In the wake of 9/11 and hurricane Katrina, executives and policymakers are increasingly motivated to reduce the vulnerability of social and economic systems to disasters. Most prior work on 'critical infrastructure protection' has focused on the responsibilities and actions of government rather than on those of the private sector firms that provide most vital services. Seeds of Disaster, Roots of Response is the first systematic attempt to understand how private decisions and operations affect public vulnerability. It describes effective and sustainable approaches - both business strategies and public policies - to ensure provision of critical services in the event of disaster. The authors are business leaders from multiple industries and are experts in risk analysis, economics, engineering, organization theory and public policy. The book shows the necessity of deeply rooted collaboration between private and public institutions, and the accountability and leadership required to progress from words to action.

Table of Contents:
Foreword General Robert T. Marsh; Part I. Seeds of Disaster: 1. Where private efficiency meets public vulnerability: the critical infrastructure challenge Philip Auerswald, Lewis M. Branscomb, Todd M. La Porte and Erwann Michel-Kerjan; Part II. A Critical Challenge: 2. A nation forewarned: vulnerability of critical infrastructure in the twenty-first century Lewis M. Branscomb; 3. The brittle superpower Stephen E. Flynn; 4. Critical infrastructure protection in the United States since 1993 Brian Lopez; 5. Evolution of vulnerability assessment methods Brian Lopez; Part III. Managing Organizations: 6. Managing for the unexpected: reliability and organizational resilience Todd M. La Porte; 7. Notes toward a theory of the management of vulnerability Robert A. Frosch; 8. Challenges of assuring high reliability when facing suicidal terrorism Todd M. La Porte; 9. Managing for reliability in an age of terrorism Paul R. Schulman and Emery Roe; 10. Organizational strategies for complex system resilience, reliability, and adaptation Todd M. La Porte; Part IV. Securing Networks: 11. Complexity and interdependence: the unmanaged challenge Philip Auerswald; 12. Managing reliability in electric power companies Jack Feinstein; 13. Coordinated and uncoordinated crisis responses by the electric industry Michael Kormos and Thomas Bowe; 14. Electricity: protecting essential services Jay Apt, M. Granger Morgan and Lester B. Lave; 15. A cyber threat to national security? Sean P. Gorman; 16. Interdependent security in interconnected networks Geoffrey Heal, Michael Kearns, Paul Kleindorfer and Howard Kunreuther; Part V. Creating Markets: 17. Insurance, the 14th critical sector Erwann Michel-Kerjan; 18. Private risk management for terrorist attacks Lloyd Dixon and Robert Reville; 19. Terrorism, insurance, and preparedness: connecting the dots James W. Macdonald; 20. Looking beyond TRIA: a clinical examination of potential terrorism loss sharing Howard Kunreuther and Erwann Michel-Kerjan; 21. Financing catastrophe risk with public and private (re)insurance resources Franklin W. Nutter; Part VI. Building Trust: 22. Private-public collaboration on a national and international scale Lewis M. Branscomb and Erwann Michel-Kerjan; 23. Information sharing with the private sector: history, challenges, innovation, and prospects Daniel B. Prieto; 24. Sharing the watch: public-private collaboration for infrastructure security John D. Donahue and Richard J. Zeckhauser; 25. The Paris initiative, 'anthrax and beyond': transnational collaboration among interdependent critical networks Patrick Lagadec and Erwann Michel-Kerjan; Part VII. Roots of Response: 26. Leadership: who will act? Philip Auerswald, Lewis M. Branscomb, Todd M. La Porte and Erwann Michel-Kerjan.