Reform of the National Security Science and Technology Enterprise

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 C old 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 e merging 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.