Defense and Technology Papers

Follow

• 

  Strengthening Government Laboratory Science and Technology Programs: Some Thoughts for the Department of Homeland Security

  Samuel Musa, Richard Chait, Vincent Russo, and Donna Back

  This paper summarizes the second phase of a research and analysis project that stemmed from the initial work which provided DHS Science and Technology leadership with examples of practical approaches to risk-informed decisionmaking and metrics for program and project selection. The second phase was undertaken to provide additional relevant information to DHS as it seeks to strengthen its laboratory programs.

• 

  Challenges to Leadership: Responding to Biological Threats

  Paul Rosenzweig

  This paper seeks to identify certain gaps and overlaps in existing structure and mechanisms and to advance potential solutions that can be implemented. It examines two issues of concern: Federal Coordination Structure and Federal/State Coordination and recommends that a more comprehensive set of planning and response exercises be developed in order to better understand and develop a doctrine of incident leadership suitable for a biological crisis.

• 

  Assessing Military Benefits of S&T Investments in Micro Autonomous Systems Utilizing a Gedanken Experiment

  Albert Sciarretta, Joseph N. Mait, Richard Chait, Elizabeth Redden, and Jordan Wilcox

  This paper address The Army Research Laboratory’s Micro-Autonomous Systems and Technology Collaborative Technology Alliance program which was chosen to demonstrate the utility of the methodology in the evaluation of an actual Army S&T effort. It was chosen because it offers significant future capabilities for our Army, provides a set of very robust present-day technical challenges, and offers a significant assessment challenge since it is focused on basic research.

• 

  Task Force Stryker Network-Centric Operations in Afghanistan

  Harry Tunnell IV

  This case study examines the real-world application of the network-centric warfare concept during combat operations in Afghanistan.

• 

  Analysis of the Threat of Genetically Modified Organisms for Biological Warfare

  Jerry B. Warner, Alan J. Ramsbotham Jr., Ewelina Tunia, and James J. Valdes

  This study seeks to better understand the evaluation of the potential threats posed by advances in biotechnology, especially genetically modified organisms and synthetic biology. It narrows the scope of consideration into two parts: defining a catastrophic biological attack focused on bioterrorism and that this attack would be restricted to the United States.

• 

  A Primer on Alternative Transportation Fuels

  Timothy Coffey

  This paper reviews several approaches to producing alternative transportation fuels using feedstocks that are under the control of the United States. The purpose is to provide the non-specialist reader with a general understanding of the several approaches, how they compare regarding process energy efficiency, their individual abilities to provide for national transportation fuel needs, and their associated capital costs.

• 

  Hours of Boredom, Moments of Terror: Temporal Desynchrony in Military and Security Force Operations

  Peter A. Hancock and Gerald P. Krueger

  The authors examine resultant psychological and behavioral implications for combatant and security personnel performance as viewed through application of a traditional human psychological stress model. Inadequate recognition of the implications resulting from long lull periods, combat pulses, and the need to recover from stress can lead to dysfunctional soldiering as well as poor individual and small unit performance.

• 

  Assessing the Health of Army Laboratories: Funding for Basic Research and Laboratory Capital Equipment

  John W. Lyons and Richard Chait

  In this paper, the authors respond to requests from the office of the Army S&T Executive to address the adequacy of the funding provided to equipment and basic research in an effective S&T laboratory.

• 

  Improving the Army’s Next Effort in Technology Forecasting

  John W. Lyons, Richard Chait, and Simone Erchov

  This paper makes the case for approaches to be pursued when the Army conducts its next comprehensive S&T forecasting effort.

• 

  Islamic Radicalization in the United States: New Trends and a Proposed Methodology for Disruption

  Samuel Musa and Samuel Bendett

  This paper addresses the growing and evolving threat of domestic terrorism that is advocated and perpetrated by radical Islamic ideologues. Specifically it will review terrorist attempts on American soil and against the American population in order to offer recommendations.

• 

  Risk-Informed Decisionmaking for Science and Technology

  Samuel Musa, William Berry, Richard Chait, John W. Lyons, and Vincent Russo

  This paper discusses risks and impact areas in relation to decisionmaking and the development of metrics or a figure of merit for decisionmaking. The metrics are then applied to three examples of interest to the Army, Air Force, and DHS.

• 

  Bio-Inspired Materials and Devices for Chemical and Biological Defense

  James J. Valdes and Erica R. Valdes

  This report addresses materials for synthetic matrices of chemical and biological defense using a conceptual platform known as the abiotic networked threat system (ANTS). This system is based on lessons learned from biology, incorporating abiotic homologues to biological recognition events and metabolic pathways to provide programmable capabilities to sense and respond to environmental threats.

