USC Professor Detlof von Winterfeldt , Director of the Center for Risk and Economic Analysis of Terrorism Events (CREATE), will testify before the U.S. House Subcommittee on Intelligence, Information Sharing and Terrorism Risk Assessment on Terrorism Risk Assessment at the Department of Homeland Security Washington today.
The subcommittee of the House Homeland Security Committee is chaired by Rep. Rob Simmons (R-CT) and will examine the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s terrorism risk assessment capabilities and explore ways the Department can streamline its risk assessment and intelligence analysis operations through the Homeland Infrastructure Threat and Risk Analysis Center (HITRAC). Members will discuss the capabilities of the entire terrorism risk assessment community, and review ways to use these capabilities to improve homeland security operations.
Dr. von Winterfeldt’s testimony will cover three areas: an introduction to the Center for Risk and Economic Analysis of Terrorism Events (CREATE); background on risk assessment and its uses in the past 30 years in government agencies and private enterprises; and the uses, opportunities and challenges of risk assessment in the homeland security area.
Dr. von Winterfeldt is the Director of CREATE, Professor of Public Policy and Management and Deputy Dean of the School of Policy, Planning and Development at the University of Southern California. He is an expert in decision and risk analysis with particular interest in the application of these fields to environmental, technology, and safety problems.
CREATE is the first university-based center of excellence funded by the Department of Homeland Security. It was selected in a competition of 72 universities and started operations in March of 2004. CREATE is located at the University of Southern California with partners at the University of Wisconsin, New York University and faculty affiliated with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. CREATE researchers are developing advanced risk assessment models and tools for homeland security decisions. The center also studies the economic impacts of terrorist events and develops computer ‘models and analysis tools to assist decision makers in government and industry to allocate funds to counter terrorism.