In 2012, the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) approached the National Research Council’s TIGER standing committee and asked it to develop a list of workshop topics to explore the impact of emerging science and technology. One topic that came out of that list was adaptive structural materials. This workshop was held on July 11-12, 2012.
The statement of task for the workshop can be found in Box 1-1. The objectives for the workshop were to explore the potential use of adaptive structural materials science and technology for military application. Understanding the current research in this area, and the potential opportunities to use this research by U.S. adversaries, allows the Defense Warning Office to advise U.S. policy makers in an appropriate and timely manner to take action on those areas deemed a national security risk. The workshop featured invited presentations and discussions that aimed to:
• Review the latest advances and applications both nationally and internationally related to adaptive structural materials scientific research and technology development.
• Review adaptive materials related to shape memory, magnetostrictive materials, magnetic shape memory alloys, phase change materials, and other metal and non-metallic materials research that may be uncovered during the course of workshop preparation and execution, to include all soft or nanoscale materials such as those used in human bone or tissue.
• Review modeling, processing and fabrication related to defining designs or design requirements for future military or dual-use air, space, land, sea or human systems.
• Review dual-use applications of commercial adaptive structural materials research and development, and the potential impacts on U.S. national security interests.
The workshop then focused on the application of adaptive structural materials technology and the national security implications for the United States, discussing U.S. and foreign researchers’ current research, why the state or non-state actor application of a technology is important in the context of technological and military capabilities, and what critical breakthroughs are needed to advance the field.
The Committee for a Review of Adaptive Structural Materials Research That Could Pose a Threat to US National Security Interests: A Workshop devised an agenda (see Appendix B) that helped the committee, sponsors, and attendees probe issues of national security related to materials as well as gain an understanding of potential vulnerabilities. This report summarizes the views expressed by individual workshop participants. While the committee is responsible for the overall quality and accuracy of the report as a record of what transpired at the workshop, the views contained in the report are not necessarily
those of all workshop participants, the committee, or the National Research Council. This workshop was not intended to provide a comprehensive review of the state of adaptive structural materials.
BOX 1-1
Statement of Task
An ad hoc committee will plan and conduct a two day workshop on selected national security implications of recent advances in adaptive structural materials. The workshop will feature invited presentations and panelists and include discussions on adaptive structural materials research and application that could create a technological surprise to our Nation's security and require US Defense Department intelligence monitoring and advance warning to allow national leaders to take action. The committee will plan the agenda, select and invite speakers and discussants, and moderate the discussions.
The content of this report is divided between two chapters which correspond to the discussions and presentations on each day. Chapter 2 summarizes presentations and discussions held on the first day of the workshop, July 11, 2012. Chapter 3 chronicles the discussions from the second day of the workshop, July 12, 2012. The three appendices contain, in order, the biographies of the committee members, the agenda and list of attendees, and the biographies of the presenters. A distinction is noted in Chapters 2 and 3 as to whether the material is from the presenters or from participant discussion.
