The threats facing the US at home and abroad are dramatically different than those faced during the cold war and a new generation of technology is essential to meet the challenge. John Kerry clearly understands that "We can't have a 21st century military unless we're using 21st century technology and preparing our forces for 21st century threats. We need a military that is equipped for the next fight, not the last one," and Kerry has outlined a clear plan to equip US military and intelligence forces with the weapons designed for the tasks they now face, to give them advanced body armor and other technologies that give them the greatest possible protection from the range of weapons and devices they face, and to ensure that they are effectively trained. He balances this with a program to use technology to reduce the possibility that materials for nuclear weapons could be stolen and misused and technologies to enhance homeland security with stronger inspections of transportation networks, and intelligence networks that can trap illicit financial and other activities without compromising civil liberties.

John Kerry recognizes that national security also depends on reducing sources of tension that can lead to conflicts. He sees his plan to reduce US dependence on foreign oil imports as an integral part of our national security investment. The Bush administration has constantly talked about the need to "transform" the military but in fact has neglected critical technology development . New technologies actually used by the US military in Afghanistan and Iraq are the result of the research investments of previous administrations.

The National Academies of Science undertook an extensive examination of science and technology priorities for homeland security - at their own expense.¹ Many of these recommendations have not been followed while research programs in the Department of Homeland Security still struggle to find focus.

The Kerry Plan

John Kerry has proposed an aggressive program for national and homeland security. Technology is an integral part of these proposals. US defenses have always depended on superior equipment to counter adversaries. A robust research program with a clear-headed focus on the real threats that American forces face today and in coming decades is essential to preserve this advantage.

John Kerry's proposals for defense will devote more defense research and development to long-term research. Increase investment in long-term, high-risk defense research through agencies such as DARPA and the Office of Naval Research. Research and development would focus on providing US forces with weapons, sensors, communications, protective gear, and other tools they need to prepare for the wide range of possible adversaries and fighting conditions the US will face in coming decades. These include:

• advanced communications and information technologies, to give our troops a crucial advantage in situational awareness and coordinating operations, Create more fully modernized "digital divisions," equipped with the latest communications technology crucial to future military success.
• Sensing and control technologies, including robotic systems that minimize the risk of casualties
• new forces that specialize in finding, securing, and destroying weapons of mass destruction and the facilities that build them
• ensure that US forces are military backed forces specifically trained and targeted to seizing and dismantling nuclear, chemical and biological weapons.
• 21st century education and training for our troops, including training in how to deal effectively with culturally diverse civilian populations
• non-lethal technologies that can incapacitate the enemy, without risking the lives of innocent bystanders.
• Leading by example, and end U.S. development of a new generation of nuclear weapons,
• invest in missile defense. But not at the cost of other pressing priorities. We cannot afford to spend billions to deploy an unproven missile defense system
• tools for securing highly enriched uranium at research reactors in dozens of countries outside the former Soviet Union within four years

Controlling the proliferation of nuclear weapons is an essential part of this program. John Kerry proposes to establish global standards for safeguarding nuclear materials and provide assistance, through expansion of the Cooperative Threat Reduction program, where necessary to help countries meet these standards. He also proposes to work with Russia to convert highly enriched uranium into energy reactor fuel, and to dispose of plutonium, and would lead a broad international coalition to verifiably ban production of plutonium for use in nuclear weapons.

John Kerry has also outlined a detailed program to decrease US dependence on foreign oil supplies. A growing fraction of the oil available for export comes from the Persian Gulf putting increasing the vulnerability of the US and its allies to developments in this volatile area. (see john Kerry's energy environment plan). John Kerry also proposes to follow the advice of the science and engineering community to use advanced technology to help secure America against terrorists at home. This includes agressive programs to:

• Better secure our airports, seaports, and borders,
• Ensure that private companies obtain adequate information about items they are shipping,
• Work with other nations to increase inspections of seaborne cargo,
• Adopt tighter controls on air cargo, tons of which goes uninspected every day,
• Replace the unsuccessful airport screening system with a new system that identifies security threats while honoring American values
• Better protect nuclear plants and weapons facilities
• Require new security standards at chemical plants,
• Improve railroad and subway security by taking steps such as providing chemical release detectors and tightening security at critical entry points.
• Harness America's bioscience genius to improve preparedness for a bioterror attack by creating a Medical Arsenal of Democracy dedicated to speeding drug and vaccine development,

The Bush Record

The Bush administration has asked for and received extraordinary increases in the Defense budget and talked repeatedly about the need for a transformed military. But in spite of the increased funding it has repeatedly failed to provide US troops with state of the art equipment. In Iraq, helicopter pilots have flown battlefield missions without the best available anti-missile systems. US troops have died in attacks because they were deployed to Iraq without the state-of-the-art bulletproof vests. The administration has focused on ideologically driven research goals in areas such as missile defense and development of a new generation of nuclear weapons over the repeated objections of unbiased science and engineering reviews.

In spite of the huge growth in defense budgets, and the fact that nearly 75% of the increase in R&D funding proposed by the administration for 2005 is in DoD, the Bush administration actually proposed to cut basic research in DoD by 11%. Instead of focusing on high priority needs of American armed forces and intelligence agencies, the administration chose to invest $9 billion of its research budget into a missile defense system that objective technical analysts agree will not work. And it compounds this error by failing to invest in strategies to block the most likely threats - such as theft of nuclear materials or attempts to smuggle dangerous weapons and materials into the US.

Instead of accelerating programs to secure weapons-grade uranium and plutonium in the former Soviet Union and other regions, it has put research funds into designing new nuclear weapons - an investment that provides no useful contribution to US arsenals and will encourage other nations to accelerate nuclear weapons development.