During this reporting period, researchers from the National Strategic Research Institute (NSRI) and the University of Nebraska System (NU) leveraged data and training expertise to create and elevate tools, systems and experiences for leaders and end users in the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) and U.S. Government. The goal is to simulate critical, real-time decisions — and then support data-backed, skill-based decisions with confidence in the field.
Confined spaces on a cargo ship complicate a responder’s ability to remove contraband safely. In August 2022, NSRI held a mobility and delivery training evolution for the U.S. National Guard 43rd Civil Support Team (CST) and mission partners at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center, Charleston, South Carolina. Participants collaborated on standard operating procedures in a scenario designed to prepare them for ready response to real-world deployments.
In a 2023 NSRI experiential course in Los Angeles, California, law enforcement personnel and first responders improved their ability to quickly identify illicit biological weapons. Participants designed, built and produced biological simulants. All participants ranked every portion of the unique course as excellent — 5 out of 5 points.
Then, throughout 2023, in partnership with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency and the New York Police Department Counterterrorism Unit, NSRI trained 134 operators and partners attached to four CSTs for advanced response to chemical, biological and explosive threats. Exercises and courses were held in the field and at the NSRI National Capital Region Laboratory & Conference Center in Annapolis Junction, Maryland. Events focused on chemical pharmaceutical-based agents, homemade explosives, narcotics, chemical rocket motors and chemical signature recognition.
Since 2016, responders from 150 federal agencies have completed 6,000 NSRI experiences. These experiences bolster responder defense against evolving threats through scenarios that authentically reproduce future threats and challenges they are likely to face on the ground.
A U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Soldier Center (CCDC SC) program aims to measure, predict and enhance soldier and squad close-combat performance. Since late 2020, NSRI Fellow Dr. Aaron Likens, assistant professor at the Center for Research in Human Movement Variability at the University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO), has worked to contribute a “Soldier Readiness Toolkit” to the CCDC SC effort.
The toolkit’s software collects and analyzes data generated by small wearable sensors placed on a soldier’s body and turns that information into critical insights into the soldier’s movement patterns. Dr. Likens’ team developed the software utilizing data collected from the Biomechanics and Engineering Team at DEVCOM SC in Natick, Massachusetts. The data was gathered through several multi-day studies during which soldiers participated in a 72-hour mission and recovery scenario that measured their movements, cardiovascular activity, baseline and recovery strength and biomarkers.
The UNO team successfully analyzed the test data, calibrated the tool and delivered the toolkit as planned to DEVCOM SC. The team has presented at several academic and industry conferences and September 2024 published “Altered movement dynamics in soldiers undergoing multiple bouts of load carriage” in Applied Ergonomics.
In summer 2023, NSRI supported a programmatic milestone for U.S. Strategic Command’s (USSTRATCOM) Mission Planning and Analysis System (MPAS), conducting a successful initial operational test and evaluation of integrated nuclearweapons-effects tools and capabilities developed by the Defense Threat Reduction Agency with MPAS applications. These tools allow USSTRATCOM to use nuclear weapons effects information in new and more in-depth ways during planning and operations. The enhancement is critical for understanding the impacts of nuclear weapon use in a new era.
In late 2023, the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center (AFLCMC) awarded NSRI $4 million to continue its support, which the institute has provided since 2017.
The sophisticated integrations produced by the NSRI-led team streamline essential workflows and allow USSTRATCOM leaders to ask increasingly complex questions surrounding both intended and unintended weapons deployment. Ultimately, this work supports clearer, more efficacious decisions by U.S. defense leaders and operational planners.
The National Counterterrorism Innovation, Technology, and Education Center (NCITE), a U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Center of Excellence based at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, published the report, Research Challenges in Combating Terrorist Use of Explosives in the United States, based on research conducted during the reporting period and funded by DHS.
The report summarizes the current terrorist improvised explosive device (IED) threat environment and identifies 10 key priorities for explosives experts — in government, industry and academia — for preventing and disrupting future attacks. The NSRI field operations and training team contributed operational support and subject matter expertise to the project.
The insights and recommendations provided in the report enable better decision-making at all levels, from strategic planning to tactical operations.
The electromagnetic spectrum (EMS) is nonphysical but transcends all physical domains, both military and civilian. There is a significant push to reestablish U.S. EMS dominance in this operational area. In 2023, under Unified Command Plan 22, the DODdesignated USSTRATCOM as its EMS Enterprise operational lead. As USSTRATCOM’s DOD-designated UARC, NSRI immediately shifted to contribute significantly to this priority.
USSTRATCOM’s Joint Center for Electromagnetic Readiness (JCER) at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada, awarded NSRI $871,526 to use its evaluation and modeling expertise to help JCER communicate actionable data to the services. Initial tasks evaluated instrumentation and data capture capabilities and characterized the electromagnetic environment. NSRI hired a JCER analyst to collaborate with NU researchers.
NSRI and NU are contributing risk analysis, research, operational environment characterization and deterrence analysis leveraging many NU campus resources. The stage is being set for research focusing on the evaluation of emerging technologies and their integration into future evaluation architecture.
Since 2019, NSRI Fellow Dr. Michelle Black, UNO associate professor of political science, has leveraged NSRI resources to execute development of a multiactor deterrence analysis model (MADAM) for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). The model has matured into the establishment of the Nebraska Deterrence Lab at UNO led by Dr. Black.
In this reporting period, Dr. Black and NSRI Fellow Dr. Deanna House, tested MADAM within the development of a series of NATO wargames on space deterrence. The two are part of a 37-person research team formed by NATO to develop and test a comprehensive space deterrence framework. Such a framework would employ a full spectrum of deterrence options and both national and NATO instruments of power.
The NATO team will analyze wargame results and distribute an executive-level report, and the NATO Science and Technology Board chartered the team to continue through March 2026. This is just one example of many ongoing applications and deliverables of the Nebraska Deterrence Lab and MADAM framework that are available to help U.S. commanders and Allies deter and respond to nefarious acts.
