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Center for Nonlinear Studies |
Since the end of the Cold War, changing societal concerns and priorities have buffeted national security programs with changing missions and fluctuating resources. Drs. Jenkins-Smith will offer a colloquium on elements of a national security environmental scan that track the evolution of significant trends (and disruptions) in societal perceptions, preferences, and concerns about national security issues. Developed by the National Institute for Risk and Resilience (NIRR) at the University of Oklahoma, the scan is based on multiple data streams, tools and methodologies that identify and evaluate events and trends affecting national security programs and policies. NIRR’s National Security survey (NS) series was initiated in 1993 to track public understanding of key national security issues, including perceptions of the threat environment, preferences for nuclear deterrence, views on nuclear disarmament, and preferences for managing the US nuclear stockpile. This quarter-century long series, begun as the Cold War era came to a close, is the most extensive collection of its kind, permitting an assessment of the evolution of public national security priorities in a rapidly changing world. In tandem with the NS survey, NIRR maintains a social media (Twitter) data collection, coding and analysis infrastructure that allows for real-time tracking and systematic analysis of trends and events (such as the 2014 WIPP incident and facility closure, the Fukushima Daiichi disaster, or N. Korean nuclear threats). Tracking and analyzing how individuals and organizations respond to events and changing circumstances can facilitate the successful navigation of programs through challenges both in the near and longer term. We expect that the analysis and project overview presented at will be of interest to multiple groups at LANL.
Host: Sara Del Valle