Physical Security System Effectiveness Evaluation: A Status Report

A method to permit objective comparisons of physical security systems is under development and is expected to be useful in the optimization of system design and in cost benefit analysis. The procedure involves identifying the possible or potential characteristics of a postulated adversary, the countermeasures to deny or diminish adversary success and the response capabilities of the defender. These, in conjunction with system definition information, are evaluated by the use of analytical models which provide a means of ranking systems against threats. This paper describes the status of this effort and includes an overview of the methodology with a brief description of various models being considered for use in effectiveness evaluation.