Electronics: Dec. 30, 2017

Electronics

2017 Antonelli Award Winner: While currently assessed as mature and healthy, the global semiconductor industry is facing a strategic inflection point. This inflection will shape a future for the industry that is significantly different than the past. Although outlook for that future remains favorable, numerous challenges place that future at risk. Challenges found in Chinese competition, skilled workforce shortages, commercial semiconductor market shifts, unique DoD electronics needs, and ongoing requirements for rapid innovation threaten the stability of the market, the U.S. competitive advantage, and U.S. economic and national security. Future success in the industry hinges upon policies which address these challenges and enable U.S. companies to embrace future opportunities.

Energy: Dec. 30, 2017

Energy

Recent developments and advancements in the domestic energy sector have greatly enhanced U.S. energy security. Newfound access to vast oil and natural gas reserves made possible by advances in hydraulic fracturing technology, the rapid expansion of power generation from renewable energy sources, and improvements in energy efficiency are providing American’s with unprecedented access to abundant, reliable, and affordable energy. Nevertheless, the lack of a coherent national energy strategy, flawed energy markets, and aging infrastructure pose an acute risk to future U.S. energy security.

Environment: Dec. 30, 2017

Environment

Environmental degradation and sustainability of basic resources presents a complex security challenge for the United States and the world. To address this challenge, the United Nations adopted an ambitious and aggressive set of Sustainable Development Goals designed to improve individual, community, and national resilience; strengthen economic and governance capacity; and address the most pressing environmental threats to health, livelihoods, and security. The United States must support this endeavor by engaging and enabling the Environment Industry, the pivotal player in developing technology, service, and process solutions to promote sustainable and efficient use of natural resources.

Finance (formerly Financial Services): Dec. 30, 2017

Financial Services

The Financial Services Industry (FSI) is designated as a “critical infrastructure” of the United States, directly affecting national interests and impacting national security. Now is the time to adjust course across the regulatory oversight system, react to a major change in the FSI international market with Brexit, and enhance our resiliency against future threats to FSI cybersecurity vulnerabilities. The U.S. FSI makes a strong, sustainable contribution to national security and economic prosperity. Nonetheless, the government can do more to mitigate the unintended consequences of Dodd-Frank, including the overly complex domestic regulatory structure; potential Brexit impacts; and emerging cybersecurity challenges.

Healthcare: Dec. 30, 2017

Healthcare

Healthcare spending in the United States occupies an increasingly large portion of the federal budget and will continue to grow at an alarming rate if measures are not taken to reform the sector. Pharmaceuticals, hospitals, and insurance providers combine with heavy federal and state regulations to create a complex, fragmented delivery system that ultimately confuses and masks true costs from the general population. Incentivized by the current payment system, the sector focuses on disease care rather than preventive care. There continues to be a lack of national consensus as reflected by the difficulty Congress faces in finding a solution to the healthcare debate, which can delay, dilute, and even dismiss any momentum for meaningful change. This stagnation will drive additional mandatory federal spending at the expense of discretionary programs critical to national prosperity and security, including investments in diplomacy and defense necessary for an effective foreign policy. Ultimately, the complexity of healthcare in the United States creates exorbitant inefficiencies which inflate costs, reduce access, and place value on quantity over quality. Consequently, through extensive field investigations and academic research, this report examines the current status of healthcare in America along with future constraints and opportunities, then provides realistic and achievable recommendations to target improved population health and healthcare value.

Cyber (formerly Information and Communications Technology) Dec. 30, 2017

Information and Communications Technology

The Information and Communications Technology (ICT) industry is evolving at a rapid pace while serving as a catalyst for digital entrepreneurship in a new data-driven world interconnected via the internet and cyberspace. ICT supports and enables the day-to-day operation of modern societies, while providing newfound opportunities for economic growth through digital trade. In order to maintain the ICT industry’s steep growth trajectory, policymakers must focus on three areas: (1) cybersecurity to protect increasingly vulnerable critical infrastructure; (2) privacy to protect citizens’ rights in an age of data collection and exchange; and (3) the growing shortfall of technology workers needed to maintain innovation leadership.

Land Combat Systems: Dec. 30, 2017

Land Combat Systems

The Land Combat Systems (LCS) industry, as part of the overall defense industry, is critical to the U.S. and partner nation’s defense security. For the purposes of this study, the industry is sub-categorized into two markets: Tactical Wheeled Vehicles (TWV), including Protected Vehicles (PV), and Combat Vehicles (CV). Tactical Wheeled Vehicles include light, medium, and heavy wheeled vehicles carrying personnel and equipment with a limited ability to carry weapons. Combat Vehicles include tracked and wheeled vehicles mainly used in a ground combat role. The purpose of studying the LCS industry is to analyze representative issues and dilemmas faced by firms, the Department of Defense (DoD), and the U.S. Government (USG). The LCS industry consists of a number of key domestic and international firms as well as government depot facilities. Within the TWV market firms often manufacture both commercial and military products, sometimes on the same assembly line. However, most firms in the CV market are solely military suppliers. Cyclic government demand is a key driver in the TWV and CV markets. In addition, government customers control many variables which directly impacts the success or failure of LCS programs and the respective success or failure of individual firms. Given the facts above and based upon the study team observations and analysis, the USG and DoD should consider expanding Foreign Military Sales (FMS) opportunities, updating logistical sustainment plans and practices, revising requirements generation and oversight of Science and Technology (S&T) and innovation, and consolidating efforts within the Defense Industrial Base (DIB). These changes will maximize efficiency, increase competition, incentivize innovation, and minimize cost while maintaining the optimum readiness level for the designated mission requirements.

Robotics and Autonomous Systems: Dec. 30, 2017

Robotics and Autonomous Systems

The Robotics and Autonomous Systems (RAS) Industry has seen ever-increasing relevance and importance in its applications both within the Department of Defense (DOD) and throughout society. Enhancing human productivity in activities ranging from self-driving automobiles to unmanned aircraft that can deliver weapons without requiring human control or consent, the development and advancement of these technologies have the potential to alter daily life as we know it. These emerging capabilities provide ample opportunity for the DOD to influence and leverage these capabilities to support national security strategies. This paper will examine the industry, current and future RAS applications as they relate to increased human productivity, and the implications these advancements have on our way of life. It will then provide recommendations on what the DOD can do to better position itself to capitalize on RAS growth and prevent missteps.

Maritime: Dec. 30, 2017

Shipbuilding: All Hands on Deck! Headwinds and Heavy Seas Ahead to Achieve the 355-Ship Navy

The American shipbuilding industry boasts unmatched technology but has shrunk to a fraction of its former size. American shipyards now depend on defense contracts and protective legislation to survive amid booms, busts, and subsidized foreign competition. For US-based shipbuilders to produce the ships needed to acquire a 355-ship Navy expeditiously and affordably, the US Government must adopt a disciplined approach of long-term planning, building from mature designs, introducing new technologies incrementally, and executing multi-year contracts for blocks of ships. These and other reforms will speed production, reduce cost, stabilize the industry, and help shipyards invest in facilities, technology, and workforce.

Strategic Materials Dec. 30, 2017

Strategic Materials

The United States has come to rely on a number of strategic materials to provide hi-tech consumer goods, advanced defense technologies, and renewable energy capabilities. Yet it remains dependent on imports for a good portion of these materials, either because they do not exist in the U.S. in mineable deposits, or their mining and processing is uneconomic. Current import levels satisfy U.S. demand for these materials, yet access to these imports is highly dependent on geopolitical factors. This survey investigates ways to mitigate the risk of supply disruption.