Emerging Technology and Security

This program focuses on understanding the impact of emerging technologies on national and international security, as well as on the prospects for defense transformation. For example, what role will nanotechnology, cognitive science, biotechnology, and converging sciences have on states vs. non-state actors, manned vs. unmanned systems, balances of power, the offense-defense balance, deterrence and coercive strategies, security doctrines, nonproliferation regimes, and national defense programmatic choices?

Biological and Chemical Nonproliferation and Counterterrorism

From the chlorine gas attacks of World War I through the biological threats of the Cold War and to the present day, limiting the proliferation of chemical and biological weapons has been a significant international issue. The last decade, however, has brought an intersection of two key drivers that require a completely new way to look at chemical and biological defense and the challenges of chemical and biological proliferation and terrorism.