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THE REALITY
The ability of the United States to fund, and thereby accomplish, its national security
goals depends heavily on the strength of the nation’s economy. The vibrancy of that economy
has in turn been shown to depend heavily on advancements in science and engineering. 1
Similarly, the ability of the nation’s military to prevail during future conflicts, particularly while
minimizing casualties, depends heavily on continued advances in the STEM capabilities of the
workforce, as do its humanitarian and other missions.
Today, however, the activities of the Department of Defense devoted to science,
technology, engineering, and mathematics are a small and diminishing part of the nation’s
overall science and engineering enterprise. A consequence is that the DOD cannot significantly
influence the nation’s overall STEM workforce needsand therefore should focus its limited
resources principally on fulfilling its own, often special, requirements.
THE DILEMMA
As a general rule, a student must decide in the 8th grade or earlier whether to preserve the
option to pursue a career in STEM fields because of the hierarchical character of mathematics
(the “language” of STEM). The traditional U.S. education course takes about 8 years after the
8th grade to graduate an individual with a bachelor’s degree in science or engineeringand
about 14 years to graduate an individual with a doctoral degree in one of those fields.
The historical record of forecasting the number of scientists and engineers needed to
work in national security has been abysmaldue largely to inherent uncertainties in future
threats and to the unpredictability of future technological advancements. It may of course be
argued that this poor record of forecasting need not have been the case.
Turning to technology as it applies to the military, the ability to forecast significant
advancements hardly improved from the invention of the riding stirrup to the development of
stealth material. Indeed, looking back 40 yearsor even 10 yearsfew would have predicted
1
National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, and Institute of Medicine. 2007. Rising
Above the Gathering Storm: Energizing and Employing America for a Brighter Economic Future. Washington,
D.C.: The National Academies Press.
1
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the technology that is available today in either the military or civilian spheres. Further, the pace
of technological progress appears to be accelerating, not stabilizing or slowing.
Given the relatively small fraction of U.S. citizens graduating with first degrees in
2
STEM and the inability to forecast the sudden increases in demand for specialized STEM
workers 3 to support national security needs, aligning workforce supply and demand presents a
dilemma.
CHANGING FACTORS INFLUENCING THE DOD STEM WORKFORCE
Two fundamental developments, ironically both driven by advancements in science and
engineering, have further complicated the already complex situation described above. The first
of these is the phenomenon described by Frances Cairncross: “Distance is dead.” 4 Indeed,
globalization means that for many human endeavors—whether they be offshoring software
development or attacking targets in Afghanistan using robots operated from Nevada—distance
no longer is significant. The second fundamental change is that, for the first time in history,
individuals or small groups of individuals, acting alone, can profoundly impact the lives of very
large groups of people.
The revolutionary change now being experienced in both civilian and military affairs
does not stop with these two groundbreaking changes, however. Other lesser but still profound
changes affect the DOD’s need to obtain and retain high-quality scientific and engineering talent.
Several that relate to the changed national security environment in which the DOD must operate
include the following:
• A growing hazard to U.S. security is posed by failed states. 5
• The danger of nuclear proliferation is increasing. 6
• The utility of deterrence through the possession of superior military weapons is
eroding, in part because deterrence is less effective both for failed states and for non-
state actors. 7
• National security demands have expanded, with the threat of conventional conflicts in
such areas such as Korea, the Middle East, and possibly the Arctic region remaining
very real, while terrorism introduces a vastly different type of conflict. 8
2
National Science Board. 2012. Science and Engineering Indicators. Arlington, Va.: National Science
Foundation, Figure O-8.
3
The committee was made aware of an instance in which higher salaries for petroleum engineers led to an
apparent increase a few years later in the number of graduates with degrees in that field, which, it should be noted, is
dominated by the private sector and concentrated geographically in oil-producing regions such as the Alaskan North
Slope. National Research Council. 2012. Report of a Workshop on Science, Technology, Engineering, and
Mathematics (STEM) Workforce Needs for the U.S. Department of Defense and the U.S. Defense Industrial Base.
Washington, D.C.: The National Academies Press, p. 26.
4
Frances Cairncross. 1997. The Death of Distance. Boston, Mass.: Harvard Business School Press.
