The Institute for Defense Analyses (IDA) is an American

non-profit corporation A nonprofit corporation is any legal entity which has been incorporated under the law of its jurisdiction for purposes other than making profits for its owners or shareholders. Depending on the laws of the jurisdiction, a nonprofit corporation may ...

that administers three

federally funded research and development center Federally funded research and development centers (FFRDCs) are public-private partnerships that conduct research and development for the United States Government. Under Federal Acquisition Regulationbr>§ 35.017 FFRDCs are operated by uni ...

s (FFRDCs) – the Systems and Analyses Center (SAC), the Science and Technology Policy Institute (STPI), and the Center for Communications and Computing (C&C) – to assist the United States government in addressing

national security National security, or national defence, is the security and defence of a sovereign state, including its citizens, economy, and institutions, which is regarded as a duty of government. Originally conceived as protection against military att ...

issues, particularly those requiring scientific and technical expertise. It is headquartered in

Alexandria, Virginia Alexandria is an independent city in the northern region of the Commonwealth of Virginia, United States. It lies on the western bank of the Potomac River approximately south of downtown Washington, D.C. In 2020, the population was 159,467. ...

History

Two ideas critical to the birth of the Institute for Defense Analyses, also known as IDA, emerged from

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. The first was the necessity for unifying the several services into a single, coordinated department. The second was the realization of the strength of the relationship between science—and scientists—and national security. The first reached fruition when President Harry Truman signed the National Security Acts of 1947 and 1949, creating the Department of Defense. (In 1947 the Department of War and the Department of the Navy had been combined to create the National Military Establishment. From it the present Defense Department was created in 1949.) To give the nascent

Office of the Secretary of Defense The Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) is a headquarters-level staff of the United States Department of Defense. It is the principal civilian staff element of the U.S. Secretary of Defense, and it assists the Secretary in carrying out aut ...

(OSD) the technical expertise and analytic resources to hold its own and to help make unification a reality, James Forrestal, the department's first secretary, established the Weapons Systems Evaluation Group (WSEG) in 1948 to assist OSD and the Organization of the Joint Chiefs of Staff by: * Bringing scientific and technical as well as operational military expertise to bear in evaluating weapons systems; * Employing advanced techniques of scientific analysis and operations research in the process; and * Approaching its tasks from an impartial, supra-Service perspective. The demands on WSEG were more than its small staff of military and civilian analysts could satisfy, and by the early years of the

Dwight Eisenhower Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; ; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was an American military officer and statesman who served as the 34th president of the United States from 1953 to 1961. During World War I ...

administration, there were calls for change. The several options gradually coalesced into one and, in 1955, the Secretary of Defense and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff asked

James R. Killian, Jr. James Rhyne Killian Jr. (July 24, 1904 – January 29, 1988) was the 10th president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, from 1948 until 1959. Early life Killian was born on July 24, 1904, in Blacksburg, South Carolina. His father w ...

, then president of MIT, to help form a civilian, nonprofit

research institute A research institute, research centre, research center or research organization, is an establishment founded for doing research. Research institutes may specialize in basic research or may be oriented to applied research. Although the term often i ...

. The Institute would operate under the auspices of a university consortium to attract highly qualified scientists to assist WSEG in addressing the nation's most challenging security problems. And so, in April 1956, IDA was incorporated as a

non-profit organization A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

. In 1958, at the request of the Secretary of Defense, IDA established a division to support the newly created Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA), later renamed the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). Shortly after its creation, the mandate of this division was broadened to include scientific and technical studies for all offices of the Director of Defense, Research and Engineering (DDR&E). Universities overseeing IDA expanded from the five initial members in 1956 —

Caltech The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech or CIT)The university itself only spells its short form as "Caltech"; the institution considers other spellings such a"Cal Tech" and "CalTech" incorrect. The institute is also occasional ...

, Case Western Reserve, MIT,

Stanford Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. S ...

and Tulane — to twelve by 1964 with the addition of California, Chicago,

Columbia Columbia may refer to: * Columbia (personification), the historical female national personification of the United States, and a poetic name for America Places North America Natural features * Columbia Plateau, a geologic and geographic region i ...

, Illinois, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and

Princeton Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the nin ...

. University oversight of IDA ended in 1968 in the aftermath of

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...

