Science, Technology, and Global Security
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The
1960 Arms Control Issue
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The Academy undertakes
studies to explore how the international community can devise new cooperative
structures to improve global security and employ science and technology to
enhance the human condition. The activities of several longstanding committees,
including the Committee on
International Security Studies, are grouped under this program area.
Global security has long been a concern of the Academy.
One of the earliest volumes of the Academy's journal,
Dædalus, was a 1960 Special Issue on Arms Control that helped
fashion an intellectual framework for the fledgling area of nuclear weapons
arms control. Since the publication of that seminal issue, the Academy has
retained its strong commitment to engaging contemporary security challenges,
especially as they expand to include such new concerns as overpopulation,
environmental degradation, terrorism, small-arms trade, corruption,
carbon-based energy dependence, and the development of space-based weapons.
Other Science, Technology, and Global Security projects
draw on the Academy's unique mix of scientists, humanists, social scientists,
lawyers, and others to analyze the international impact of rapid developments
in science and technology; suggest approaches to governing those
transformations; and formulate a broader understanding of the social
implications of these advances.
Current Program Activities
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Initiative for
Science, Engineering, and Technology: Launched in 2006, this
major Academy initiative explores how science and technology are changing, how
to help the public understand those changes, and how society can better adapt
to those changes.
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The Global Nuclear Future:
This project seeks to generate an integrated set of policy recommendations for
balancing the growing global demand for civilian nuclear power with the need to
promote nuclear safety and strengthen the nuclear nonproliferation regime.
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U.S. Policy Toward Russia:
This project seeks to develop a new post-cold war U.S. policy toward Russia that is comprehensive, coherent, and well-integrated within overall U.S. foreign policy.
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Reconsidering the Rules of Space:
This study examines the global security implications of expanding commercial
and military uses of space, and considers international rules and principles
needed to maintain a balanced use of space over the long term.
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Securing the Internet as
Public Space: Free and unrestricted public use of the Internet involves
the fundamental building blocks of Internet communication – trust, identity,
power, and control. This project considers the social, political, economic,
legal, and technical factors that affect the evolving design of the Internet.
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Alternative Models for the
Federal Funding of Science: With the United States’ preeminence in
science, engineering, and technology being challenged in the new global
economy, the Academy assembled a panel of experts to examine current science
funding policies, mechanisms, and processes, and to recommend strategies for
maximizing the impact of federal dollars.
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Science in the Liberal Arts
Curriculum: Less than one-third of American undergraduates major in the
natural sciences, mathematics, or engineering. This project examines the goals
of science requirements for nonscientists, and how students fulfill those
requirements, in an effort to inform curriculum policies at higher education
institutions.
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Countering Corruption in
Nation-States: What is corruption? How does it work? Why does it
matter? This project considers these questions and investigates the link
between corruption and political and economic transformation, as well as the
effects of corruption in the larger international setting.
Past Projects and Publications
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International Security in the
Post-Soviet Space: This series of studies explored issues affecting
international security in the former Soviet states.
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War With Iraq: Costs, Consequences and Alternatives (pdf):
This December 2002 report analyzed the possible political, military, and
economic impact of war with Iraq.
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Global Security Implications
of Joint Missile Surveillance Data: An Academy study group
evaluated the potential of a proposed joint US-Russian center for the exchange
of data on missile launches.
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The United States and the International
Criminal Court: The International Criminal Court is designed to
bring to justice individuals who commit genocide, war crimes, and crimes
against humanity. The Academy brought together legal, political, and military
experts to examine the proposed International Criminal Court and its meaning
for US security.
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Humankind's Origins: This project brought together experts in the biological
sciences, physical sciences, and social sciences to examine the evolution and
origin of human biology, behavior, and society.
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Governance of Innovation in the Biosciences: An Academy working group explored
emerging issues in the governance of biotechnology.
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1990s
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1980s
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1970s
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1960s
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1950s
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