Defense Systems and Assessments Deals with Set of Strategic National Security Concerns
As threats to U.S. national security have broadened and intensified,
so has the meaning of the term strategic national security,
said Jerry McDowell, Vice President for Sandia’s Defense Systems and Assessments unit.
Recent federal government policy papers include — as part of their
definitions of “strategic national security” — references to a spectrum of
capabilities beyond nuclear deterrence.
DS&A’s customers include the Department of Defense, the non-proliferation
technology community, and other federal agencies.
DS&A has programs and capabilities in:
- Surveillance and reconnaissance — Advancing capabilities in
synthetic aperture radar and other remote-sensing technologies to
provide science, technology, and engineering advances for the battlefield
and space.
- Remote sensing and verification — Deterring proliferation and
verifying compliance with international agreements using space- and
ground-based remote-sensing technology.
- Integrated military systems — Nonnuclear strike systems that
advance the DoD’s abilities to reach hardened, deeply buried, and other
strategic military targets using conventional weapons systems with
advanced capabilities including earth penetration. Missile defense
work to support the DoD’s efforts to develop a missile defense
system capable of detecting, intercepting, and killing enemy
missiles using interceptor missiles launched from
ground or ship. Energetic systems such as electromagnetic
launchers for ship-borne aircraft
and munitions.
- Information operations — Ensuring
critical infrastructure network security
using trusted detection systems to detect
anomalies and intrusions by sophisticated
adversaries such as well-financed
terrorists and rogue nations.
- Proliferation assessment — Supporting federal agencies in the nonproliferation
community with technologies and systems.
- Intelligent transformational systems/robotics — Developing and
delivering complex micro- to macro-sized automated systems, and
adapting machine intelligence techniques, to support the warfighter.
- Science and technology products — Employing microsystems and
other advanced technologies to give the warfighter new capabilities.
- Strategic industrial relations — Amplifying Sandia’s value to the
nation and national security by effectively working with the DoD
industrial base.
The DS&A seal includes the Latin phrase Novus Ordo Seclorum,
meaning ‘A New Order for the Ages.’
“Our mission is to embrace the new world order by bringing our Labs’
outstanding engineering, science, and technology capabilities to bear on
the newly emerging and compelling strategic national security problems
— those that, if left unattended, could put our liberty and peace at risk,”
said McDowell.
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