-related demonstrations at Princeton,

, and other member universities. Subsequent divisions were established under what became IDA's largest research center, the Studies and Analyses Center (now the Systems and Analyses Center), to provide cost analyses, computer software and engineering, strategy and force assessments, and operational test and evaluation. IDA created the Simulation Center in the early 1990s to focus on advanced distributed simulation, and most recently, established the Joint Advanced Warfighting Program to develop new operational concepts. IDA's support of the National Security Agency began at its request in 1959, when it established the Center for Communications Research in Princeton, New Jersey. Additional requests from NSA in 1984 and 1989 led respectively to what is now called the Center for Computing Sciences in Bowie, Maryland and to a second Center for Communications Research in La Jolla, California. These groups, which conduct research in cryptology and

information operations Information Operations is a category of direct and indirect support operations for the United States Military. By definition in Joint Publication 3-13, "IO are described as the integrated employment of electronic warfare (EW), computer networ ...

, make up IDA's Communications and Computing FFRDC. In 2003, IDA assumed responsibility for the Science and Technology Policy Institute, a separate FFRDC providing technical and analytic support to the

Office of Science and Technology Policy An office is a space where an organization's employees perform administrative work in order to support and realize objects and goals of the organization. The word "office" may also denote a position within an organization with specific d ...

and other executive branch organizations. Throughout its history, IDA also has assisted other federal agencies. Recent work includes research performed in support of the

Department of Homeland Security The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is the U.S. federal executive department responsible for public security, roughly comparable to the interior or home ministries of other countries. Its stated missions involve anti-ter ...

, the

National Aeronautics and Space Administration The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeeding ...

, the Director of National Intelligence, and others.

Leadership

The following have served as president of IDA: # James McCormack, 1956-1959 # Garrison Norton, 1959-1962 #

Richard M. Bissell Jr. Richard Mervin Bissell Jr. (September 18, 1909 – February 7, 1994) was an American Central Intelligence Agency officer responsible for major projects such as the U-2 spy plane and the Bay of Pigs Invasion. He is seen as one of the most im ...

, 1962-1964 # Jack Ruina, 1964-1966 #

Maxwell D. Taylor Maxwell Davenport Taylor (August 26, 1901 – April 19, 1987) was a senior United States Army officer and diplomat of the mid-20th century. He served with distinction in World War II, most notably as commander of the 101st Airborne Division, n ...

, 1966-1969 #

Alexander H. Flax Alexander Henry Flax (January 18, 1921June 30, 2014) was the Chief Scientist of the U.S. Air Force (USAF) from 1959 to 1961, Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Research and Development from 1963 to 1969, and the third Director of the Nation ...

, 1969-1983 #

Andrew Goodpaster Andrew Jackson Goodpaster (February 12, 1915 – May 16, 2005) was an American Army General. He served as NATO's Supreme Allied Commander, Europe (SACEUR), from July 1, 1969, and Commander in Chief of the United States European Command (CI ...

, 1983-1985 # William Y. Smith, 1985-1990 # Larry D. Welch, 1990-2003 # Dennis C. Blair, 2003-2006 # Larry D. Welch, 2006-2009 # David S. C. Chu, 2009-2020 # Norton A. Schwartz, 2020–present

IDA's FFRDCs

Systems and Analyses Center

The Systems and Analyses Center (SAC) is the largest of IDA's three FFRDCs and is co-located with the IDA headquarters in

. SAC assists the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD), the Joint Staff, the Combatant Commands, and Defense Agencies in addressing important national security issues, focusing particularly on those requiring scientific and technical expertise. It includes the following divisions: :*Cost Analysis and Research Division (CARD) helps guide the Department of Defense and other federal agencies in the decisions, policies, and processes of resource – both people and money – allocation. Specifically, CARD analysts engage in: ::* Evaluating costs for pending government acquisition or retention ::* Examining resource allocation policies to guide sponsors’ decision ::* Improving the efficiency and effectiveness of our sponsors’ resource allocation processes :: CARD also supports the Department of Homeland Security efforts to assess and validate new anti-terrorism systems as mandated by the

Support Anti-Terrorism by Fostering Effective Technologies Act The Support Anti-Terrorism by Fostering Effective Technologies Act of 2002, or SAFETY Act, was enacted as Subtitle G of Title VIII of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (). The Act creates an exclusive federal cause of action A cause of action ...

