New technologies, better hackers and an increased demand for network services

In the constantly changing information assurance realm, security is more often than not a moving target. To confront this challenge, the U.S. Defense Department's intelligence enterprise is beefing up its efforts to prepare information warriors, to track threats and to provide, not only information assurance but more importantly, mission assurance. Today, the need for agility is as immense and intense in cyberspace as it is on the battlefield.

There should be no debate over the need for effective information security in the information revolution. As digital information becomes more vital with the growth of cyberspace, securing it increases in importance. However, even with broad public awareness of the need for cybersecurity, the infosphere is faced with a serious challenge that is multifaceted and that defies easy solution.

The emerging technology that will have the greatest impact on Sandia National Laboratories, a National Nuclear Security Administration lab, reflects the shift toward an increased reliance on supercomputers and their validated numerical simulations to model the nuclear stockpile. Computer simulations will revolutionize the laboratories' microelectronic and nanoscale contributions to engineering and national security. Simulations help researchers work faster and more accurately.

A high-resolution global elevation map soon will allow warfighters to develop and use a variety of navigation, communications and engineering applications. Twice as accurate as previous geographic data systems, it can generate detailed topographies of 80 percent of the planet's surface, government scientists say.

If his eyesight had not failed him, Scott Dixon Smith might never have embarked on a career in technology, let alone one supplying visualization software to corporations and federal agencies. In fact, even before he entered college on a tennis scholarship, Smith already had charted a completely different course.

The combatant command in charge of U.S. homeland defense is in the midst of creating a one-stop cyber shop for information. The initiative supports a trusted information exchange by laying the foundation of an emergency event management framework. Developers contend that the tool will proffer the data and knowledge that commanders, agency leaders and law enforcement personnel need to make appropriate decisions during a crisis, and it ultimately will capture the decision-making process so it can be reviewed after the event has ended.

The People's Liberation Army Navy recently introduced two domestically designed and built guided missile destroyers that include Aegis-type radars and related technologies. Known as Project 052C guided missile destroyers (DDGs), the ships feature Aegis-type phased array panels, vertical launch systems, long-range missiles and considerable command and control. These capabilities were not found on any previous Chinese-built DDGs.

Researchers have discovered a class of nanoscale devices that can self-assemble when exposed to light. These sub-microscopic structures may provide new methods for manufacturing electronic components such as photonic devices and memory storage systems for computers. Another potential application for the technology is in splitting water molecules to generate hydrogen for use as fuel.

The day may not be far off when microscopic machines embed a phone in an individual biological cell, decode a human genome or sniff scents with the acuity of the best-trained bloodhound.