National Academies Press: OpenBook
« Previous: Front Matter
Suggested Citation:"Preface." National Research Council. 2005. Nanotechnology for the Intelligence Community. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11276.
×

PREFACE

The intelligence community (IC) of the United States faces a different set of challenges from those that dominated its formative years during the Cold War. The collapse of the Soviet Union, the acceleration of globalization, and the emergence of terror as the primary threat to U.S. society are but a few of the salient aspects of this new environment.

Another dimension of change is the revolutionary advance in scientific understanding and its application across many new technologies. An example is nanotechnology and the development of new tools to analyze and manipulate matter at the molecular level. The pace of technology growth and its rate of proliferation across the world also present major new challenges. The opportunities that these advances represent require new and more aggressive ways to extract positive advantage. The ability of terrorists and other threats to access these advances is a growing concern relating to our security.

STATEMENT OF TASK

The IC requested that the National Materials Advisory Board of the National Research Council undertake a study of the rapidly developing area of nanotechnology and its implications for the IC's various missions. Specifically, the statement of task for this work was as follows:

The National Materials Advisory Board will form a Committee that will conduct a number of activities to illustrate the potential for nanotechnology to address key intelligence community needs. The Committee of experts undertaking this task shall

also discuss new and disruptive technologies to address these needs, and assess opportunities to counter these technologies.

The Committee will:

1. Describe the technology challenges and opportunities for nanotechnology to enable new functions and systems for use by the intelligence community. Consider the implications of miniaturization, science at the nanoscale, and atomistic and molecular assembly in two separate workshops for the following:

a. Power technologies

b. Sensing and positioning technologies

2. Evaluate the potential for advances in these technologies to address needs as presented to the Committee by the intelligence community.

3. For each technology, describe a path and associated risks to achieve near-term (immediate), mid-term (3-5 years), and long-term (10 years) goals. Consider the infrastructure, including equipment, human resources, and knowledge base, needed to carry out these activities.

4. In addition, discuss potential new and disruptive ways that nanotechnology can address these intelligence community needs.

5. Assess opportunities to counter these predicted technology capabilities.

Suggested Citation:"Preface." National Research Council. 2005. Nanotechnology for the Intelligence Community. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11276.
×

STUDY DELIVERABLES

In response to Task 1 above, the Committee held a workshop on power technologies on October 9-10, 2003, in Washington, D.C., and a workshop on sensing and positioning technologies on October 27-28,2003, in Washington, D.C. Proceedings of those workshops were prepared by an outside rapporteur, and are publicly available. Using sponsor briefings and the workshop proceedings, the Committee identified 23 topical areas in which it believed nanotechnology could contribute materially to IC mission capabilities (Task 2). Assessments of these topics, along with associated findings and recommendations, comprise the final report of this study, which can be accessed at: http://www.jicrd.cia.gov/papers/reportslindex.htm. The unclassified version of this final report is presented here. Biographical sketches of Committee members are given in Appendix A.

Suggested Citation:"Preface." National Research Council. 2005. Nanotechnology for the Intelligence Community. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11276.
×
Page 1
Suggested Citation:"Preface." National Research Council. 2005. Nanotechnology for the Intelligence Community. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11276.
×
Page 2
Next: Executive Summary »
Nanotechnology for the Intelligence Community Get This Book
×
MyNAP members save 10% online.
Login or Register to save!
Download Free PDF

The emergence of nanotechnology as a major science and technology research topic has sparked substantial interest by the intelligence community. In particular the community is interested both in the potential for nanotechnology to assist intelligence operations and threats it could create. To explore these questions, the Intelligence Technology Innovation Center asked the National Research Council to conduct a number of activities to illustrate the potential for nanotechnology to address key intelligence community needs. In 2004, workshop reports were issued on power systems and on positioning and sensing technologies. The final report provides an assessment of a wide range of additional technologies. The report also presents a series of findings and recommendations about areas of opportunities for the intelligence community and strategies for exploiting these opportunities.

  1. ×

    Welcome to OpenBook!

    You're looking at OpenBook, NAP.edu's online reading room since 1999. Based on feedback from you, our users, we've made some improvements that make it easier than ever to read thousands of publications on our website.

    Do you want to take a quick tour of the OpenBook's features?

    No Thanks Take a Tour »
  2. ×

    Show this book's table of contents, where you can jump to any chapter by name.

    « Back Next »
  3. ×

    ...or use these buttons to go back to the previous chapter or skip to the next one.

    « Back Next »
  4. ×

    Jump up to the previous page or down to the next one. Also, you can type in a page number and press Enter to go directly to that page in the book.

    « Back Next »
  5. ×

    Switch between the Original Pages, where you can read the report as it appeared in print, and Text Pages for the web version, where you can highlight and search the text.

    « Back Next »
  6. ×

    To search the entire text of this book, type in your search term here and press Enter.

    « Back Next »
  7. ×

    Share a link to this book page on your preferred social network or via email.

    « Back Next »
  8. ×

    View our suggested citation for this chapter.

    « Back Next »
  9. ×

    Ready to take your reading offline? Click here to buy this book in print or download it as a free PDF, if available.

    « Back Next »
Stay Connected!