5
U.S. Department of Defense. 2010. Quadrennial Defense Review Report. Washington, D.C.: Government
Printing Office, pp. 94-95.
6
The Economist. 2012. “Nuclear Security—Threat Multiplier.” Available at
http://www.economist.com/node/21551465. Accessed April 5, 2012.
7
Sydney D. Drell. 2007. Nuclear Weapons, Scientists, and the Post Cold War Challenge: Selected Papers
on Arms Control. Hackensack, N.J.: World Scientific Publishing Company.
An Interim Report on Assuring DOD a Strong STEM Workforce 2
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Other profound changes are occurring in the way that science and technology (S&T) are
developed and acquired. For example:
• New technological opportunities and threats are appearing with ever-increasing
frequency. 9
• For many technologies, the most advanced work is no longer being conducted in the
United States. 10, 11, 12
• For most technologies, the most advanced work is no longer being conducted within
the Department of Defense or its contractor community. 13
• Knowledge can no longer be controlled because information penetrates porous
geopolitical borders at literally the speed of light. 14
CURRENT OUTLOOK
The increasing importance of STEM in maintaining a strong economy and providing
national security makes it imperative that the United States have available a substantial, high-
quality STEM workforce. However, as compared with the youth of many other countries,
American youth seem less attracted to careers in STEM fields. In the recent past this lower level
of interest has been substantially offset by the attracting of foreign-born individuals to U.S.
research universities and then making it possible for them to remain and contribute to this
nation’s well-being and to their own quality of life. More than one-half of the doctoral degrees
awarded by U.S. engineering schools go to non-U.S. citizens. Of those non-U.S. citizens who
graduated with all types of science and engineering doctorates in 2004, 38 percent had left the
United States 5 years later. 15 The fraction of master’s degrees awarded to temporary visa holders
is smaller but increasing (Figure 1).
8
Amos A. Jordan, William J. Taylor, Jr., Michael J. Meese, Suzanne C. Nielsen, and James Schlesinger.
2009. American National Security: Sixth Edition. Baltimore, Md.: Johns Hopkins University Press.
9
National Research Council. 2012. A View of Global S&T Based on Activities of the Board on Global
Science and Technology. Washington, D.C.: The National Academies Press.
10
National Research Council. 2010. S&T Strategies of Six Countries: Implications for the United States.
Washington, D.C.: The National Academies Press.
11
National Research Council. 2006. Critical Technology Accessibility. Washington, D.C.: The National
Academies Press.
12
Naval Research Advisory Committee. 2010. Status and Future of the Naval R&D Establishment.
Available at www.nrac.navy.mil/docs/2010_Summer_Study_Report.pdf. Accessed October 17, 2011.
13
Defense Science Board. 2012. Report of the Defense Science Board Task Force on Basic Research.
Available at http://www.acq.osd.mil/dsb/reports/BasicResearch.pdf. Accessed April 4, 2012.
14
National Research Council. 2006. Critical Technology Accessibility. Washington, D.C.: The National
Academies Press.
15
National Science Board. 2012. Science and Engineering Indicators. Arlington, Va.: National Science
Foundation, p. 3-51.
An Interim Report on Assuring DOD a Strong STEM Workforce 3
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FIGURE 1 Number of master's degrees awarded in the United States, by visa status of the recipients, 1995-
2009. SOURCE: Rolf Lehming, National Science Foundation, “STEM Workforce Needs of the U.S.
Department of Defense: Background Data.” Presentation to the Workshop on STEM Workforce Needs for the
U.S. Department of Defense and the U.S. Defense Industrial Base, August 1, 2011, Rosslyn, Virginia.
One-quarter of those in the U.S. science and engineering workforce outside academia are
foreign-born. 16 But this process that has worked so well in the past for the United States in
meeting its workforce needs is in jeopardy, for several reasons:
• Foreign students who remain in the United States as non-citizens after receiving a
degree are excluded from defense-related work because of the associated
requirements for security clearances and the rigidity attached to the overall security
clearance process 17 and may be excluded from certain unclassified defense work as
well.
