25 years ago, America was shocked by the brazen hijack of four aircraft, the taking of thousands of lives and the destruction of landmark buildings in New York and Washington. The world would never be the same.
CREATE was established three years after 9/11, a consequence of the Homeland Security Act that funded a network of University Centers of Excellence (COE) and also created the Department of Homeland Security. As the first DHS COE, USC committed to building a center dedicated to independent and objective analysis of the risks and consequences of homeland security threats, along with interventions that can make the nation safer. We also committed to fulfill the need identified in the 9/11 Commission Report for creative assessment of threats and objective risk-based analysis of homeland security investments.
Over the years we have investigated the threats posed by weapons of mass destruction, including radiological and biological materials, as well as cyber threats and other weaponry. We have examined how to protect critical infrastructure, including supply chains and the air system, and how to protect the venues where people gather. Recently our work has expanded to study the use of AI, both as a means of attack and as a means of protection against attack. Just as important, CREATE’s work expanded in recent years to include catastrophic natural hazards, such extreme weather and fire events.
As an interdisciplinary center that draws talent from the Viterbi School of Engineering, the Price School of Public Policy and the Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, as well as other universities, COEs and national laboratories, we are ready to meet the challenges of the future. The threats we face today are not the same as the one we encountered on 9/11. Nevertheless, as an academic center that prizes debate, analysis, rigor and dialogue, our aim has not changed:
To serve our nation through creation of advanced models and tools for the evaluation of the risks, costs and consequences of threats to human livelihood and through assessment of strategies to mitigate risks and respond to emergencies.
We will continue to serve the nation with the special talents of USC faculty, students and staff along with all of our partners.
Please send your ideas and suggestions.
Randolph Hall, Director
Center for Risk and Economic Analysis of Threats and Emergencies (CREATE)