Science and Technology (S&T) Analytic Assessments

Abstract

This PE supports the Department's initiatives to Defend the Homeland, Deter Aggression, Prevail in Conflict, and Build an Enduring Advantage. This PE directly supports the Office of Strategic Intelligence and Analysis (OSI&A) for the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense, Research and Engineering (OUSD(R&E)). OSI&A’s campaign of analysis approach integrates intelligence reporting and independent technical expertise to execute comparative assessments. These assessments inform investment decisions and shape the development of innovative capabilities to address emerging threats and opportunities from a diverse range of state and non-state actors as outlined in the National Defense Strategy (NDS) and as reported through the Intelligence Community (IC). The complexity of capability gaps in the future operating environment combined with the speed of emerging threat development requires a broadly scoped “red vs blue” approach. This approach provides integrated baselines for OUSD(R&E) analyses and investment decisions that are reflective of cross-cutting Joint Force plans, missions, and concepts. Trends and potential impacts related to global critical and emerging technology developments are analyzed and assessed, and findings are integrated with IC reporting to enable decision advantage in OUSD(R&E) and inform strategies for maintaining technological superiority and modernizing key capabilities for the Joint Force. Analysis and assessments are focused on challenges related to NDS and National Defense Science and Technology Strategy (NDSTS) objectives and competitors' research and development trends. Two lines of effort accomplish this mission: 1) Science and Technology (S&T) Analytic Assessments integrate information from the acquisition, intelligence, operational, and S&T communities to quantify key attributes of emerging critical challenges and assess counter technology opportunities. The framework includes execution of the following activities: - Net Technical Assessments (NTA). OSI&A partners with Federally Funded Research and Development Centers, University Affiliated Research Centers, industry, and academia to conduct comparative assessments of critical technologies to determine technological advantage and inform investment decisions across the Department of Defense (DoD) S&T Enterprise. Critical technologies of interest to the DoD and strategic context drawn from the NDS, NDSTS, and DoD planning efforts set the bounds for the assessment of technological applications that could deliver operational advantage to the Joint Force along future development and deployment timelines. - Operational and Technical Assessments. Evaluations of DoD operational scenarios and warfighting concepts that identify operational gaps, incorporating IC-derived adversary threat trends and the technical demands of the future operational environment to determine challenges that could be mitigated or eliminated through the application of emerging and disruptive technologies. - Technology-based Wargames. Execution of an array of purpose-built games and workshops that integrate the operational, technology, and intelligence communities to characterize emerging technologies in the context of the future operational environment, evaluate their disruptive potential, and identify opportunities and challenges. Insights from these efforts inform programmatic and policy decisions related to the development of operational concepts across the Department. 2) Technology Watch and Horizon Scanning combines analysis of complex, unstructured, open-source data sets with intelligence reporting to enable monitoring and analysis of global research and development activities, underpinning characterization of the global technology environment and informing portfolio investment decisions across the DoD S&T Enterprise. These characterizations establish the global technology landscape that informs OSI&A S&T analytic assessment efforts and frames the larger campaign of analysis. The framework includes the following activities: - Technology Watch. Analysis of global open-source science, technology, research, and development efforts and in-person conference, symposium, and workshop attendance to characterize the global landscape of known science, technology, and concepts and to identify trends that can provide indicators and warnings of disruptive technology advances. Integrating the methodologies and findings from technology forecasting, maturation assessments, and NTA efforts supports global research watch activities to identify technological development areas for research and investment. - Horizon Scanning. Systematic execution of analytic techniques applied to large, complex open-source data for the identification of emerging science and technology capable of altering the future operating environment. - Intelligence Integration. Structured execution of recurring technical exchanges between the OUSD(R&E) stakeholders and S&T intelligence subject matter experts. These engagements enable the direct exchange of OUSD(R&E) intelligence needs and IC finished intelligence products to compliment open-source findings and establish a comprehensive understanding of the global technology landscape. Additionally, OUSD(R&E) level input and perspectives support IC scientific and technical intelligence initiatives and inform intelligence community priorities, investment decisions, and strategic direction. - International Partner Collaboration. Cooperative identification and early-stage investigation of emerging technologies that generate opportunities and solve critical challenges common to the national security of the U.S. and our international partners. Due to the emergent nature of challenges and threats, specific analytic foci are unlikely to be identified beyond the current budget year. The process for developing and executing assessments can span fiscal years and may have multiple phases as trends progress and new information arises through open-source technology trend analysis and intelligence reporting.

Document Details

• Document Type: R2 Budgetary Justification
• Publication Date: Oct 01, 2025
• Source ID: 0603288D8Z_3_0400_PB_2025
• Change Summary Explanation: FY 2025 increase of $5.692 million enables an agile and responsive resourcing posture to execute net technical assessments and analyses of global emerging threats and technological developments, in addition to collaborative analysis with international partners. Funds realigned from PE0602251D8Z227 - Applied Research for the Advancement of S&T Priorities. In addition, funding increase of $0.062 million is for Economic Assumptions.
• Service Agency Name: Office of the Secretary Of Defense

Entities

Organizations

• Office of the Secretary of Defense

Tags

Fields of Study

• Environmental science

Readers

• Defense Technology Research and Development.
• Enterprise Information Systems Architecture and Joint Command Capability Interoperability Support.