Reform of the National Security Science and Technology Enterprise

Abstract

A strong science and technology (S&T) program has been vitally important to American national security since World War II and has to date given the United States a strategic advantage over competitors. During World War II and throughout the Cold War, highly specific and large-scale technology needs led to the concentration of national security S&T (NSST) programs in a few agencies, with little cross-agency coordination. Since the end of the Cold War, circumstances have changed greatly. Meeting new and emerging threats to national security from global climate change to the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and global terrorism requires an effective mechanism for direction, funding, and integration of the highly fragmented and very wide range of Federally supported S&T. Science and technology underlie the elements of national power (diplomacy, intelligence, military, economics), but they are only rarely named as elements of national power, and the priorities, policies, and personnel for S&T are often neglected. Specific S&T capabilities have been particularly isolated in direct applications to traditional security capabilities, and fragmented even more in addressing the new and broad challenges to our security. Thus, the structure and integration of S&T in the Executive Branch agencies, integration of congressional S&T committees, and the roles and responsibilities of Government scientists and engineers, are key issues that must be considered when evaluating how we can significantly improve our nation s security. With the onset of World War II, President Franklin Roosevelt, convinced of the importance of S&T to winning the war effort, created the wartime Office of Scientific Research and Development (OSRD) in 1941. Led by the visionary Vannevar Bush, the goal of the OSRD was to develop a strategic enterprise for national research supporting the military.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Oct 01, 2008
Accession Number
ADA489377

Entities

People

  • Cheryl Loeb
  • Donald Deyoung
  • James Kadtke
  • Timothy P. Coffey
  • William L Berry

Organizations

  • National Defense University

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical
  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Human Systems
  • Space

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Business Administration
  • Climate Change
  • Congress
  • Department Of State
  • Employment
  • Federal Budgets
  • Homeland Security
  • Jet Propulsion
  • Law
  • Management Personnel
  • National Politics
  • National Security
  • Organizational Structure
  • Personnel Management
  • Public Administration
  • Public Policy
  • United States Government

Fields of Study

  • Political science

Readers

  • Military History of the United States in the 20th Century.
  • Military Science and Technology Research and Modernization.
  • Strategic Security Studies