Secrecy and Intelligence: Introduction

The catalyst for this special issue of Secrecy and Society stems from a workshop titled “Secrecy and Intelligence: Opening the Black Box” at North Carolina State University, April, 2016. This workshop brought together interested scholars, intelligence practitioners, and civil society members from the United States and Europe to discuss how different facets of secrecy and other practices shape the production of knowledge in intelligence work. This dialogue aimed to be reflective on how the closed social worlds of intelligence shape what intelligence actors and intelligence analysts, who include those within the intelligence establishment and those on the outside, know about security threats and the practice of intelligence. The papers in this special issue reflect conversations that occurred during and after the workshop

The Social Dimension of Technology: The Control of Chemical and Biological Weapons

This paper deals with a number of conceptual issues that arise from attempts by governments and civil society to control the spread of chemical and biological weapons. The first part outlines key aspects of the international control of chemical and biological weapons, focusing on the main treaties that outlaw these weapons. It then highlights some of the key practical and conceptual dilemmas in implementing these controls. These are the problems of definition, ‘dual-use’, how distinguishing defensive from offensive research, verification, and difficulty of analyzing chemical and biological warfare from a cultural perspective. Also this second part contains a discussion of some of the author’s own research on the history of chemical and biological warfare, and adds some reflections on how this work might inform some of the contemporary practical issues in the control of chemical and biological warfare./nThe most obvious contribution that philosophers can (and do) make to the control of chemical and biological weapons is in the field of ethics; the author argues that other debates from philosophy of science, over terms such as tacit knowledge, ontology, underdetermination and feminist philosophy of science, have the potential to shed further light on the dilemmas facing the arms control community.Este artículo aborda cuestiones conceptuales que surgen de los intentos de los gobiernos y la sociedad civil por controlar la diseminación de armas químicas y biológicas. La primera parte versa sobre aspectos clave del control internacional de estas armas, enfocada hacia los principales tratados que las proscriben. Luego, se destacan dilemas prácticos y conceptuales clave para practicar estos controles. Son los problemas de definición, del “doble uso”, de cómo distinguir la investigación defensiva de la ofensiva, de la verificación y de la dificultad de analizar la guerra química y biológica desde una perspectiva cultural. También esta segunda parte trata investigaciones del autor sobre la Historia de la guerra química y biológica, y añade reflexiones sobre cómo este trabajo podría informar algunos de los asuntos prácticos contemporáneos en el control de esta guerra./nLa contribución que los filósofos pueden hacer (y hacen) para el control de las armas químicas y biológicas se da en el campo ético; otros debates de la Filosofía de la Ciencia, sobre términos como conocimiento tácito, Ontología, infradeterminación y Filosofía feminista de la Ciencia tienen el potencial de arrojar luz sobre los dilemas que afronta la comunidad del control de armas

Seasonal abundance, site-fidelity, and utilization areas of bottlenose dolphins in St. Joseph Bay, Florida

