2024 Summer Study on Advanced Capabilities for Potential Future Conflict

2023-12-04
The broad objective of the DSB’s Summer Study is to recommend strategies that best enable DoD’s continued development of symmetric and asymmetric capabilities that will characterize future conflicts. The specific objectives of the Summer Study are addressed in a classified annex to this Terms of Reference (ToR). The DSB will consider the tasks contained in the classified annex and provide a written report and recommendations in response.
See ToR…

Priority Focus Areas for National Defense 2025 to 2035

2024-05-15
The DSB is directed to develop a product summarizing the key findings, observations, advice, and recommendations developed by the DSB in the past decade. The product should provide senior leaders with consolidated context and pathways for implementation of previously approved DSB advice and recommendations in a holistic fashion to assist in aligning policy and resources to best prioritize the Department’s science and technology roadmap for the years ahead.
See ToR…

Balancing Security, Reliability, and Technological Advantage in Generative Artificial Intelligence for Defense

2023-10-04
The Task Force should review the state of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GAI) utilization and integration within the Department and provide recommendations to improve our capabilities, capacity, and resilience and diminish our vulnerabilities and susceptibility to adversary actions.
See ToR…

21st Century Industrial Base for National Defense

2023-03-28
As potential threats have evolved, the Department needs a strategy to improve the defense industrial base resilience and to protect its supply chains for the development of current and future defense systems and technology. This study should review the state of the defense industrial base and provide recommendations to improve our capabilities, capacity, and resilience and diminish our vulnerabilities and susceptibility to adversary actions.
See ToR…

Advise Implementation and Prioritization of National Security Innovation Activities

2021-11-09
Section 213 (a) of the NDAA for FY2021 requires establishment of a mechanism to seek advice from existing Federal advisory committees on matters relating to USD(R&E) activities required in Section 230 (a) of the FY2019 NDAA, specifically: a) the implementation and prioritization of activities; and b) determining how such activities may be used to support the overall technology strategy of the Department of Defense.
See ToR…

Emerging Biotechnologies and National Security

2021-01-21
Section 263 of the NDAA for FY2020 requires the Secretary of Defense direct the DSB to “carry out a study on the emerging biotechnologies pertinent to national security.” This study is tasked to examine ways in which the DOD can take better advantage of the rapidly expanding technologies in biology, and to better understand and prepare for their application or misuse by adversaries.
See ToR…

Department of Defense Dependencies on Critical Infrastructure

2019-10-30
This study is charged to investigate DOD’s dependencies on non-DOD owned critical infrastructure with a focus on the energy, water, transportation, and communications sectors, and potential vulnerabilities and consequences from intentional multi-domain attacks against them. The Task Force should also assess how well the Department has addressed any issues related to its reliance on the DIB, for which it has direct responsibility.
See ToR…

Permanent Subcommittee on Strategic Options

2023-10-05

The DSB, working through the Permanent Subcommittee, will identify concepts, capabilities, strategies, and courses of action in the scientific and technical enterprises that inform decision-making and serve to rebalance intervention cost and benefit to ensure U.S. operational dominance. Under the DSB, the Permanent Subcommittee areas of consideration will include (but not be limited to at the discretion of the USD(R&E)) new and novel uses of space assets; employment of cyber systems; development of new methodologies and countermeasures for electronic warfare; rapid collection and use of strategic counterintelligence; logistics resiliency both within the United States and abroad; region- and circumstance-specific integrated deterrence; existing and potential norms of behavior and escalation thresholds; advanced undersea assets and operational concepts; effective deterrence of adversarial coercive and malign activities in the gray zone; and additional considerations should include the adversary’s attempts and operations to undermine U.S. dominance in the air, space, sea, and cyber domains.

See ToR…

Current Studies:

Capabilities for Difficult Target Defeat

2024-02-26
The Permanent Subcommittee on Strategic Options is directed to conduct a study that will identify options for mission defeat of difficult targets to ensure U.S. operational dominance for various scenarios. Areas of consideration will include (but not be limited to at the discretion of the (USD(R&E)): Recent intelligence on threat attributes and prevalence; Additional intelligence needed; Past studies and programs for addressing capabilities needed to defeat difficult targets; Development of an “effects chain” model for difficult target operation, including relevant inputs and outputs; Development of options for wide-area sensing and identification of difficult targets through multiple modalities and domains; Development of recommended system architectures for connecting detection, identification, decision support, effects implementation, and damage assessment for implementation across several organizations.
See ToR…

Commercial Provision of Navigation Signals for Operational Use

2024-01-12
The DSB, working through its Permanent Subcommittee on Strategic Options, is directed to conduct a study to consider the topic of commercial provision of navigation signals for operational use. The study should include the benefits of commercial constellations broadcasting PNT signals for DoD operational usage. The evaluation of these commercial alternatives must consider issues including security, technical viability, resilience, and industrial capacity.
See ToR…

Low-Cost Mass Assets

2023-10-05
The Permanent Subcommittee is tasked to explore ways the DoD can create low-cost mass assets across the air, sea, and land domains in the “multiple thousands” within the next few years, as well as identify ways to counter adversarial assets that would present similar capabilities.
See ToR…

Permanent Subcommittee on Threat Reduction

2022-05-06
With the return of great power competition and the lessons that history has taught us about the continuing evolution of WMD threats, the Permanent Subcommittee on Threat Reduction is established to examine on an ongoing basis how effectively the Department of Defense is – or should be – deterring, countering, and mitigating such threats against the nation, its military forces, and allies.
See ToR…

Current Studies:

Future Considerations for Chemical Weapons Demilitarization

2023-09-07
The DSB working through its Permanent Subcommittee on Threat Reduction, is directed to conduct a study to consider a range of potential “surprises” that might require demilitarization of chemical weapons, agents, or precursors, especially on a compressed timescale, as well as what “hot” or “warm” capabilities are the critical few for being able to respond – and at what level. Options for various levels of capability to mitigate risk and provide confidence should be considered. Scenarios should assess potential needs spanning domestic and international areas of operation during peacetime to wartime, including humanitarian assistance and disaster relief operations. The study should evaluate existing and on-the-horizon technologies and capabilities with considerations for the resources and workforce required to maintain these capabilities. If other matters material to the study topic are discovered in the subcommittee’s fact finding, those matters should be addressed as well.
See ToR…

Permanent Subcommittee on Nuclear Weapons Surety

2022-05-06
This Permanent Subcommittee is tasked to provide continuous, independent technical and programmatic advice regarding the safety, security, control, and reliability of the nuclear enterprise. It will play an independent role in ensuring that new technologies and ideas improve the safety, security, and reliability of our nuclear deterrent through the modernization and sustainment lifecycle. This Permanent Subcommittee will also continuously assess the progress of the nuclear modernization and sustainment programs overall.
See ToR…