Students at James Madison University Devise A More Efficient Less-Than-Lethal Security System for Deployment at U.S. Embassies Across the Globe
A team of four Hacking for Diplomacy students at James Madison University spent the Fall 2023 semester working to improve non-lethal security systems at U.S. Embassies across the globe.
From left to right, DS-17 student team members Bonnie Pohland, Adonis Ortiz, Bella Santos, BriAnna Thweatt, and problem sponsor Michael McCranie during the team’s site visit to Quantico, Virginia.
The students, Bella Santos, Bonnie Pohland, Adonis Ortiz, and BriAnna Thweatt, worked closely with Department of State Diplomatic Security Service (DSS) personnel to reveal key pain points of the current tear gas canister system. The team ultimately proposed a new multilayered security system that deploys an acoustic deterrent and continuously-dispersible oleoresin capsicum (OC) to improve embassy security response efficacy during large crowd violence and escalation. Following the course, DS-17 problem sponsor Michael McCranie plans to present the student team’s solution to the section chiefs in the Technology Development Branch to pursue funding for testing and potentially piloting the students’ solution.
The students conducted 67 interviews over the course of the semester, revising and testing their hypotheses of the problem based on insights from DSS Security Technical Specialists, Security Engineering Officers, Marine Security Guards, and other experts from industry and academia with experience in the problem domain. The team tackled the problem through interdisciplinary collaboration spanning five different student disciplines – Political Science, International Affairs, Communications, Media and Design, and Economics.
They discovered that while tear gas is relatively effective in crowd deterrence, the deployment mechanism requires security personnel to manually reload canisters before use. Variable restrictions and host-country regulations for the acquisition and transport of tear gas presented another challenge.
Additionally, the team learned that the implementation of existing security measures varies across embassies, with some posts having more security features than others. With standardization and accessibility in mind, the team identified two (2) additional key criteria for improving non-lethal security system efficacy: Continuous dispersal (repeat deployability), and mountability (placement of the system to prevent tampering). “We wanted to make sure that our [solution]... was something that any mission could feasibly implement,” Santos said.
Through support from the Common Mission Project Impact Fund, the team was able to maximize their discovery insights through more meaningful, in-person interactions with beneficiaries. Santos recalled how the opportunity to visit the Marine Corps Embassy Security Group Headquarters (Quantico, VA) and the U.S. Embassy of Costa Rica in San Jose enabled the team to assess existing security measures on-site, lending the students a better understanding of the problem. Santos noted that "...for our project specifically, we would not have come up with our final solution if we hadn't had that trip to Costa Rica."
(L) Students and their sponsors on a site-visit to the U.S. Embassy in San Jose, Costa Rica.
(R) DS-17 student team during site visit to the Marine Corps Embassy Security Group in Quantico, Virginia.
After learning more about the physical and logistical constraints around embassy security systems in Quantico and San Jose, the team pursued a multilayered response system as a more effective solution to aggressive escalation and large crowds on embassy grounds. The students’ Minimum Viable Product (MVP) builds on current procedures by reinforcing host nation police and local guard force deterrence with a mounted oleoresin capsicum (OC) continuous dispersal system and an acoustic deterrent system for final hardline threat escalation.
Since the design and architecture of U.S. embassies varies between locations, the MVP provides a general outline for the mechanism of how a multilayered system could be implemented. Using the team’s MVP, DSS can determine specific facility requirements for OC tank volume, flow rate, dispersal range and duration of the system at any given embassy facility. Other factors to consider for large-scale implementation include system vulnerabilities to extreme weather conditions and potentially limited tank capacities for some facilities.