During three Unusual Mortality Events (UMEs), (1999-2000, 2004, and 2005-2006), a total of more than 300 bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) have died along the Florida Panhandle. St. Joseph Bay, in Gulf County, was the geographic focus of the 2004 mortality event. The most recent NOAA abundance estimate for bottlenose dolphins in St. Joseph Bay, based upon aerial surveys conducted in 1994, is zero (Waring et al. 2000). Thus, there exist critical gaps in our knowledge of bottlenose dolphin abundance in this region. The goals of this study were to estimate seasonal abundance and to identify site-fidelity patterns of coastal bottlenose dolphins in the St. Joseph Bay region. Mark-recapture photo-identification surveys were conducted during February/March, April, May, and July 2005 as well as February and September/October 2006 to estimate seasonal abundance in and around St. Joseph Bay. Seasonal abundance estimates were determined using closed and robust population models in the programs MARK and CAPTURE. A site-fidelity index was calculated from the total number of sightings of each identified individual during all photo-identification efforts carried out in the region (from April 2004-October 2006). Abundance estimates were highest in spring (279 - 460) and fall (295 - 376) and lowest in summer (101 - 178) and winter (81 - 126). Site-fidelity indices also varied by season; on average individuals with low site-fidelity indices were sighted more in spring and fall than in summer and winter. The relatively small number of individuals sighted during summer and winter displayed high site-fidelity indices. These results suggest that the potential impacts of UMEs in the St. Joseph Bay region will vary by season. During spring or fall a UME will likely affect both those dolphins with high site-fidelity indices, as well as dolphins moving into or through the region, and, thus, may have a wider regional impact. Mortality events that occur during summer and winter will be focused on a smaller number of individuals with high site-fidelity to the St. Joseph Bay region. Since 1999, three Unusual Mortality Events have occurred along the Florida Panhandle, resulting in more than 300 bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) deaths. St. Joseph Bay, Florida was the geographic focus of the 2004 unusual mortality event. Recent mark-recapture photo-identification surveys have demonstrated that dolphin abundance varies across seasons in this region- abundance estimates are highest in spring and fall, and lowest in winter and summer. Most dolphins sighted in spring and fall had low site-fidelity indices, while most sighted in summer and winter had high site-fidelity indices to the St. Joseph Bay photo-id region. Until this study, no information was available on movement patterns of individual bottlenose dolphins in this region of the Florida Panhandle. In this study 23 dolphins were radio tagged and monitored intensively for up to three months following NOAA-sponsored bottlenose dolphin health assessment studies during April 2005 and July 2006. Individual utilization areas (UAs) (i.e. region an individual conducts its daily activities during a study period) and site-fidelity indices were compared across radio tracking periods. An individual’s site-fidelity index was calculated as the proportion of survey months that it was sighted, relative to the total number of months surveys were conducted in the region. Dolphins tagged in spring 2005 displayed three different UA patterns- those extending largely outside the St. Joseph Bay photo-id region (n=2), those partially overlapping this region (n=2), and those completely within the region (n=2). In contrast, during summer, radio tagged individuals displayed only two UA patterns, those partially overlapping the region (n=2) and themajority were those completely within the St. Joseph Bay region (n=11). Individual site-fidelity indices in spring were lower (mean 10.54, range 0.11-1.0) than in summer (mean 0.76, range 0.38-1.0). These results, along with those of Balmer (Chapter 1) suggest that during the summer, when abundance estimates are relatively low, the St. Joseph Bay region hosts a group of dolphins that spend most of their time within this geographic area. In spring, when dolphin abundance increases, St. Joseph Bay is visited by dolphins that will range far, and spend most of their time outside this region. The past and potential future impacts of Unusual Mortality Events on bottlenose dolphins in the St. Joseph Bay region likely depend upon these distinct seasonal patterns of habitat utilization

A Scoping Review of Boot Camps as a Transition, or Induction Training in Health Professions Education

Background Health professions education (HPE) has increasingly used “boot camps” as a promising approach to prepare learners for the transition to their next educational level (e.g. medical students entering residency) or before entering a specific field. However, current boot camp guidelines have not been widely developed or accepted and may have even strayed into different concepts. Aim To explore current practices of boot camps as an educational activity to transition into a new level of training or a new field in HPE. Methods Medical and education databases will be searched for studies reporting on boot camps. We will achieve our goal by 1) exploring the depth and breadth of evidence that characterizes boot camps across various disciplines in HPE, 2) synthesizing key components of boot camps to formulate an operational definition, and 3) proposing recommendations for best practices when developing an HPE boot camp. Importance This review will explore the literature pertaining to boot camps to formulate an operational definition and develop best practices of an HPE boot camp

Preventing “a virological Hiroshima”: Cold War press coverage of biological weapons disarmament