• 

  NATO Command Structure: Considerations for the Future

  W. Bruce Weinrod and Charles L. Barry

  This paper explores potential future reforms of the NATO command structure. The intent is to stimulate thought on the current structure’s fit to oversee the forces and operations of a growing array of NATO missions.

• 

  Army Science and Technology Investment In Interoperability

  Charles L. Barry

  This paper discusses the elements of assessing ‘bang for bucks’ with regard to S&T investment in interoperability. It intends to point to where interoperability investment offers the greatest return and to open our thinking to the possibility that universal interoperability of all systems is not a desirable or attainable goal, especially when allocating investments and accepting reasonable risk.

• 

  What Democracy for Afghanistan? An Analysis Utilizing Established Norms and Five Non-Western Case Studies

  Charles L. Barry and Samuel R. Greene

  This paper looks at democratic governance and what might be expected to take root in a society such as Afghanistan, shedding light on what is necessary, as a minimum, for democracy to become established. Suggesting replacements for goals that may be simply unattainable, such as an Afghan democracy held to an unrealistic Jeffersonian standard, it aims to impart a sense of what can be accomplished before international political will expires.

• 

  Understanding and Leading Porous Network Organizations: An Analysis Based on the 7-S Model

  Paul T. Bartone and Linton Wells II

  This paper evaluates STAR-TIDES , an organization seeking to develop and share knowledge and technologies to enhance the capacity of disparate groups to respond effectively to disasters and humanitarian crises. Analyzing STAR-TIDES as a porous network organization, it applies an organizational analysis tool known as the “7-S framework” to clarify some of the key issues that must be addressed for such organizations to be effective and adaptive.

• 

  Social Software and National Security: An Initial ‘Net Assessment’

  Mark D. Drapeau and Linton Wells II

  This research paper as an initial net assessment of how social software interacts with government and security in the broadest sense.1 The analysis looks at both sides of what once might have been called a “blue-red” balance to investigate how social software is being used (or could be used) by not only the United States and its allies, but also by adversaries and other counterparties.

• 

  An Extended Deterrence Regime to Counter Iranian Nuclear Weapons: Issues and Options

  Richard L. Kugler

  This paper examines the idea of creating an American-led extended deterrence regime in the Middle East to address potential Iranian acquisition of nuclear weapons and missiles in a setting where the U.S. already possesses these weapons and is trying to employ them to geopolitical advantage.

• 

  Operation Anaconda: Lessons for Joint Operations

  Richard L. Kugler, Michael Baranick, and Hans Binnendijk

  This study is not an official history of Anaconda but an analysis of lessons that can be learned from that battle and applied to future joint operations. This study’s intent is not to criticize, but instead to offer observations for joint operations, multinational operations, and expeditionary warfare in austere settings.

• 

  The Active Denial System: A Revolutionary, Non-lethal Weapon for Today’s Battlefield

  Susan LeVine

  This paper explains and describes the advantages to ADS (Active Denial Systems) and how they can provide troops a capability they currently do not have, the ability to reach out and engage potential adversaries at distances well beyond small arms range, and in a safe, effective, and non-lethal manner.

• 

  Pandemic Flu Planning in Africa: Thoughts from a Nigerian Case Study

  Cheryl Loeb, Lynn McGrath, and Sudhir Devalia

  This paper discusses the Avian Influenza/Pandemic Influenza Policy Planning workshop held in Nigeria in June 2007, the objective of which was assisting selected Nigerian officials in evaluating their nation’s pandemic response plan.

• 

  Strengthening Technical Peer Review at the Army S&T Laboratories

  John W. Lyons and Richard Chait

  The paper recommends that the Army require peer review of the technical quality of its laboratories and proposes a set of norms that must be met. The principal recommendation is that reviews be performed by independent experts who visit the laboratory for two or more days, looking at the technical projects and the strength of the technical staff, equipment, and facilities.

• 

  Forecasting Science and Technology for the Department of Defense

  John W. Lyons, Richard Chait, and James J. Valdes

  This paper discusses recent trends in S&T, particularly how various disciplines have converged to produce new capabilities, and considers how a new series of studies might be conducted taking into account such convergences.

• 

  Improving the Interface between Industry and Army Science and Technology: Some Thoughts on the Army’s Independent Research and Development Program

  John W. Lyons, Richard Chait, and Jordan Wilcox

  This paper presents the various ways that the Army laboratories link their work with external laboratories and looks for ways to improve these interfaces, with special emphasis on the IR&D (Independent Research & Development) program.

• 

  Defending the Military Food Supply: Acquisition, Preparation, and Protection of Food at U.S. Military Installations

  Andrew S. Mara and Lynn McGrath

  This paper examines current measures in place to defend the military food supply and provides a series of recommendations that will enhance food defense and provide ancillary benefits to the military.