Airport Security, High Reliability, and the Problem of RationalityThe events of September 11, 2001, have raised troubling questions regarding the reliability and security of American commercial air travel. This article applies the concepts and logic of highreliability organizations to airport security operations. Contemporary decision theory is built on the logic of limited or buffered rationability and is based on the study of error-tolerant organizations. The concept of high-reliability organizations is based on the study of nearly error-free operations. For commercial air travel to be highly secure, there must be very high levels of technical competence and sustained performance; regular training; structure redundancy; collegial, decentralized authority patterns; processes that reward error discovery and correction; adequate and reliable funding; high mission valence; reliable and timely information; and protection from external interference in operations. These concepts are used to inform early-stage issues being faced by both local airports and the newly established Transportation Security Administration.

The editors of this special issue asked Todd LaPorte to reflect on the issues that emerge from the discussions in this special issue and, more in general, from the discussions that have proliferated in the wake of recent crises and disasters. In his contribution, Professor LaPorte contemplates what political leaders can do to prepare for catastrophic surprises. A crucial initiative, he argues, would be the initiation of a public discussion about the level of distress that a society is willing to accept in the pursuit of efficient, reliable critical infrastructures.

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The article argues that insufficient attention has been paid to the operational aspects of the U.S. radioactive waste management system when it grows to the scale necessary to handle wastes produced by a fully deployed plutonium economy. Without such information, many of the unsettling speculations which have become part of the public debate and are summarized herein cannot be clearly addressed. The article then outlines the types of information necessary to begin estimating the costs and consequences of radioactive waste management. Finally, an index of social exposure to radioactive hazard is proposed to improve the basis for policy decisions in this area.

Important challenges to the administrative, policy-making, and implementation capacities of public organizations have arisen in recent years. These challenges may arise from many quarters, including budget cuts, organizational reforms, and most ominously, political subterfuge. Although limits on capacity may be familiar to the public organizations that must cope with them, they are less well understood by outside observers. This analytical gap undermines our ability to appraise the policy and constitutional implications of capacity loss. To begin the process of deepening our knowledge of public sector organizational capacities, this essay calls for greater investment in understanding the organizational dynamics associated with capacity loss.