Technology and Security Policy Center

The Technology and Security Policy Center (TASP) researches how high-consequence, dual-use technologies like artificial intelligence and biotechnology change the global competition and threat environment, then develops policy and technology options to advance the competitiveness and security of the United States, its allies and partners, and the world.

TASP Research Focuses

TASP investigates seven fundamental questions about high-impact technologies:

• Tech Fundamentals: How does the tech work, including its capabilities and what goes into it?

• Global Tech Flows: Where is the tech produced and distributed?

• Global Tech Talent Flows: Where are the experts trained, and where do they go?

• Tech Evolution: How will the tech change, and what factors would change that future?

• Tech Threats and Opportunities: What are the most significant impacts the tech can have on national security?

• Defensive Tech: What other innovations would mitigate or counter the tech’s security impacts?

• Tech Coordination: How can society coordinate to harness or mitigate the tech’s security impacts?

TASP dynamically organizes much of our research into deep-dive clusters designed to address policymakers’ current and future needs. Our clusters today are:

• AI and Compute: Quantifying the computational needs for frontier AI and identifying how compute can be leveraged as an instrument of AI policy.
• AI and Energy: Forecasting the energy requirements for frontier AI and identifying policy barriers to attaining them.
• AI Capability Evaluation: Rigorously assessing frontier AIs’ capabilities, particularly in biotechnology and cybersecurity, to evaluate their strategic implications.
• Geopolitics of AGI: Building an adaptive and forward-looking U.S. strategy for Artificial General Intelligence, including increasing advantage and addressing security risks.
• Technology Policy and Governance: Developing and critiquing specific legal and policy options to ensure robust implementation of technology strategies, including offering timely analysis for decision-makers.
• AI Analysts: Developing AI analysts to perform TASP’s research at machine speed and scale.

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Get Involved

TASP engages researchers from throughout RAND, including full- and part-time staff, students at the Pardee RAND Graduate School, and a Technology and Security Policy Fellows program. Open positions at RAND are posted at the RAND employment opportunites site. Prospective students can apply directly to the Pardee RAND Graduate School at RAND's Washington and/or Santa Monica offices. The Technology and Security Policy Fellows program aims to develop new generations of policy analysts and implementers at the intersection of technology and security issues.

Funding

Much of TASP’s research is independently initiated and supported by donors. See full list of funders here.

To support the Technology and Security Policy Center, contact giving@rand.org.

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  Technology and Security Policy Center (TASP)

  Advanced technologies are changing global competition and security, and RAND’s Technology and Security Policy Center is at the vanguard of understanding and shaping these technologies and their impacts.