• Opportunities are increasing in many parts of the world for scientists and engineers—
both U.S. citizens and non-citizens—to build productive careers in their native lands
and in other countries because talent is in great demand everywhere. 18
• Among the limitations to meeting STEM needs 19 is that careers in STEM seem to
remain generally unappealing to this nation’s young people because of such factors as
16
National Science Board. 2012. Science and Engineering Indicators. Arlington, Va.: National Science
Foundation, pp. O-10 and 3-48.
17
National Research Council. 2010. Critical Code: Software Producibility for Defense. Washington, D.C.:
The National Academies Press.
18
V. Wadhwa, A. Saxenian, R. Freeman, G. Gereffi, and A. Salkever. 2009. America’s Loss Is the World’s
Gain: America’s New Immigrant Entrepreneurs. Kansas City, Mo.: Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation.
19
See element 2 of the statement of task listed in the Preface.
An Interim Report on Assuring DOD a Strong STEM Workforce 4
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the extent of work required to earn degrees in these fields; the turbulence in the
STEM job market; the widely held belief that jobs in these fields are low paying (the
latter is not substantiated by the data, although there is evidence of slow wage
growth 20); and the higher-paying career paths in finance, business, law, and medicine
that have been available to students with scientific and technological talent. 21
• The current DOD civilian STEM workforce is an aging one due to past hiring freezes
and reductions in force (Figure 2), with a disproportionate segment of physical
scientists and engineers eligible to retire during the next few years (Figure 3).
FIGURE 2 Age distribution of the Department of Defense (DOD) civilian science, technology, engineering,
and mathematics (STEM) workforce, selected years: 2001, 2006, and 2011. NOTE: Figures are as of the
fiscal year-end (e.g., September 30, 2011). SOURCE: Data provided by the Defense Manpower Data Center.
Tabulations by the National Research Council.
• The DOD and the federal government generally are no longer an employer of choice
for most young STEM workers 22 as the DOD was during the Cold War when it was at
the forefront of technology and when national security was a recognized major
concern of almost all citizens.
20
H. Salzman and L.B. Lowell. 2007. Into the Eye of the Storm: Assessing the Evidence in Science and
Engineering Education, Quality, and Workforce Demand. Madison, Wisc.: Association for Public Policy Analysis
and Management.
21
T. Lemieux. 2007. “The Changing Nature of Wage Inequality.” NBER Working Paper No. w13523.
Cambridge, Mass.: National Bureau of Economic Research.
22
C.R. Hedden. 2011. Aviation Week Young Professionals’ and University Students’ Survey. Arlington, Va.:
Aviation Week, p. 13.
An Interim Report on Assuring DOD a Strong STEM Workforce 5
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FIGURE 3 Retirement eligibility of selected occupational groups in the civilian Department of Defense
workforce NOTE: 50/20 and 55/20 = 50 (55) or more years old with 20 or more years of service. SOURCE:
Rolf Lehming, National Science Foundation, “STEM Workforce Needs of the U.S. Department of Defense:
Background Data.” Presentation to the Workshop on STEM Workforce Needs for the U.S. Department of
Defense and the U.S. Defense Industrial Base, August 1, 2011, Rosslyn, Virginia.
• The so-called defense industry is moving to diversify away from defense for
economic reasons 23as well as because of the complexities of dealing with a
powerful monopsonist buyer.
• Government contractors have become increasingly risk-averse, constrained as they
are by increasingly complex defense acquisition laws 24 and competing for fewer
acquisition programs having longer acquisition cycles—the latter making the work
less attractive to prospective STEM hires. 25
23
Loren Thompson. 2011. “Defense Contractors Are Going to Go for the Civilian Market.” Forbes.
Available at http://www.forbes.com/sites/lorenthompson/2011/11/08/market-conditions-pressure-defense-
companies-to-diversify/. Accessed April 5, 2012.
24
C.J. Dunlap, Jr. 2011. “The Military Industrial Complex.” Daedalus 140(3, Summer):135-147.
25
National Research Council. 2012. Report of a Workshop on Science, Technology, Engineering, and
Mathematics (STEM) Workforce Needs for the U.S. Department of Defense and the U.S. Defense Industrial Base.
Washington, D.C.: The National Academies Press, p. 10.
