Avoiding 21st Century Societal and Regional Conflicts Through Advanced Technologies for Understanding, Anticipating and Shaping

Largely as a result of Cold War era concerns arising from the existence and actions of the Soviet Union, strategic technology development was focused on developing offensive weaponry such as high-yield warheads and delivery vehicles, as well as C4ISR defensive systems designed to provide warnings of impending or likely military strikes. Today, however, a radically different threat has arisen from the residue of failed and weak states, and terrorist groups who have a very different world view. This paper describes an effort, called Pre-Conflict Management Tools (PCMT) program, to develop technologies to address this new threat. In support of this description, the technologies comprising the PCMT effort are overviewed, a synopsis of the programs results provided, and future — related--efforts considered.