Welcome to our presentation of ASME's special plenary session, "Technology vs. Terrorism — Designing Against the Threat of Assault," which was presented at the International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition in New York in November.

During the two-hour session, eight experts talked about the kinds of technology that are needed to ensure aviation safety and to combat bioterrorism. The session was organized in response to the Sept. 11 terror attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., and took place on Sunday, Nov. 11 — two months to the day after the attacks. The following pages feature abstracts of the presentations these eight panelists gave during the session.



Presenters from the "Technology vs. Terrorism" panel session at the 2001 Congress included Samuel Venneri from NASA, James O'Bryon from the U.S. Department of Defense, John Andersen of AFlightTech Inc., and Susan Hallowell from the US Federal Aviation Administration.

Greetings from David L. Belden, executive director of ASME

Welcome to "Technology vs. Terrorism — Designing Against the Threat of Assault." My estimate of the crowd when it came in a half an hour ago and standing through that long line, my estimate was that we'd probably start about 6 o'clock instead of closer to five. I believe we have somewhere between 800 and 900 people in the
audience and I'm really pleased to have you here. It's absolutely fantastic.

Unfortunately Mayor Giuliani is not going to be able to be with us, but we are pleased to have representing him John Odermatt, the First Deputy in the City's Office of Emergency Management.

I was given some material a couple of days ago about New York's Office
of Emergency Management and I'd just like to read a couple of sentences
to you. It says, "A city as large and dynamic as New York is bound
to confront various challenges — industrial and transportation accidents,
hazardous materials, spills, extreme weather conditions, building collapses..." How prophetic.

So without further ado, it's my pleasure to call to the podium John Odermatt. John, welcome.