ABSTRACT
In the days following 11 September 2001, all geographers felt a sense of loss – people we knew perished, and along with everyone else we experienced discomfort in our own lives and a diminished level of confidence that the world will be a safe and secure place for our children and grandchildren. Many of us who are geographers felt an urge and a need to see if we could find ways to apply our knowledge and expertise to make the world more secure. A number of our colleagues assisted immediately by sharing specific geographical knowledge (such as Jack Shroder's expert knowledge on the caves in Afghanistan) or more generally by assisting rescue and relief efforts through our technical expertise in geographic information systems (GIS) and remote sensing (such as Hunter College's Center for the Analysis and Research of Spatial Information and various geographers at federal agencies and in the private sector). Still others sought to enhance the nation's research capacity in the geographical dimensions of terrorism (the Association of American Geographers' Geographical Dimensions of Terrorism project). Many of us have given considerable thought to how our science and practice might be useful in both the short and longer terms. One result is the set of contributions to this book.