An Interim Report on Assuring DOD a Strong STEM Workforce 6
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• The nation’s economy is unlikely to be able to support defense expenditures at the
levels of the past, 26 and the DOD’s traditional predilection is not to provide highest
priority to the support of STEM activities, particularly fundamental research. 27, 28
• Technology today has a half-life measured in a few years, whereas major DOD
development programs can take decades—thereby making it nearly impossible to
move the most advanced technology into the hands of the armed forces and
simultaneously limiting the job satisfaction of those involved. 29
• U.S. industry as a whole is further reducing its investment in research, 30 with such
iconic institutions as Bell Labs virtually disappearing.
• The U.S. system of higher education finds its predominant global position
threatened—among the contributory factors are declining investments in education on
the part of state and local governments, rising costs, and greatly increased
competition from abroad.
• The United States has, on average, one of the poorer K-12 education systems in the
industrialized world—particularly in mathematics and science, in which nationwide
testing showed that the average 4th grader was below proficient 31—and the worst in
terms of return on investment.
THE CHALLENGE
U.S. employers nearly unanimously cite the need for additional employees with specialty
skills, including STEM workers, yet the nation’s overall unemployment rate remains high. At an
event in California in early 2011, Apple’s Steve Jobs told the President that his firm had to
employ 700,000 workers abroad, with Apple’s executives citing, among other factors, the ability
of China to supply engineers much more rapidly than could the U.S. labor pool, including the
8,700 industrial engineers to oversee the 200,000 assembly-line workers who in China were
found in just 15 days’ time. 32, 33 But what the United States confronts as a nation, and what the
26
Binyamin Appelbaum. 2012. “The Next War: A Shrinking Military Budget May Take Neighbors with It.”
New York Times. Available at http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/07/us/a-hidden-cost-of-military-cuts-could-be-
invention-and-its-industries.html?pagewanted=all. Accessed April 5, 2012.
27
National Research Council. 2008. Pre-Milestone A and Early-Phase Systems Engineering: A
Retrospective Review and Benefits for Future Air Force Systems Acquisition. Washington, D.C.: The National
Academies Press.
28
National Research Council. 2011. Evaluation of U.S. Air Force Preacquisition Technology Development.
Washington, D.C.: The National Academies Press.
29
National Research Council. 2012. Report of a Workshop on Science, Technology, Engineering, and
Mathematics (STEM) Workforce Needs for the U.S. Department of Defense and the U.S. Defense Industrial Base.
Washington, D.C.: The National Academies Press, p. 10.
30
National Science Board. 2012. Science and Engineering Indicators. Arlington, Va.: National Science
Foundation, Figure O-5.
31
National Science Board. 2012. Science and Engineering Indicators. Arlington, Va.: National Science
Foundation; see, for example, Figures 8-1 and 8-4.
32
Charles Duhigg and Keith Bradsher. “How the U.S. Lost Out on iPhone Work.” New York Times, January
21, 2012.
33
Nick Wingfield. “Apple’s Job Creation Data Spurs an Economic Debate.” New York Times, March 4,
2012.
An Interim Report on Assuring DOD a Strong STEM Workforce 7
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DOD confronts to an even greater extent, is a knowledge gap within the potential workforce
including the STEM workforce.
Ironically, it is unlikely that the United States will suffer from an overall shortage of
engineers and scientists. The reason is globalization. Today it is a relatively straightforward
matter for a U.S. commercial firm to expand its STEM capacity abroadparticularly given the
large numbers of STEM workers being educated elsewhere in the world, many of whom are
highly qualified. Just as research laboratories move abroad, 34 so too do the prototype shops that
design and evaluate new concepts and so too do the production lines and eventually the
maintenance facilities, in order to reap higher returns on their investment. 35 Further, most of
tomorrow’s commercial customers will be in the developing nations, not in the developed
countries, as in the past. 36 A principal result from this scenario is that the competition for quality
jobs in the United States for U.S. workers will increase significantly.
