To compete and thrive in the 21st century, democracies, and the United States in particular, must develop new national security and economic strategies that address the geopolitics of information. In the 20th century, market capitalist democracies geared infrastructure, energy, trade, and even social policy to protect and advance that era’s key source of power—manufacturing. In this century, democracies must better account for information geopolitics across all dimensions of domestic policy and national strategy.
Branscomb was co-chair with Rick Klausner of the National Academies' project on Science and Technology for Countering Terrorism. The committee of 24, supported by panels of 96 other experts published Making the Nation Safer on August 2, after presenting the contents to the House and Senate and the Office of Homeland Security and Office of Science and Technology policy during the week of June 25. The report contains 134 recommendations for research and for technology deployment, with the goal of making the terrorists' goals more difficult. The report has also influenced the legislation, now pending in the Senate and passed in the House, to create a Department of Homeland Security. The lecture will summarize the Academies' report, including a key finding that complex systems analysis and management will be critical to success in the new department.