journal article
Novel Non-Kinetic Threats to Homeland Security: A New Security Paradigm for Review with the Journal of Homeland Security and Emergency Management
Abstract
This article aims to define novel non-kinetic threats (NKTs) to homeland security and to develop an analytical framework for understanding these threats in a homeland security context. NKTs result from a convergence of emerging technologies that have enabled the merger of the physical, biological, and digital realms, which is the foundation of the so-called Fourth Industrial Revolution. It is argued that NKTs are the center of a new mode of global conflict that plays out between societies as much as it plays out within societies. Everybody can be both a participant or target in non-kinetic warfare. Given the wide range of different non-kinetic actions that can be employed by an adversary for achieving desirable effects on targets and the challenge that many of these non-kinetic actions are difficult to detect since they may have ambiguous, temporary, or not visible effects, there are huge challenges for the homeland security sector to fully understand and appropriately respond to these threats. One example that is discussed to illustrate the general challenges related to NKTs is Havana Syndrome, which falls into the sub-category of neuro-cognitive warfare. It is argued that a new homeland security paradigm and new analytical tools are needed. © 2026 Walter de Gruyter GmbH. All rights reserved.
Author keywords
directed energy weapons; emerging technologies; havana syndrome; non-kinetic threats (nkts); technology convergence