Defense Technology Base

In a world economy, foreign sources of technology abound in both the commercial and defense sectors. Concerns have arisen that the United States might become so dependent on foreign sources that future weapons development might become compromised. This report examines U.S. dependence on foreign state-of-the-art technologies and its effect on U.S. leadership in critical technologies with primarily military applications. GAO discusses (1) the critical technologies considered by the Defense Department to have principally military uses, (2) the capabilities of other counties relative to the United States in key areas of those technologies, and (3) how the capabilities of other countries in those technologies affect U.S. national security.

GAO found that: (1) 6 of the 21 critical technologies that the Department of Defense (DOD) identified in the DOD Critical Technologies Plan had primarily military applications; (2) those technologies included sensitive radar, target signature control, weapon system environment, pulsed power, hypervelocity projectiles and propulsion, and high-energy density materials; (3) the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) believes that some foreign countries may be more advanced than the United States in some areas of the six technologies; (4) DIA believes that certain foreign countries are increasing their capabilities in some technologies at the same rate as the United States; (5) DOD is revising the Critical Technologies Plan to reflect changing geopolitical realities and national security requirements; (6) in four of the six technologies, foreign countries' greater relative sophistication had no significant impact on U.S. security; (7) other countries' capabilities in some areas of signature control and weapon system environment could cause concern if those countries became as adept in those areas as the United States; and (8) DOD is unsure how changed conditions in the former Soviet Union will affect critical military technologies.