Evaluating Novel Threats to the Homeland: Unmanned Aerial Vehicles and Cruise Missiles

Abstract : How to invest homeland security resources wisely in the United States can appear to be an intractable problem because the large, open American society seems to be vulnerable to so many threats in every corner of the country. This monograph is intended to present a defense-planning approach to bound the problem and thereby aid policy and resource decisions about one type of potential threat to the homeland: cruise missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). The methodology used can be applied to other modes of attack, and the insights gained from this approach extend to other threats as well. Indeed, although the focus of the research is on a specific class of weapons, it does not look at that class in isolation; rather, it considers the weapons as one of many options open to a potential attacker and seeks to identify investment strategies that are effective against multiple threats and weapons.