The Department of War (DoW) today announced a series of initiatives to advance President Donald J. Trump's vision for a New Golden Age of American science. Building on the recommendations in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy Director Michael Kratsios's report Science: A New Golden Age, these initiatives will modernize how the Department supports and evaluates scientific research, bring new talent to work on critical scientific challenges in defense of the nation, and strengthen partnerships across the science ecosystem between discovery, innovation, and national defense to ensure American warfighters are supported with cutting edge technology and capabilities.
"President Trump has made it clear that technological dominance requires us to move faster, safeguard our research, and build right here in America," said Emil Michael, Under Secretary of War for Research and Engineering. "We are answering that call by dismantling barriers to commercialization, modernizing our labs, and ruthlessly securing taxpayer-funded research from foreign exploitation. The Department of War will continue to turn the President's vision of a new golden age of science into unrivaled capability for our warfighters."
"Maintaining our technological edge requires balancing rapid innovation with responsible program protection," said Joseph Jewell, Ph.D., Assistant Secretary of War for Science and Technology. "As we accelerate how we move concepts from the lab to the field, we are equally committed to safeguarding federally funded research and ensuring domestic investments deliver tangible capabilities. By modernizing our testing facilities, empowering industry through initiatives like the Defense Patent Holiday, and expanding pathways for domestic scientific talent, we are safeguarding our nation's economic vitality and national security, ensuring this new golden age drives lasting domestic strength and unrivaled technological capabilities for our warfighters."
The Department's execution of the White House strategy includes major lines of effort led by the Office of the Assistant Secretary of War for Science and Technology:
1. Revitalizing America's Defense Research Enterprise
- Department of War and National Science Foundation Establish Memorandum of Understanding to Advance Science, Technology, and Innovation: The Department of War and the National Science Foundation (NSF) have established a broad memorandum of understanding (MOU) to pursue mutually beneficial collaborative activities in science, technology, and innovation. The MOU establishes a framework for the Department and NSF to explore and coordinate opportunities that strengthen the nation's research ecosystem, accelerate the transition of promising technologies, and promote collaboration among government, academic, industry, and other research partners. Initial areas of joint interest include X-Labs, the Programmable Cloud Laboratories Network, and AI Forge ($40 million), among other initiatives that advance experimentation, modernize research infrastructure, build the workforce, and push the development of emerging technologies. As part of this effort, the Department of War is dedicating $200M to Programmable Cloud Labs in Fiscal Year 2028 across the Future Years Defense Program (FYDP).
Through this partnership, the Department of War and NSF may identify opportunities for information exchange, joint workshops, research collaboration, pilot activities, and other initiatives consistent with each organization's authorities, priorities, and available resources.
- Department of War Advances Metascience-informed Framework to Strengthen the Defense Research Enterprise: Consistent with Science: A New Golden Age and the recommendations of the Defense Research Enterprise Review, the Department of War is establishing a new enterprise-wide framework to measure and improve the performance and effectiveness of its in-house laboratories, Federally Funded Research and Development Centers (FFRDCs) and University-Affiliated Research Centers (UARCs).
Implementing Recommendation 14 of the Department's recently published "Defense Research Enterprise Review," the initiative will apply metascience-informed principles to create measures of performance (MOP) and measures of effectiveness (MOE) as metrics.
The initiative reflects a metascience-informed approach to research management: using evidence and rigorous evaluation to improve how research organizations are assessed, governed, and resourced. Rather than impose a single scorecard on organizations with different missions, the Department will develop category-specific measures anchored to each institution's mission, comparative advantages, and enduring technical capabilities.
The framework will be designed to:
- Focus on outcomes: Assess whether portfolios achieve mission-relevant results commensurate with their resources and responsibilities
- Support independent verification: Use measures that can be audited and substantiated
- Measure progress over time: Track long-term performance consistent with the timelines of scientific research and engineering
- Respect institutional differences: Enable appropriate comparisons while recognizing that laboratories, warfare centers, medical research organizations, federally funded research and development centers, and university affiliated research centers have distinct missions and operating models
- Reduce distorted incentives: Avoid overreliance on narrow activity metrics that can encourage organizations to report volume instead of mission outcomes
- Inform leadership decisions: Strengthen the evidence base for portfolio management, resource allocation, and performance improvement
The Defense Research Enterprise Review found that existing enterprise measures, including activity counts and obligation and expenditure rates, remain useful for financial stewardship and oversight but do not independently capture portfolio-level outcomes. The new MOP/MOE framework is intended to complement—not replace—appropriate financial management and program oversight tools.
The Department is launching the framework with a limited pilot across representative research organizations to validate measures before engaging in a broader implementation.
- New Department of War Research Center Unites Academic Researchers with Broader Industry, Venture Capital, Non-Profit Ecosystem: The Department of War is catalyzing the university research ecosystem through the new Center for Defense Academic Research's (CeDAR) two complementary initiatives: the Problem-Based Basic Research Consortium (PBR-C) and the Translational Research Initiative for Academia and Defense (TRIAD) Partnership. Through PBR-C, the Department will unite multidisciplinary university research teams and world-class individual investigators to solve pressing scientific challenges, leveraging partnerships with non-profit research foundations, selective international collaborations, and participation from industry and venture capital observers. In parallel, TRIAD pairs transdisciplinary academic research teams with Service laboratories to develop actionable solutions for Combatant Command and Joint Interagency Task Force mission priorities.
2. Investing in America's Scientific Talent to Support the Warfighter
- Expansion of Hands-On Technical Learning: Fulfilling the White House directives to invest in individual researchers and elevate technical apprenticeships, the Department is expanding premier human capital programs. Celebrating its 20th anniversary, the Science, Mathematics, and Research for Transformation (SMART) Scholarship for Service Program welcomed its largest cohort of more than 750 scholars this year.
