CREATE is an interdisciplinary national research center based at the University of Southern California and funded by the Department of Homeland Security. The Center is focused on risk and economic analysis of the U.S. and comprises a team of experts from across the country, including partnerships with New York University and the University of Wisconsin at Madison.

"The CREATE program brings together some of the finest scholars and researchers in the fight against terrorism. Using some of the most advanced models and tools available, these remarkable people are helping us to assess the risk of terrorism, guage its economic consequences, and propose and evaluate strategies for making us safer and more secure. It is precisely this type of cost-benefit, risk-management approach that is needed to help prevent the kind of catastrophic attack we sustained on 9/11."

                   - Secretary Michael Chertoff, U.S Department of Homeland Security

CREATE's mission is to improve our Nation's security through the development of advanced models and tools for the evaluation of the risks, costs and consequences of terrorism and to guide economically viable investments in homeland security. We will accomplish our mission through an integrated program of research, education and outreach that is designed to inform and support decisions made by elected officials and governmental employees at the national, state, and local levels. We are also working with private industry, both to improve the security of private enterprises and to work in partnership toward meeting the needs of public organizations.

The Center aims to become the world's leading academic program for modeling the risks and vulnerabilities of terrorism, assessing the direct and indirect consequences, gauging their economic impacts, and evaluating the effectiveness of countermeasures.