National Security & International Affairs

From bio-terror to cyber-sabotage to avian flu, our nation is ever at risk from natural and manmade threats that could destabilize society and paralyze our economy. New developments in science and technology offer the best hope of predicting and preventing these disasters and, when they are unavoidable, minimizing their impacts and helping our nation recover from them as quickly as possible.

The Obama administration and the Office of Science and Technology Policy is committed to assessing these risks realistically and devoting generous resources to research and development projects that promise to serve and preserve the nation in the midst of such threats. In the furtherance of these important goals, we will:

• Ensure that our defense, homeland security and intelligence agencies are bolstered with the strongest possible research leadership and are adequately funded to develop breakthrough science that can be quickly converted into new capabilities for our security.
• Put basic defense research funding on a path to double; revitalize applied defense research programs; strengthen defense research management; and renew the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).
• Protect the U.S in cyberspace, in part by building a stronger and more productive research program.
• Strengthen U.S. intelligence collection overseas to identify and interdict would-be bioterrorists before they strike, and expand the federal government’s bioforensics program for tracking the source of any biological weapon.

At the same time, smart science must be brought to bear to reduce the terrible risk of nuclear proliferation. The Obama administration and OSTP are committed to:

• Securing all loose nuclear materials in the world within four years
• Strengthening the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty
• Achieving the goal of making this a world without nuclear weapons