The DoW's SMART Program provides merit-based scholarships to bachelor's, master's, and doctoral students in STEM fields. In exchange for full tuition, stipends, and internship opportunities, scholars commit to a one-to-one service period as civilian employees with the DoW. Since its inception in 2006, the SMART program has awarded over 6,500 scholarships, with 91 percent of scholars successfully completing the program.
Beginning this fiscal year, the Department of War will explore a talent exchange initiative that would connect the Department of Energy's (DOE's) Genesis Mission Fellowship program to the DoW's SMART and National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate (NDSEG) programs. This partnership enables DoW and DOE scholars to intern with each other's laboratories and industry partners, putting opportunities in academia, government laboratories, and companies under one umbrella.
The Department's flagship SMART and NDSEG programs are producing a new generation of scientific leaders. To date, the two programs boast over 5,000 Ph.D. graduates between them; these graduates have gone on to fill critical roles within the Department, drive innovation in the private sector, and advance the frontiers of knowledge in academia.
Complementing this talent pipeline, the NDSEG program has cultivated the nation's scientific minds since 1989, awarding nearly 4,900 fellowships. The program offers full tuition and a generous stipend for up to three years to individuals pursuing doctoral degrees, with no service obligation. This provides fellows with the flexibility to pursue careers across academia, industry, and government, with 90 percent of graduates entering research and development roles, broadly strengthening the U.S. innovation ecosystem.
The SMART SEED Innovation Award supports SMART scholars as they begin their DoW employment after completing their doctorates. The technical work completed through SEED, which provides funding of up to $155,000 per year for up to three years, aligns with Department missions or critical technology areas.
The Department of War is proud to announce the Fiscal Year 2026 SMART SEED Innovation Award principal investigators:
- Jeffrey Becker, Naval Surface Warfare Center – Carderock Division, West Bethesda, MD
- Brian Burke, Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division – Patuxent River, Patuxent River, MD
- Alexander Chen, Air Force Research Laboratory – Information & Spectrum Warfare Directorate, Rome, NY
- Luke Fina, Naval Surface Warfare Center – Panama City Division, Panama City, FL
- Charris Gabaldon, Naval Information Warfare Center Atlantic, Norfolk, VA
- Nathan Gajowski, Air Force Research Laboratory – Space Warfare, Kirtland AFB, NM
- Jeffrey Koenig, Defense Centers for Public Health – Aberdeen, Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD
- Timothy Lim, Air Force Research Laboratory – Information and Spectrum Warfare Directorate, Kirtland AFB, NM
- Maile McCann, U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center – Coastal Hydraulics Laboratory, Duck, NC
- Jennifer Mejia, U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center – Environmental Laboratory, Vicksburg, MS
- Tristan Melton, Naval Surface Warfare Center – Corona Division, Corona, CA
- Alexander Perruci, Air Force Research Laboratory – Information and Spectrum Warfare Directorate, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, OH
- Nhon Phan, U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command (DEVCOM) Army Research Laboratory, Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD
- Trent Schreiber, U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center – Construction Engineering Research Laboratory, Champaign, IL
- Varsha Swamy, U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center – Geotechnical and Structures Laboratory (GSL), Vicksburg, MS
- Juliet Swinea, U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center – GSL, Vicksburg, MS
- Amani Webber-Schultz, Naval Undersea Warfare Center- Newport Division, Newport, RI
- Daniel Weitsman, U.S. Army DEVCOM Aviation Missile Center – Technology Development Directorate, Fort Eustis, VA
- Ethan Wright, Naval Surface Warfare Center- Panama City Division, Panama City, FL
Since Fiscal Year 2020, SMART SEED awards have invested $41 million in 140 projects, resulting in new patents, publications, and advanced defense technologies. Ultimately, these programs ensure the long-term sustainability of an agile, highly capable STEM workforce equipped to safeguard national security and maintain America's enduring technological edge.
3. Accelerating and Safeguarding American Defense Innovation
- Enforce Robust Research Security and Program Protection: The Department has strengthened its Science & Technology Program Protection and Maintaining Technology Advantage frameworks to support implementation of National Security Presidential Memorandum-33 (NSPM-33). The Department conducts rigorous risk-based reviews of fundamental research, screens against National Defense Authorization Act Section 1286 foreign-risk entity lists, ensures strict compliance with Section 1062 foreign institution limits, and executes mandatory foreign ownership due diligence. This ensures technological advancements made in America can be translated into operational capabilities for the United States and our allies.
- Dismantle Commercialization Barriers via the Defense Patent Holiday Initiative: The Department is responding to the White House's mandate to reform intellectual property licensing and open federal innovations to non-traditional builders through the Defense Patent Holiday Initiative. This initiative directly supports White House priorities by rapidly accelerating the transition of Department-funded technologies into the commercial sector. By granting royalty-free licensing windows to federally developed patents, the Department empowers private-sector innovators to commercialize breakthrough defense hardware without navigating months of legal friction.
- Leverage R&D to Strengthen Domestic Manufacturing: The Department of War's ManTech Program celebrated its 70th anniversary this year and serves as the Department's primary bridge from prototypes to programs of record, shaping not just what the military designs, but how it is produced affordably, securely, and at scale. The Department's Manufacturing Innovation Institutes (MIIs) include a network of nine active, defense-led institutes across the nation, including the latest addition, the FutureTEX institute in Belmont, North Carolina.
These unified lines of effort strengthen the American innovation pipeline and deliver unmatched capabilities to our warfighters.