DOD representatives almost unanimously state that they foresee no shortage of STEM
workers in the years ahead except in a very few specialty fields, 37 as the committee found in
reviewing current and projected STEM workforce demands. 38 Pondering the projected decline in
defense spending, it is not difficult to imagine a reduction in the perceived need for STEM
employees by the DOD and its contractors. The DOD’s STEM needs, as well as those of its
contractors, represent a relatively modest facet of the challenge faced by the nation as a whole in
today’s burgeoning, technologically driven economy. The problem is that with the rapid pace of
advancement in STEM and the uncertainty of future threats, a shortage of STEM workers,
particularly those with knowledge in new or rapidly changing fields, could erupt at any time.
Another complication facing national security is that the DOD and its contractors cannot
simply export their work to overseas firms—although the DOD will need to do a much better job
of defining exactly what jobs truly demand U.S. citizenship as a condition of employment. The
maintenance of a cadre of highly capable, innovative, entrepreneurial U.S. scientists and
engineers is thus critical to the health of the U.S. economy as well as to the DOD. But within
this context, the DOD’s demand for scientists and engineers is sufficiently modest that fulfilling
its need for numbers should be achievable. The DOD’s challenge is to fill its ranks with a
suitable share of the “best and brightest” talent—particularly given many young graduates’
perception of working in government.
In reviewing the capacity of the nation’s STEM educational enterprise, 39 the committee
found one encouraging development: Already in place at the Naval Postgraduate School is a
proven program granting master’s degrees in engineering and other technical fields to selected
individuals from the military services and civilian workforce who enter the program with liberal
arts credentials. Between 2007 and 2011, more than 4,000 resident students graduated from this
34
National Science Board. 2012. Science and Engineering Indicators. Arlington, Va.: National Science
Foundation, Figures O-6 and O-7.
35
The Economist. “China’s Economy and the WTO.” December 10, 2011.
36
Asia’s spending on defense is projected to surpass that of Europe in 2012. See International Institute for
Strategic Studies (IISS). 2012. The Military Balance. London: IISS.
37
National Research Council. 2012. Report of a Workshop on Science, Technology, Engineering, and
Mathematics (STEM) Workforce Needs for the U.S. Department of Defense and the U.S. Defense Industrial Base.
Washington, D.C.: The National Academies Press.
38
See element 1 of the statement of task listed in the Preface.
39
See element 5 of the statement of task listed in the Preface.
An Interim Report on Assuring DOD a Strong STEM Workforce 8
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program; of this number, roughly 525 matriculated with non-technical backgrounds. 40 This
program accomplishes its results by means of an intensive, year-round academic program that
focuses on technical master’s degrees in engineering and other STEM coursework, in curricula
ranging from 18 to 30 months’ duration, depending on discipline and the credentials of the
incoming student. Unfortunately, there is no comparable program for imparting engineering
experience on an accelerated basis.
The highly regarded SMART (Science, Mathematics, And Research for Transformation)
Scholarship is a DOD STEM workforce development program that addresses the recruitment
and retention of top talent for the department. SMART is a civilian scholarship-for-service
program that provides full undergraduate or graduate tuition, living and books allowances,
summer internships, health insurance, and other benefits in exchange for postgraduate
employment within the DOD that pays back the scholarship with service on a 1-year-for-1-year
basis. 41 The qualification of the students is high—the 2009 cohort of 262 students had an
undergraduate grade point average of 3.7. All parties find this 6-year-old program attractive,
expandable, and well targeted.
There are a number of constructive steps that the DOD could take to help assure that the
needed cadre of highly qualified STEM workers will be available to support national security
needs. These include making the DOD a more desirable place for highly capable STEM
employees to work; creating more pathways for high-quality scientists and engineers to work in
the DOD; enhancing early warning of new developments being achieved in science and
engineering globally by increasing the global involvement of DOD STEM employees;
supporting the career growth of, and affording opportunities to, high-quality civilian government
scientists and engineers as is already done for highly capable uniformed personnel; and
establishing and utilizing adaptable human resources mechanisms that provide the capacity to
respond to abrupt changes in STEM opportunities and needs that are competitive with industry.
