Pentagon turns to 'softer' sciences

摘要

By highlighting the limits of traditional military technology, the drawn-out conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan have spurred the US defence department to shake up its US$12-billion science and technology research programme. The defence research and engineering office, headquartered at the Pentagon in Washington DC, is overseeing a budget shift away from applied research thatrnsupports weapons and into areas such as biology, computer science and the social sciences. All of these have "a potential for being game-changers" on the battlefield, says Zachary Lemnios, the defence department's chief technology officer and director of defence research and engineering.