Defense Secretary Proposes Closer DOD/University Connections Including More Social Science Research |
“Too many mistakes have been made over the years because our government and military did not understand – or even seek to understand – the countries or cultures we were dealing with.” With those words in a speech to the Association of American Universities (AAU), Robert Gates, Secretary of the Department of Defense (DOD), issued a call to academia to help the U.S. return, in Arthur Schlesinger’s words, “to the acceptance of eggheads and ideas” to meet present and future national security challenges.
Gates, a former President of Texas A&M University, indicated that it was time to enhance the Defense Department’s support for university research, much of it in the social and behavioral sciences. A proposed “Minerva Initiative” is under consideration at the Pentagon that would consist of a “consortia of universities that would promote research in specific areas” and serve as repositories of open-source documentary archives.
The Secretary suggested a few areas of current interest for this type of activity, but also indicated that others could appear on the agenda as well:
1) Chinese Military and Technology Studies. DOD wants to create a real or virtual archive of information about Chinese military and technological developments. The archive, Gates indicated would “allow scholars and schools to pool resources,” as well as sponsor conferences and research to “understand the intentions of an important world power.”
2) Iraqi and Terrorist Perspective Projects. Primary sources that have been captured in recent years need further analysis and could yield, according to the Secretary, “unprecedented insight into the workings of dictatorial third-world regimes.” A current project at the National Defense University has begun to develop a Conflict Records Research Center, but DOD would like to house the Center at a consortium of universities.
3) Religious and Ideological Studies. Understanding how the ideological climate in the world of Islam will evolve over time and what factors will affect it will be the key, Gates declared, to eventual success in the conflict against jihadist extremism. Having religious issues addressed in a “strategic context” could, Gates proclaimed, “make an important contribution to the intellectual foundation on which we base a national strategy.”
4) New Disciplines Project. Using game theory and Kremlin studies as key examples from the Cold War period, Gates said it was time to engage disciplines such as history, anthropology, sociology, and evolutionary psychology to create a much broader conception and application of national power than just military prowess. He cited Joseph Nye’s concept of “soft power,” as in need of more resources and attention.The Secretary admitted that the relationship between DOD and the social sciences and humanities “for decades has covered the spectrum from cooperative to hostile.” He made clear that the key principle of all components of the Minerva consortia “will be complete openness and rigid adherence to academic freedom and integrity.” There will be no room for “sensitive but unclassified” or other such restrictions, he pledged.
He also acknowledged that part of the difficult relations between the DOD and academe stems from the Department’s “not always doing a great job of explaining what we are doing in ways that are accessible to the uninitiated.” He commented on the current Human Terrain program, which has used anthropologists, economists, historians and sociologists to help understand the culture and societies of Iraq and Afghanistan during our current military efforts there. This program has been controversial and condemned by the American Anthropological Association. Gates defended the program and suggested it has helped initiate programs that are the “key to long-term success,” but not intuitive to a military establishment that “has long put a premium on firepower and technology.”
Gates’ talk comes a week before a joint hearing before the House Armed Services and Senate Science and Technology Committees on the “Role of the Social and Behavioral Sciences in National Security,” scheduled for April 24. It also follows a National Academy of Sciences’ Report, Human Behavior in Military Contexts (see Update, September 24, 2007).
Note: MPSA is a governing member of COSSA, which monitors all federal agencies that provide support for social and behavioral research and advocates for a non-politicized research agenda. This article appeared in the April 21, 2008, issue of COSSA Washington UPDATE. For more information about COSSA, visit their website at http://www.cossa.org/.