FINDINGS
Science and technology and the STEM workforce are increasingly important for the
nation’s military to prevail during future conflicts. Technological surprise has proved to be
decisive in many past conflicts and will likely be so in the future. The ongoing globalization of
STEM will require the DOD to re-address its workforce policies and practices in order to avoid
shutting itself off from access to the best and brightest talent available. The DOD is a microcosm
of the larger and growing global STEM enterprise.
Finding 1: Quantity of STEM Workforce
There is no current shortage of STEM workers for the DOD and its industrial base except in a
few highly specialized, though nevertheless important, subfieldssuch as cybersecurity and
selected intelligence fields.
40
Personal communication, O. Doug Moses, Naval Postgraduate School, to Martin Offutt, National
Research Council, May 23, 2012.
41
Laura Adolfie, U.S. Department of Defense, Presentation to the Committee on STEM Workforce Needs
for the U.S. Department of Defense and the U.S. Defense Industrial Base. Washington, D.C., June 7, 2011.
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Finding 2: Quality of STEM Workforce
The STEM issue for the DOD is principally the challenge of recruiting and retaining a notable
share of the top-quality talent in the available workforce, not its share of the quantity available.
The decisions that government employees make are highly leveraged, impacting the efforts of
very large numbers of people and enterprises in industry, academia, and elsewhere—hence, the
high premium on excellence.
Finding 3: The Changing Character of the STEM Workforce
New technological advancements, often originating outside the defense sector and from abroad,
are appearing at an increasing rate, placing a premium on the early identification of potentially
useful technology in the global marketplace. Adapting to this environment will require
transformational changes within the DOD’s management of its STEM workforce.
Finding 4: Forecasting STEM Workforce Needs
Forecasting the STEM skills needed by the DOD beyond the near term is simply not possible
because of the increasing rates of advancement in science and technology and the
unpredictability of military needs and defense budgets. The fickle nature of the latter can make
STEM graduate work and careers in the DOD appear less reliable to prospective applicants.
Flexibility and relevance in the DOD STEM workforce are paramount.
Finding 5: Attracting and Retaining STEM Workforce
For the DOD to compete with commercial firms, universities, and other employers for top STEM
talent, a DOD commitment to changing its STEM workforce environment is required. The
DOD, as viewed by the top STEM talent pool, must become an attractive career destination for a
suitable share of the most capable scientists, engineers, and technicians, who are in great demand
across the global talent marketplace. This implies, among other things, that the DOD will need
to reconcile this need with its requirement for security clearances for many STEM positions.
OBSERVATIONS ON DOD’S WORKFORCE PRACTICES
On the basis of the findings presented above, the study committee offers these eight
observations: 42
Observation 1: Overall Core STEM Competencies
It continues to be paramount to maintain all core STEM competencies at least at a basic level in
all potentially critical, emerging topical areas—within the DOD and its industrial and university
ecosystem. This firm foundation will ensure that the response to technological challenges and
opportunities such as may arise can be facilitated expeditiously and minimize the possibility of
technological surprise.
42
Observations 2, 4, 6, and 8 identify options for overcoming limiting factors to fulfilling STEM needs (see
element 3 of statement of task listed in the Preface).
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Observation 2: Recruitment of Highest-Quality STEM Workforce
Reviewing and overhauling the DOD workforce recruitment policies and practices will be
essential to ensure that the DOD is fully competitive with industry (not simply the “defense
industry”) in recruiting the highest-quality STEM talent. The DOD can judge its recruiting
competitiveness by the quality of its STEM hires, and it will have the opportunity to continue to
adjust its policies and practices until its workforce quality goals are achieved.
Observation 3: Management of STEM Workforce for Highest-Quality Talent
The objective of retaining a suitable share of the highest-quality talent—that is, those at the
forefront of emerging, potentially critical technical areas and those capable of moving to new
critical technical areas that arise—can be achieved only through targeted STEM workforce
management policies, procedures, and incentives (in short, through a business model). It is
essential that the business model explicitly make careers in the DOD attractive to top STEM
talent, a goal that will require explicit support, commitment, and action by the highest level of
DOD leadership.
Observation 4: Opening of the STEM Workforce Pool to Non-U.S. Citizens
Accessing the most talented STEM professionals globally can be achieved by expanding the tiers
of security clearance classifications and re-examining the need for security clearances in selected
positions in order to permit non-U.S. citizens to enter the STEM talent pool available to the DOD
and its contractors under tailored circumstances.
