Date of Award

3-14-2014

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science

Department

Department of Operational Sciences

First Advisor

Richard F Deckro, PhD.

Abstract

Biological weapons are one of the top five threats identified by the Department of Defense in the United States. While most people commonly associate weapons of mass destruction only with atomic bombs, biological agents still have the ability to inflict mass casualties and panic. By strategically placing bioweapon detection units, known as BioWatch, in various airports, a disease spread could be detected and mitigated before country wide dispersal of the disease occurs. Key cities to invest this program are investigated through network analysis of flight itineraries with large volumes of traffic. In addition to analyzing an airport network, there is also the possibility that an attack could still succeed and infect a city. Should this occur, the current Center for Disease Control policy is to trace sources of infections and vaccinate people suspected of harboring the disease. Kaplan et al., as well as others, have argued for mass vaccination rather than the trace policy. Kaplan et al.’s model is extended to consider policies to respond to potential outbreak scenarios.

AFIT Designator

AFIT-ENS-14-M-19

DTIC Accession Number

ADA601452

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