Nanotechnology for Chemical and Biological Defense

The research underpinning this work was intended to better enable an informed national debate and to affect international debate on the potential role and impact of nanotechnology and emerging science on national defense and homeland security. The text highlights the findings and conclusions from the study and accompanying workshop as well as identifies research directions in basic and applied science that may foster transformational breakthroughs in nanotechnology-based chemical and biological countermeasures. This ambitious effort serves manifold objectives, including the following:

• To give policymakers a strategic roadmap to provide a basis for research direction decisions;

• To provide an overview of the current and future challenges, both for traditional military operations and for homeland security applications;

• To provide a survey of potential future proliferation and malfeasant co-option of emerging technologies;

• To discuss organizational structure and management of chemical and biological defense-related research and nanotechnology-related research at the federal level.

Throughout, the emphasis is on revolutionary rather than evolutionary science and technology. This work intentionally straddles between technical disciplines and social sciences making it truly interdisciplinary. Ideas or work from across the experimental and theoretical physical and life sciences are included. Contributions of social scientists were also actively sought.