This article examines representations of biological weapons during a crucial period in the recent history of this form of warfare. The study draws on a corpus of newspaper articles from the US New York Times and the UK Times and Guardian written around the time of the negotiation period of the 1972 Biological Weapons Convention, the international treaty banning this form of warfare. We argue that a conventional discourse can be found wherein biological weapons are portrayed as morally offensive, yet highly effective and militarily attractive. Interwoven with this discourse, however, is a secondary register which depicts biological weapons as ineffective, unpredictable and of questionable value for the military. We finish with a somewhat more speculative consideration of the significance of these discourses by asking what might have been at stake when journalists and other writers deployed such differing representations of biological warfare

High site-fidelity in common bottlenose dolphins despite low salinity exposure and associated indicators of compromised health

Funding for this work was provided by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation Gulf Environmental Benefit Fund (https://www.nfwf.org/gulf-environmental-benefit-fund; contract number 57223) to CS under subcontracts to Abt Associates Inc.More than 2,000 common bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) inhabit the Barataria Bay Estuarine System in Louisiana, USA, a highly productive estuary with variable salinity driven by natural and man-made processes. It was unclear whether dolphins that are long-term residents to specific areas within the basin move in response to fluctuations in salinity, which at times can decline to 0 parts per thousand in portions of the basin. In June 2017, we conducted health assessments and deployed satellite telemetry tags on dolphins in the northern portions of the Barataria Bay Estuarine System Stock area (9 females; 4 males). We analyzed their fine-scale movements relative to modeled salinity trends compared to dolphins tagged near the barrier islands (higher salinity environments) from 2011 to 2017 (37 females; 21 males). Even though we observed different movement patterns among individual dolphins, we found no evidence that tagged dolphins moved coincident with changes in salinity. One tagged dolphin spent at least 35 consecutive days, and 75 days in total, in salinity under 5 parts per thousand. Health assessments took place early in a seasonal period of decreased salinity. Nonetheless, we found an increased prevalence of skin lesions, as well as abnormalities in serum biochemical markers and urine:serum osmolality ratios for dolphins sampled in lower salinity areas. This study provides essential information on the likely behavioral responses of dolphins to changes in salinity (e.g., severe storms or from the proposed Mid-Barataria Sediment Diversion project) and on physiological markers to inform the timing and severity of impacts from low salinity exposure.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

An expert-based system to predict population survival rate from health data

This work was supported by the Office of Naval Research Marine Mammal Biology Program [grant number N00014-17-1-2868].Timely detection and understanding of causes for population decline are essential for effective wildlife management and conservation. Assessing trends in population size has been the standard approach but we propose that monitoring population health could prove more effective. We collated data from seven bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) populations in southeastern U.S. to develop the Veterinary Expert System for Outcome Prediction (VESOP), which estimates survival probability using a suite of health measures identified by experts as indices for inflammatory, metabolic, pulmonary, and neuroendocrine systems. VESOP was implemented using logistic regression within a Bayesian analysis framework, and parameters were fit using records from five of the sites that had a robust stranding network and frequent photographic identification (photo-ID) surveys to document definitive survival outcomes. We also conducted capture-mark-recapture (CMR) analyses of photo-ID data to obtain separate estimates of population survival rates for comparison with VESOP survival estimates. VESOP analyses found multiple measures of health, particularly markers of inflammation, were predictive of 1- and 2-year individual survival. The highest mortality risk one year following health assessment related to low alkaline phosphatase, with an odds ratio of 10.2 (95% CI 3.41-26.8), while 2-year mortality was most influenced by elevated globulin (9.60; 95% CI 3.88-22.4); both are markers of inflammation. The VESOP model predicted population-level survival rates that correlated with estimated survival rates from CMR analyses for the same populations (1-year Pearson's r = 0.99; p = 1.52e-05, 2-year r = 0.94; p = 0.001). While our proposed approach will not detect acute mortality threats that are largely independent of animal health, such as harmful algal blooms, it is applicable for detecting chronic health conditions that increase mortality risk. Random sampling of the population is important and advancement in remote sampling methods could facilitate more random selection of subjects, obtainment of larger sample sizes, and extension of the approach to other wildlife species.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe