neglected in security studies. However, for quite some time, we have witnessed a revival of the word as an accusation and pejorative term that is frequently applied by Western government representatives to describe the enemy in armed conflicts. The expression of a “cowardly attack” has become quite common in political communication after attacks against Western forces in violent confrontations. Thereby, cowardice is transformed from a possible weakness of the own forces to a particular strength of the enemy. This article aims at presenting some reflections on the notion, meaning, and functional role of cowardice in situations of violent international conflict, as well as on the use of the term as a speech act in recent governmental security communication. A particular focus will be put on the normative implications of the revival of the governmental cowardice-rhetoric.
  PubDate: 2020-05-02
Data, Data Banks and Security
- Abstract: Abstract The article discusses different examples of data-driven policing, its legal provisions and effects on a society’s understanding of public security. It distinguishes between (a) the collection of classical data such as fingerprints or DNA, which serve to identify suspects and to collect evidence, (b) the processes and the impetus of big data, and (c) the networking of files from different security authorities. Discussing systematic forecasting tools, the article works out a significant difference between the prediction of incidents such as home burglary in the case of predictive policing, and the identification of individuals deemed to be at risk of involvement in various forms of crime in the case of risk control programs. Data and personality protection are interrelated issues.
  PubDate: 2020-02-25
  DOI: 10.1007/s41125-019-00062-9
Digitalization and Its Security Manifestations
- PubDate: 2020-01-13
  DOI: 10.1007/s41125-019-00063-8
Of New Technologies and Old Laws: Do We Need a Right to Violate the
Law'
- Abstract: Abstract New technologies that can force compliance with the law are becoming increasingly widespread. At the same time, the previous constitutional arguments for defending against such structures are losing weight under the new conditions of powerful artificial intelligence. This paper opens a new line of argument using the search term of a “right to violate the law,” which will make it possible to restrict the use of modern law-enforcing technologies in an effective and criteria-based manner also in the future.
  PubDate: 2020-01-04
  DOI: 10.1007/s41125-019-00064-7
Benefits and Limits of Autonomous Systems in Public Security
- Abstract: Abstract The replacement of traditional deterministic machines by autonomous, self-organizing systems in the realm of security technologies represents a new challenge. Operative and strategic autonomy must be made more distinct, while moral autonomy should remain a human responsibility. Depending on the type of mechanical learning, the systems gain a black box character that impedes the tracing of the authorship of the systems’ actions. The proposed method of monitoring system decisions (Digital Charta Art. 5, DSGVO Art. 22) must deal with complex networks of responsibility. For this reason, a new legal framework and new political terms of negotiation must be developed.
  PubDate: 2019-12-16
  DOI: 10.1007/s41125-019-00057-6
A Toy Model Study for Long-Term Terror Event Time Series Prediction with
CNN
- Abstract: Abstract Followed by the 9/11 attacks in 2001 and the subsequent events, terrorism and other asymmetrical threat situations became increasingly important for security-related efforts of most western societies. In a similar period, the development of data gathering and analysis techniques especially using the methods of machine learning has made rapid progress. Aiming to utilize this development, this paper employs artificial neural networks for long-term time series prediction of terrorist event data. A major focus of the paper lies on the specific use of convolutional neural networks (CNNs) for this task, as well as the comparison to the performance of classical methods for (long-term) time series prediction. As the databases like Global Terrorism Database and Fraunhofer’s terrorist event database are not extensive enough to train a deep learning method, a simple toy model for the generation of time series data from one or more terrorist groups with defined properties is established. Metrics for comparison of the different approaches are collected and discussed, and a customized sliding-window metric is introduced. The study shows the principle applicability of CNNs for this task and offers constraints as well as possible extensions for future studies. Based on these results, continuation and further extension of data collection efforts and ML optimization techniques are encouraged.
  PubDate: 2019-12-11
  DOI: 10.1007/s41125-019-00061-w
The Complication of Presence in Telemedical Collaboration:
Intersituativity and Its Organizational Consequences
- Abstract: Abstract New information and communication technologies change social relations. The article introduces a concept by Stefan Hirschauer grasping this change as a complication of presence. For Emergency Medical Services, full presence of all participants is usually considered essential; however, telemedicine, telehealth physicians, and telecooperation are also gaining ground here. The study describes the foundation and challenges of telemedical situations and analyses how they are managed by physicians, paramedics, and patients being only gradually present for each other. On the organizational level, formal guidelines become more important, and responsibilities shift toward the rescue workers on-site.
  PubDate: 2019-12-10
  DOI: 10.1007/s41125-019-00060-x
Automating Security in and Around Soccer Stadiums Through Camera
Systems' Report on a Research Project
- Abstract: Abstract The article reports on the results of the DFG-funded interdisciplinary (social science and project neuroinformatics) Emotion. Escalation. Violence. The question was whether escalation processes (in and around football stadiums) can be detected automatically using a camera and appropriate evaluation software. The analysis of the data collected in the project (video, participant observation, interviews) showed that an automatic detection system that only looks at all factors in the situation and on site can make only limited statements about the probability of escalation processes. In addition, there is always a need for experienced human actors who are familiar with these processes and can contribute to the assessment of the situation.
