Assessing radiological and nuclear terror scenarios (PDF 0.7 MB)

Presentation at ICT's 9th International Conference on Counter-Terrorism, Interdisciplinary Center (IDC) Herzliya, Israel.
September 7th-10th, 2009

The psychological consequences of CBRN always cause much more damage than the direct destruction of life and property (probably even orders of magnitude). Therefore, preparing the public for any possible outcome of CBRN attack is an indispensable and vitally important element of any contingency plan. Inter-disciplinary approach, collaboration between technical experts, social scientists and decision-makers is crucial. Moreover, though CBRN terror is rare, yet industrial accidents leading to CBRN effects, occur on regular basis. Dealing with both aspects is of similar importance; hence both security and safety measures share very much in common and should be dealt with in a holistic manner. And it should be always remembered that civil defense is an important part of the deterrence.

Nuclear EMP Protection (PDF 0.5 MB)

"Although many in Congress and the White House tend to ignore the EMP threat, America's potential adversaries will not..."

Free Electron Laser technology (PDF 1.9 MB)

Presentation at "Optronica Israel 2010" workshop, Tel-Aviv.

After about four decades of research and development, FEL technology is entering the stage of commercialization. The review gives the basics of the technology, its strong and weak points, present status and future trends.

Terahertz Technology and Applications (PDF 0.9 MB)

"Terahertz has the opportunity to be a breakthrough technology that can be used in several large markets within non-destructive testing, homeland security and defense. It is entering the high reliability application and market development phase, which will take some time to blossom."

High-Power Beams in Defense and Security (PDF 1.3 MB)

Though offering enormous capabilities of speed-of-light fighting, "directed energy suffers from a history of overly optimistic expectations" (U.S. Defense Science Board, 2007). In the presentation, an analysis of goals and basic technologies - gas, solid-state and free-electron lasers - is given. Available public-domain data on different high-power-laser projects (including Soviet experience with CO2 lasers) is outlined, mentioning ballistic and self-guiding missiles' counter-measures (ABL, ATL, Medusa etc). Achievements, advantages and drawbacks of each technology are briefly reviewed.