At the House Armed Services Committee Terrorism, Unconventional Threats and Capabilities Subcommittee hearing on “The FY2009 National Defense Authorization Budget Request – Department of Defense Science and Technology: Responding to the 21st Century Irregular Warfare Threat Environment,” Allan Shaffer, principle deputy director of Defense Research and Engineering at the Defense Department, says over the last two years we have begun to reshape the investment of the department to work on programs in non-conventional areas, such as biometrics, human social modeling, locating tagging and tracking, surveillance, and cyber protection. While we are currently well positioned to support the force, he says, there is still much to accomplish. (:45)

 

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At the House Armed Services Committee Terrorism, Unconventional Threats and Capabilities Subcommittee hearing on “The FY2009 National Defense Authorization Budget Request – Department of Defense Science and Technology: Responding to the 21st Century Irregular Warfare Threat Environment,” Congressman William Thornberry (R-TX) said tomorrow’s national security depends on the technology of today. He said he was not pleased with a 4% increase in the budget request because of the rate of change in the world, which he called “extraordinary.” To keep up with and do something about the technological changes requires a significant investment in science and technology. (more…)