  PubDate: 2019-12-10
  DOI: 10.1007/s41125-019-00056-7
Using Smartphones in Police Operations: The Necessity of Media Literacy in
Police Forces in the Age of Transparency
- Abstract: Abstract The internet and especially social media networks had and still have a deep impact on the organizational communication. Beside the possibilities of self-representation, social media allow a fast dialogue between organization and its stakeholders—for enterprises as well as for public administration, such as the police. Moreover, not only the official PR departments use these channels, also employees use text, photograph, and video to inform about their experiences. The article deals with the upcoming fuzzy logic of many responders, the new age of transparency and dialogue, the lack of media literacy, and the role of high-rank police officers.
  PubDate: 2019-12-07
  DOI: 10.1007/s41125-019-00059-4
Reflecting on the Ethical and Legal Implications of the State-Led War
Against International Terrorism
- Abstract: Abstract This article takes critical issue with the state-led global war against international terrorism, focusing specifically on the ethical and legal implications of that protracted international conflict. Following others, the paper conceptualises terrorism as an aspect of modern political violence that tends to service the overall interest of extant liberal global political economy at the expense of the human security challenges. To this end, the article seeks to shed light on the flux of alliances and allegiances between formal state agents and informal political actors (e.g. religious extremist or terrorist groups and left-/right-wing para-militias, etc.), whose bellicose political activities not only underscore the global war on terror but in part also inform the post-Cold War liberal international order. It is only in viewing the ongoing state-led global war against international terrorism through the prism of the state system’s perennial bellicose activities that we would be able to fully appreciate the adverse effects the global war on terror on the development of both domestic and international law that is critical to safeguarding the security and/or protection of civilians in times of peace and war.
  PubDate: 2019-11-28
  DOI: 10.1007/s41125-019-00055-8
Before, Now, and After the Event of Terror: Situational Terror Awareness
for Civilians in US Homeland Security
- Abstract: This article examines terror awareness as an individualized security practice that allows civilians to respond to situations of emergent terror as they occur, that is, in real time. It is a practice that targets the “time–space” (Walters in Comp Eur Polit 15(5):794–817, 2016) just before, during, and immediately after an event of terror. In recent years, the notion of “terror awareness” has gained salience in official US homeland security discourses. To protect themselves and their communities from harm and ensure an uninterrupted “way of life,” citizens are routinely encouraged to be vigilant and aware to signs of potential terror as they attend to their daily affairs. They are asked to stay informed, remain alert, and be ready to respond to the incipiency of terror so that they may avert—or, at least mitigate—its potentially catastrophic and disruptive consequences. According to the authorities, this kind of habitualized threat awareness can help prevent acts of terror and strengthen community resilience. But what exactly do government and security officials mean when they speak of “terror awareness”' What does this practice of being “terror aware” entail' And how is it supposed to function as a protective mechanism against potential terror' What is its relationship to such abstract concepts as “security,” “preparedness,” and “resilience”' This article seeks to answer these questions. It is based on a careful reading of official and publicly available texts (press statements, policy documents, reports, training brochures, websites, etc.) about homeland security and anti-terrorism, where the notion of “awareness” finds mention and a specific understanding of it—namely as an individualized security technology—is being communicated to the wider public.
  PubDate: 2019-11-06
  DOI: 10.1007/s41125-019-00054-9
An Acid Test for Europeanization: Public Cyber Security Procurement in the
European Union
- Abstract: Abstract Public procurement refers to processes through which national, regional, and local public authorities, state-owned enterprises, or other related bodies governed by public law, purchase products, services, and public work. Such purchases have been a particularly important element in developing the Internal Market of the European Union (EU). Given recent procurement reforms in the EU, including the 2009 reform on defense procurement, this paper examines public cyber security procurement in Europe. Two questions are examined: (1) whether cyber security procurement differs from public procurement in general, and (2) whether there are any noteworthy signs of Europeanization in terms of cyber security procurement. According to the empirical results, cyber security procurement tends to differ from general public procurement. In particular, competition obstacles are visible in terms of bids for cyber security procurement tenders. This result is accompanied with a visible lack of Europeanization, although the same observation generalizes to public procurement in the EU generally. With these results and the accompanying discussion, the paper contributes to the recent lively discussion about European security and its relation to marketization.
  PubDate: 2019-10-05
  DOI: 10.1007/s41125-019-00053-w
A Fast-Track Method for Assessing the Risk of a Terrorist Attack on
Transportation Facilities
- Abstract: Abstract The study reported in this paper was designed to develop a fast-track method for assessing the risk of a terrorist attack on transportation facilities. This method may be of particular significance for transportation systems with numerous facilities, like subways and railroads. For instance, in a situation where there is information that in the coming days a terrorist attack may occur along a subway line, employing this method can enable the experts to promptly determine the facilities (stations) which are the likeliest to be attacked by the terrorists. Upon receipt of the data, the police and security team will be able to go ahead and concentrate the forces around those specific facilities, which should help boost the likelihood of the terrorist attack getting prevented.
  PubDate: 2019-10-01
  DOI: 10.1007/s41125-019-00044-x