Observation 5: STEM Qualifications and Accountability of Key Personnel
Requiring that personnel responsible for major science and technology-intensive DOD programs
have the documented STEM skills, experience, and qualifications will ensure that this segment
of the workforce can execute its responsibilities at a high technical level in a globalized
innovation system in which key developments will occur outside the DOD. Granting exceptions
to the documented verification of the STEM qualifications required for such key appointments
would be inadvisable absent high-level managerial confirmation of the appointee’s STEM
qualifications at the time of appointment.
Observation 6: Unconventional Programs and Prototyping
Creating “skunk works” in the DOD industrial base, in universities, and within the DOD itself
would enable targeted, unconventional, potentially disruptive programs—including prototyping
for technical concept verification—that could subsequently be transitioned to an operating unit
for implementation if successful, or terminated if not. A system that provides rotational
assignments for individuals from government, the industrial base, and the private sector would
be an attractive feature of such programs. A skunk-works culture of this type would nurture
critical STEM skills within the DOD workforce while at the same time providing the exciting,
challenging, and highly attractive opportunities needed to attract and retain highest-quality talent
An Interim Report on Assuring DOD a Strong STEM Workforce 11
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in the DOD-related STEM workforce. It would also provide the opportunity to retain design
teams that are critical to developing new systems.
Observation 7: An Agile and Resilient STEM Workforce
An agile and resilient STEM workforce—one that is attuned to the dynamism of the now-
globalized science and technology enterprise and the future uncertainty of technical needs—will
be best prepared to adapt to those technical needs as they arise and be most enthusiastic about
continuing careers in this technical environment.
Observation 8: Upgrading of Education and Training for the Civilian DOD STEM
Workforce
Providing opportunities to the civilian DOD STEM workforce for education and training, and re-
military employees will enhance the career attractiveness of employment in the DOD.
education and re-training, that are commensurate with similar opportunities afforded career
AREAS OF NEAR-TERM FOCUS
The committee observes that planning for future STEM needs should be geared to
flexibility and adaptability rather than to unpromising efforts at longer-term forecasting;
nevertheless, certain areas do have strong near-term interest. These observations are based on a
combination of apparent needs and high promise. In the aggregate they represent a preliminary
attempt by the committee to address its fourth task 43—an effort that may be expanded in its final
report. A partial listing of areas, many of which were discussed in the committee’s August 2011
workshop, 44 is presented below in alphabetical order:
• Advanced robotics (e.g., for defense manufacturing, surgery, and the dismantling of
improvised explosive devices [IEDs]) and autonomous systems (e.g., unmanned
aerial systems);
• Intelligence collection;
• Cyberwarfare (both defense and offense);
• Human identification, marking, and tracking;
• Human-machine interactions on human terms;
• Means of detecting and neutralizing biothreats;
• Means of negating IEDs;
• Military applications of biosciences (computation, weapons, sensors, etc.);
• Military applications of information sciences;
• Nanotechnology (e.g., innovative materials, drugs, and sensors); and
43
See element 4 in the statement of task listed in the Preface.
44
National Research Council. 2012. Report of a Workshop on Science, Technology, Engineering, and
Mathematics (STEM) Workforce Needs for the U.S. Department of Defense and the U.S. Defense Industrial Base.
Washington, D.C.: The National Academies Press.
An Interim Report on Assuring DOD a Strong STEM Workforce 12
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• Sensors for nuclear weapon detection.
CONCLUDING OBSERVATION
As the economy of the United States is increasingly challenged in the global marketplace
by the emergence of strong competitors, excellence in STEM capabilities will become even more
important than it is today. Further, as the nation’s defense budget decreases, it will need to be
expended more wisely by the leveraging of the capabilities of every individual and unit in the
U.S. armed forces and the civilian workforce. Much of that leverage will be derived directly
from advancements in the STEM fields, including those made overseas. The importance to this
nation and to the DOD in particular of having available a high-quality, highly relevant, flexible,
expandable STEM workforce cannot be overstated.
An Interim Report on Assuring DOD a Strong STEM Workforce 13