. Similar to the support to DoD, analysts provide the technical evaluation ensuring that proposed technologies are safe and effective. :*Information Technology and Systems Division (ITSD) focuses on cybersecurity and other cyberspace challenges of national and global importance. ITSD researchers address all aspects of cyber from the perspectives of cyberspace operations, technology, and policy/law, and where these perspectives intersect. In particular, ITSD concentrates on these areas: ::* Providing expertise on critical cyber technology procurements via in-depth knowledge of the technology and modern methods for timely acquisition of technology that matters. ::* Assessing advanced concepts in rapidly changing cyber technologies while identifying and analyzing cyber risks. ::* Analyzing the workforce to determine if they are ready for cyber challenges and developing training and education programs to ensure we are ready for future cyber challenges. ::* Applying world-class talent in content understanding by analyzing Big Data to bring clarity to a world drowning in data :: ITSD researchers have performed assessments of existing DoD cyberspace organizational constructs, developed alternative technology strategies, and advised leaders on the most effective options to enhance cyberspace operations. Analysts also assist DoD and other governmental agencies in addressing problems related to real-world operations. :*Intelligence Analyses Division (IAD) provides the

United States Department of Defense The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD or DOD) is an executive branch department of the federal government charged with coordinating and supervising all agencies and functions of the government directly related to national sec ...

, the Intelligence Community, and other cabinet departments research and analyses across a wide array of intelligence issues and disciplines. Specific examples of support to our national security include research in the following vital areas: ::* Countering terrorism, including how terrorist organizations are financed; examining issues unique to Asian counterterrorism; and following developments in improvised explosive devices worldwide ::* New technology, such as the use of tagging, tracking, and locating (TTL) systems, including the ability to defeat such systems, and measurement and signals intelligence (MASINT) applications, which deal with metric, angle, spatial, wavelength, time dependence, modulation, plasma, and hydromagnetic data ::* Surprise technology – unanticipated technologies that might be employed against the U.S. by adversaries as the result of either scientific breakthroughs or novel applications of existing technologies. ::* Cyberspace operations – tracking, analyzing, and countering digital security threats and identifying and tracking those developing, selling, and using cyber weapons on a global basis. :*Joint Advanced Warfighting Division (JAWD) focuses on the needs of the joint force commander and, in particular, the future joint force commander. Provides analytic support to post-war programmatic decisions. As DoD reviews capabilities, JAWD provides an independent analytic review of the capabilities built during the war and which ones to maintain to support the joint concept. Specifically, the division is engaged in the following: ::* Linking new concepts and new technologies to a military context ::* Moving from concept to reality in the military environment ::* Exploring military options through structured analysis. :*Operational Evaluation Division (OED) provides technical analytical support to the DoD’s

Director, Operational Test and Evaluation The Director, Operational Test and Evaluation (DOT&E) is the principal staff assistant and adviser to the US Secretary of Defense on operational and live fire test and evaluation activities involving U.S. Department of Defense weapons systems. R ...

(DOT&E) and its mission to conduct independent assessments of the military services’ test and evaluation of new weapons systems. OED’s analytical support functions focus on: ::* Conducting good tests of military systems in a realistic operational environment ::* Evaluating those systems from an objective, disinterested, factually based perspective in terms of effectiveness and suitability :: OED also supports the

efforts to assess and validate new anti-terrorism systems as mandated by the

. Similar to the support to DoD, analysts provide the technical evaluation that proposed technologies are safe and effective. :*Science and Technology Division (STD) provides analyses of science and technology issues related to national security. STD’s core strengths, which include: ::* Electromagnetics ::* Energy analysis ::* Chemical, nuclear, biological detection ::* Advanced optics ::* Countering IEDs and mines ::* Vehicle blast enhancements ::* Materials and armor ::* Training and human factors ::* Robotic systems :: STD also manages DoD’s Defense Science Studies Group to strengthen connections between the federal government and relevant science and technology communities in academia. The DSSG introduces leading, recently tenured faculty to security challenges and related technology problems. :*Strategy, Forces and Resources Division (SFRD) conducts comprehensive integrated, interdisciplinary studies of broad defense policy and long-range planning related to national strategy, organization, and management process issues. SFRD researchers and analysts conduct studies in several key areas: ::* Analyzing Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear (CBRN) defenses ::* Conducting organizational effectiveness and human capital management studies ::* Improving defense resource management ::* Investigating international arms markets ::* Researching international collaboration scenarios ::* Evaluating force structure and capabilities as well as strategy and risk. :*System Evaluation Division (SED) provides independent system evaluations, analyses of alternatives, assessments of technology integration, and special system studies for DoD, typically assisting our sponsors in the following tasks: ::* Formulating and investigating new operational concepts and system architectures ::* Examining force- and mission-level effectiveness ::* Assessing the risks, costs, and benefits of new technology insertion ::* Improving the developmental test and evaluation of major military systems

