Military Applications of Nanotechnology: Implications for Strategic Security 1

Nanotechnology has emerged as a major science and technology focus of the 21st century. Proponents assert that military applications of nanotechnology have even greater potential than nuclear weapons to radically change the balance of power internationally. The suggestion that nanotechnology will enable a new class of weapons that will alter the geopolitical landscape remains to be realized. A number of unresolved security puzzles underlying the emergence of nanotechnology have implications for international security, defense policy, and arms control regimes. This research gives the first systematic analysis of this new technology s role and significance in security and foreign policy and contributes to the development of similar frameworks toward designing policy responses to address the promise and perils of nanotechnology, biotechnology, and other emerging sciences. This work accomplished two related ends review and analysis of the current state of nanotechnology efforts in Russia in the context of military technology development. Although not included in this report, similar reviews by the author were done previously for the European Union and concurrently for China. These analyses are part of a larger comparative effort of nanotechnology for international security, including the United States, Turkey, Israel, Iran, the Republic of Korea, and Singapore.