The widespread unrest in many parts of the world, including the full-scale war in Ukraine, has raised many new challenges for the protection of critical infrastructure. The material presented here covers the issue of protecting critical infrastructure in full, and suggests ways to protect these objects. The Advanced Research Workshop (ARW) held from 23–25 October 2023 in Istanbul, Turkey, addressed the main priorities of the NATO Science for Peace and Security (SPS) Programme, namely the promotion of mutually beneficial cooperation on issues of common interest, including international efforts to address new security challenges such as the fight against terrorism. The workshop became a powerful event in which experts from all invited countries shared their experiences and explained the use of innovative computer modeling methods and technologies to solve the problem of protecting critical infrastructure and increasing its resilience to explosions due to terrorist attacks. The main goal of this workshop, namely to hold an intensive training event to aggregate ideas from those specialists and other interested parties who directly conduct or develop methods of protecting critical infrastructure from terrorist attacks, was fully realized.

Thus the main goals of the ARW were achieved, with experts in the field of critical infrastructure protection from Ukraine, Turkey, Poland, and other NATO member and partner countries involved in a conversation about modern computer modeling of the impact of an explosion on infrastructure, together with proposed training for psychological resistance to terrorism and military actions, to minimize the risks of potential emergencies at critical infrastructure facilities.

The main results of the ARW were the development of those new competencies, knowledge, and skills required for an effective response to such terrorist attacks as may occur on critical infrastructure facilities. A set of proposals was developed and discussed, based on innovative methods of computer modeling to minimize the risks inherent in explosions at critical infrastructure facilities. Because specialists from various areas of anti-terrorist activity had been invited to the workshop, a significant network of researchers in the field of critical infrastructure protection in response to terrorist attacks has now been formed. An active brainstorming session of highly qualified experts was held to further strengthen the protection of critical infrastructure in response to terrorist attacks, and another result of the ARW was the development of a new research platform for the organization and implementation of new research projects aimed at preventing risks from terrorist attacks.

All of these results are presented in this book.

October 2023

Kutahya, Turkey

Kyiv, Ukraine

Editors

Umran Ercetin

Natalia Zuievska

Oksana Vovk