Science and Technology Policy Institute

The Science and Technology Policy Institute (STPI), is located in Washington, D.C. It provides objective analysis of science and technology (S&T) policy issues for the White House

(OSTP) and other offices and councils within the executive branch of the U.S. government and federal agencies. Since IDA began operating it in 2003, STPI has provided support to OSTP on topics spanning the spectrum from the ethical, legal, and societal implications of nanotechnology research to aeronautics research and development; and from understanding the effects of U.S. visa policies to efforts that facilitate international research collaboration. In carrying out its work, STPI researchers consult widely with representatives from private industry, academia, and nonprofit organizations. STPI's key functions are to: ::* Analyze the effect of current and proposed S&T policies on the long-term vitality of the United States ::* Provide timely and authoritative information regarding significant S&T developments and trends in the United States and abroad, with particular attention to the federal S&T portfolio ::* Advise OSTP and federal agencies on the implementation and evaluation of research and development programs ::* Provide technical support and analysis to the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) and to committees and panels of the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC), under the direction of OSTP

Center for Communications and Computing

In 1959, IDA's Center for Communications and Computing was formed (as the Communications Research Division) as a private

think tank A think tank, or policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-govern ...

dedicated to helping the

solve advanced cryptology problems. It was headed by Cornell professor of mathematics J. Barkley Rosser (1958–61); University of Chicago mathematics chairman Abraham Adrian Albert (1961–1962); Yale University professor of mathematics Gustav A. Hedlund (1962-1963); University of Illinois/Sandia Corporation mathematician Richard A. Leibler (1963–1977); and Princeton mathematician Lee Paul Neuwirth (1977-unknown). More recently, the Centers, which now consist of a Center for Computing Sciences in Bowie, Maryland, and two Centers for Communications Research with offices in

Princeton, New Jersey Princeton is a municipality with a borough form of government in Mercer County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It was established on January 1, 2013, through the consolidation of the Borough of Princeton and Princeton Township, both of w ...

, and

La Jolla, California La Jolla ( , ) is a hilly, seaside neighborhood within the city of San Diego, California, United States, occupying of curving coastline along the Pacific Ocean. The population reported in the 2010 census was 46,781. La Jolla is surrounded on ...

, have also worked on network security issues. Within those broad areas, the research portfolio particularly focuses on the creation and analysis of sophisticated encryption methods, high-speed computing technologies, the development of advanced algorithms and their applications, algorithmic and mathematical foundations of cryptology, computer network technologies supporting communications security, information processing technologies supporting cyber security, and analytical applications for large data sets. Although the Centers in Princeton and La Jolla were founded to focus on the mathematics of cryptology, and the center in Bowie was founded to focus on computational science, all three have developed distinctive areas of expertise. Nonetheless, they work closely with each other and share many overlapping research teams. :*Center for Communications Research, Princeton and Center for Communications Research, La Jolla. One Center was founded in 1959 in

(originally called the Communications Research Division). In 1989, a second Center was opened in

. The two Centers employ more than 70 Ph.D. mathematicians and computer scientists, working on problems in cryptography, cryptanalysis, algorithms, high-performance computing, information processing, signal processing, and network security, as well as related areas of pure and applied mathematics. A surprisingly broad array of branches of the mathematical sciences have proved to be useful in this work, and this is reflected in the variety of backgrounds of the researchers at these Centers. The day-to-day work is aimed at providing practical solutions to important real-world problems faced by NSA, and this can range from deep mathematical investigations to writing advanced computer programs to sophisticated statistical analyses of data. The research environment is distinctive in encouraging close collaboration, multidisciplinary teams, tight coupling between theory and practice, and strong connections with the other Centers. :*Center for Computing Sciences (CCS) was founded in 1985 in Bowie, Maryland. CCS focuses the skills of some of the country’s best computer scientists, engineers, and mathematicians on solving intelligence-related problems of importance to national security, and also on tackling problem sets of interest to the entire computational science world. CCS's original mission, the development and use of high-end computing, has expanded over the years to reflect global political and technological changes. In addition to high-performance computing for cryptography, it now includes cryptography itself, extensive projects in network security and related cyber issues, signal processing, and emerging algorithmic and mathematical techniques for analyzing extremely complex data sets. CCS works closely with

