DESSI

Investments in the security of European citizens have increased dramatically. Oftentimes the decisions are made behind closed doors – the focus on security issues overshadows the political, ethical and social aspects.

DESSI’s goal is to support investment decisions by suggesting effective alternatives

The DESSI project (Decision Support on Security Investment) aims to develop a tool that will support decision-makers in situations, where different measures for a security-related problem are available. This enables a comparison and evaluation of different measures to promote transparency in decision-making and security policies. The comparison will be made within different dimensions that include benefits, threats and costs for a specific context/situation and possible security solutions. This approach will make the DESSI tool unique.

Security investment always includes a choice between different approaches to increasing security. DESSI makes this choice transparent by understanding the nature of a threat and describing and evaluating the security investment alongside its alternatives. The alternatives are identified or developed in a participatory process, including experts and stakeholders. As the views on the issue can be highly controversial, the inclusion of a broad range of relevant actors ensures that a wide spectrum of opinions is seriously taken on board in the assessment procedure.

Planned results

The DESSI project will provide a web-based decision support system, which will give insight into the pros and cons of specific security investments. It will contribute to a transparent and participatory decision-making that accounts for context and multi-dimensionality of society. It will be useful for public authorities, developers of security solutions, commercial enterprises and for social organizations that can use the DESSI tool to make their own comprehensive assessment as an input to strategic discussions or public debate.