Nanotechnology and Homeland Security: New Weapons for New Wars

Chapter 4. Homeland Security

	“Terrorism is the nuclear bomb for poor people”.
	--Pablo Escobar

The State of the Nation

In the past, cities were walled and fortified to withstand attack from the outside. Settlement sites were selected not just for industrial purposes or for access to transportation as they are now, but because they were defensible. In today’s world of bombers, missiles, tanks, and other mechanized combat equipment, the idea of fortifying a city seems to be obsolete. But this is not the case. Though walls may no longer do the job, modern defenses and security measures exist to harden critical infrastructure and lessen vulnerability to terrorist attacks.

Buildings are often engineered to withstand earthquakes and other predictable ...