and with US industry on the development of high-performance computing platforms – an effort that senior technology policymakers believe will require government research and development support. These platforms, aimed at meeting the specialized requirements of the most demanding national-security-related computations, will have to far exceed the capabilities of even the most sophisticated computers today. The Center is uniquely qualified to provide significant insight into this challenge, given its depth of experience in NSA’s most advanced computing problems; history of sustained and vigorous dialog with many of the nation's leading high-end computer makers; and active collaborations with the

united States Department of Energy The United States Department of Energy (DOE) is an executive department of the U.S. federal government that oversees U.S. national energy policy and manages the research and development of nuclear power and nuclear weapons in the United States ...

’s

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) is a federal research facility in Livermore, California, United States. The lab was originally established as the University of California Radiation Laboratory, Livermore Branch in 1952 in response ...

, Sandia National Laboratories, and the

Los Alamos National Laboratory Los Alamos National Laboratory (often shortened as Los Alamos and LANL) is one of the sixteen research and development laboratories of the United States Department of Energy (DOE), located a short distance northwest of Santa Fe, New Mexico, ...

Notable people associated with the Center for Communications and Computing

* Abraham Adrian Albert, CRD director (1961–1962) * Leonard E. Baum *

Joe P. Buhler Joe Peter Buhler (born 1950 in Vancouver, Washington) is an American mathematician. Buhler received his undergraduate degree from Reed College in 1972, and his Ph.D. from Harvard University in 1977 with thesis ''Icosahedral Galois Representations' ...

Don Coppersmith Don Coppersmith (born 1950) is a cryptographer and mathematician. He was involved in the design of the Data Encryption Standard block cipher at IBM, particularly the design of the S-boxes, strengthening them against differential cryptanalysis. ...

* Alfred W. Hales * Gustav A. Hedlund, CRD director * Donald Knuth, 1968-1969 * Richard Leibler, CRD director *

Victor S. Miller Victor Saul Miller (born 3 March 1947 in Brooklyn, New York) is an American mathematician as a Principal Computer Scientist in the Computer Science Laboratory of SRI International. He received his B.A. in mathematics from Columbia University in ...

, co-inventor of Elliptic Curve Cryptography * Nick Patterson * Eric M. Rains *

Coke Reed Coke Stevenson Reed is an American mathematician and inventor from Austin, Texas. He is the inventor of the proprietary Data Vortex network. Implementations of this network into Supercomputers use a novel topology and switch logic based on his a ...

, CCR Princeton and CCS staff member *

David P. Robbins David Peter Robbins (12 August 1942 in Brooklyn – 4 September 2003 in Princeton) was an American mathematician. He is most famous for introducing alternating sign matrices.. He is also known for his work on generalizations of Heron's formula ...

, CCR Princeton staff member (1980-2003) * J. Barkley Rosser, CRD director (1958–1961) * Jim Simons, CRD staff member (1964-1968) *

Lloyd R. Welch Lloyd Richard Welch (born September 28, 1927) is an American information theorist and applied mathematician, and co-inventor of the Baum–Welch algorithm and the Berlekamp–Welch algorithm, also known as the Welch–Berlekamp algorithm. Welch r ...

* Malcolm J. Williamson, inventor of Diffie-Hellman key exchange

Staff

IDA employs approximately 1,500 research, professional, adjunct, and support staff. Many have attended the nation's military service academies or served in the military. Approximately 56% hold doctoral degrees; 36% hold master's degrees; and 8% hold bachelor's degrees. The staff specializes in the following research disciplines:

References

External links

*
Science and Technology Policy Institute
{{DEFAULTSORT:Institute For Defense Analyses Think tanks based in Washington, D.C. Non-profit organizations based in Alexandria, Virginia Federally Funded Research and Development Centers Research institutes established in 1956 1956 establishments in Virginia Research institutes in Virginia