6th Annual

ODNI Intelligence Community Centers of Academic

Excellence Summer Seminar
August 2, 2010
Gaylord National Harbor Hotel and Conference Center,
National Harbor, MD

Brian J. Gorman
Assistant Professor
Department of Sociology, Anthropology & Criminal Justice
Towson University

BIOSECURITY COMMONS: YEAR 1

Goal of Biosecurity Commons:

 To engage students in national security policy

issues while making valued contributions to
stakeholders through:
 Data Mining,
 Information Sharing, and
 Critical Analysis.
 Methodology:
Via a new “Web-tank” concept that
fuses the interests and efforts of
faculty and students.

 The web-tank merges classic and cutting concepts

including:
 Traditional Think tank collaboration
 Traditional Scholarly research & writing
 Traditional Journal production
 New Web-based information approaches
 New Social networking platforms
Guiding Philosophy
 The concept relies upon a genuine
Faculty/Student partnership.
 *Not a mere student project, rather it’s a
collaboration on a genuine contribution to the field.
 Faculty leads, but students are relied upon for
critical input.
 Some students are co-authors while others are
publicly identified researchers who are associated
with their published work.
 Analogy given to students: “A published paper on
the net is like a tattoo; it is public and permanent!”
Immediate Attribution of student
contributions available online
Mastheads: Law Review inspired &
reinforces pride in publicly shared work
product.
Software: Wiki format for database
Manuscript Hosting by Scribd which is
free and provides reading and download
stats.
Readership Stats, graphics &
Readership Feedback.
BsC Topics
Status Brief: State-of-the-art briefing for
Stakeholders.
Weekly Protocol: RBP not GTL
-Research-
-Brief-
-Post-
 1. Research any BsC Index Topic.
 2. Brief findings conforming to website specs.
 -i.e. the facts, opinions & findings that inform policy on
the topic.
 3. Post to the BsC website.
 4. Enter topic covered during the week on
whiteboard and provide a digital copy of the sources
for follow-up or verification.
Sample White Board for
Weekly Protocol
Basic entry: citation, facts,& cross-
indexed for surfing database.
Analytical Report initiated ¾’s into the
year using database as point of Departure
Facebook Presence
BsC Director & Staff from
Towson University
Affiliate Opportunities

 Faculty Affiliates are welcome to join

Biosecurity Commons and the companion
project, Security Commons, with their own
Independent Study Students.

 Contact Brian J. Gorman at

bgorman@towson.edu