A forensic capability to help identify perpetrators and exclude innocent people should be an integral part of a strategy against terrorist attacks. Exercises have been conducted to increase our preparedness and response capabilities to chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) terrorist attacks. However, incorporating forensic components into these exercises has been deficient. CBRN investigations rely on forensic results, so the need to integrate a forensic component and forensics experts into comprehensive exercises is paramount. This article provides guidance for planning and executing exercises at local, state, federal, and international levels that test the effectiveness of forensic capabilities for CBRN threats. The guidelines presented here apply both to situations where forensics is only a component of a more general exercise and where forensics is the primary focus of the exercise.
This is a preprint of a paper intended for publication in a jour11al or proceedings. Since changes may be made before publication, this preprint is made available with the understanding that it will not be cited or reproduced without the permission of the author .
SummaryThis report describes a simple model for the effect of domain--irrelevant contextual information on the probative value of expert witness testimony. The model confirms prior observations by Thompson that such information always decreases the probative value. In addition, the effect holds regardless of whether the individual evidence items are conditionally independent or not.
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