New challenges in homeland security: Smart Advanced Materials and Structural Systems

September 11(th) awakened us to the massive damage terrorists can cause with airplanes by bringing down the twin towers of World Trade Center and damaging Wedge-1 of the Pentagon. These incidents represent the worst disaster and loss of lives ever involving a single building structure. ne South tower collapsed 56 minutes after the impact, and the North tower collapsed 1 hour and 43 minutes after the impact. Stronger and more durable building materials, as well as fully equipped sensor network monitoring systems may be able to limit structural damages and save lives in the future. America is now facing a great challenge in homeland security, we must build the national measurement infrastructure and develop new technologies that will protect our national infrastructure, strengthen homeland security, and help combat terrorism. The development of Smart Advanced Materials and Structural Systems technologies is one of the key challenges to meeting our national needs.