President Trump adopted a new policy for aggressively developing advanced technologies, including artificial intelligence and quantum communications, according to a White House memorandum sent to all federal agencies on Monday.
The memo from Russell T. Vought, director of the Office of Management and Budget, and Michael J. Kratsios, director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, states that America’s science and technology engine is the greatest in the world and needs to stay that way.
As U.S. adversaries pursue whole-of-nation policies, federally funded research and development will seek “targeted, transformational investments in areas such as artificial intelligence, quantum science, nuclear energy, biotechnology, national security technologies and ambitious space exploration,” the memo states.
The government seeks to set clear priorities for industry, academia, and research institutes to adopt.
“Following years of unfocused federal investments weighed down by woke ideology and diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, we are realigning the federal R&D portfolio to serve its core purposes: driving economic growth and high-wage employment for all Americans, promoting high quality of life, and ensuring U.S. leadership in critical sectors to our national security,” the memo states.
Among the priorities are advancing critical and emerging technologies; achieving energy dominance; strengthening U.S. security; safeguarding health and biotechnology; and assuring space dominance.
Under a section on strengthening American security, the policy calls on agencies to use targeted investments for “robust and flexible capabilities for mitigating and responding to evolving challenges posed by strategic competitors and adversarial threats.”
New military capabilities to be developed include offensive and defensive hypersonic weapons, unmanned and autonomous systems and hardened national security space systems.
Technology will also seek modernized and flexible strategic and nonstrategic nuclear weapons and capabilities, along with modernized infrastructure.
“Agencies should advance R&D for AI-enabled intelligence collection, surveillance, and reconnaissance, to enable enhanced decision making and situational awareness across all domains,” the report said.
Space architecture development will focus on new and enhanced national security capabilities for warfighters, including autonomous, automated systems that “deliver decisive advantage in conflict.”
Novel military capabilities will also be developed to confront emerging threats in all domains, including space and cyberspace.
Mr. Trump’s Golden Dome national missile defense system was also declared a high-priority development.
New technologies for the system will include sensing and sensemaking, trusted autonomy, space maneuverability, directed energy, advanced materials and affordable scalability.
“Agencies should also closely evaluate how their talent communities and unique resources can align towards risk reduction or capability enhancement activities for Golden Dome and explore opportunities for dual-use applications of the exquisite capabilities that the Golden Dome will afford,” the memo states.
The science and technology policy includes human missions to the moon and Mars.
Agencies will prioritize research and development of space exploration to include long-duration travel and habitation, in-space assembly, local resource utilization, space weather hazard prediction, space nuclear power systems and biotechnology with space applications.
“National security R&D should focus on basic and applied research to unlock currently untenable and transformative space capabilities, including novel sensing modalities, accurate forecasting of the space and near-Earth environment, radiation belt remediation, high-precision chip-scale frequency standards, and advanced power and propulsion systems,” the memo states.
• Bill Gertz can be reached at bgertz@washingtontimes.com.