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Overview

The Intelligence Community Studies Board (ICSB) of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine convened a workshop on February 27, 2020, to explore insights from world-class experts and technologists familiar with the extensive range of issues associated with the counterproliferation mission, which is countering the spread of weapons of mass destruction (WMD), their delivery systems, related technologies, and expertise as a result of indigenous developments and/or transfers between entities. Existing and emerging capabilities, technical implications, along with cultural, regulatory, policy, and legal issues, were all of interest and importance. The workshop was sponsored by the National Counterproliferation Center (NCPC) within the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI). See Box 1.1 for the original statement of task.

To conduct this workshop, a workshop planning committee was appointed to identify potential speakers and design the workshop agenda. Planning committee and staff worked with the sponsor in advance of the meeting to refine topics. The sponsor indicated interest in science and technology (S&T) research at the intersection of emerging or scaling domains that may hold relevance for the mission of the NCPC. Discussions focused on biology, cyber, and data

as potentially fruitful areas to consider in this regard, and speakers and topics were chosen accordingly. National Academies staff worked with ODNI to invite staff from Intelligence Community (IC) agencies. Approximately 50 participants, including the planning committee, invited panelists, IC staff and officials, and staff, participated in the 1-day workshop held in Washington, D.C.

These proceedings have been prepared by the workshop rapporteurs as a factual summary of what occurred at the workshop. The planning committee’s role was limited to planning and convening the workshop. The views conveyed in this publication are those of individual workshop participants and do not necessarily represent the views of their employers, the workshop participants as a whole, the planning committee, the National Academies, the sponsor, or any other affiliated organizations.

Mim John, Workshop Planning Committee Chair, and Alan MacDougall, the Director of the NCPC, each provided opening remarks. The workshop was designed to explore emerging technology intersections of interest with relevance to the mission of the NCPC. These intersections and areas of potential convergence were explored over the course of several talks and accompanying discussion. A session to consider prospects for future productive partnerships for the NCPC was also held. The workshop concluded with a plenary wrap-up session in which all panelists, committee members, and attendees were invited to share their top takeaways and any final comments.