NSS week panel included retired Vice Admirals Kenny Whitesell, Ross Myers, Bill Galinis, Kelly Aeschbach and retired Marine Corps Lieutenant General Jerry Glavy
From breakthrough technologies that reach America’s front lines of defense to technical reports that land on the President’s desk, the tools and insights that drive national security all start with science. That’s the message researchers in Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s National Security Sciences Directorate delivered during the annual National Security Science Week, held July 15-17, 2025.
The week kicked off with a town hall from NSSD Associate Laboratory Director Moe Khaleel who emphasized the responsibility and necessity of the entire lab’s resources to meet national security challenges. Khaleel briefed a standing-room-only crowd of lab staff and more than 200 online viewers on the directorate’s strategic vision and recent accomplishments.
Khaleel laid out NSSD’s priorities and forecasting through 2029, emphasizing ORNL strengths in nuclear science, cyber-physical security, geospatial intelligence, defense manufacturing, classified high-performance computing and emerging technologies such as quantum. The ORNL national security strategy is well aligned with national priorities, the Intelligence Community’s annual threat assessment and urgent mission needs.
“If you want to deliver something in a rapid fashion, you need to have a strong foundation and start from a position of strength,” Khaleel said. “We capitalize on the talent, skills, facilities and expertise of this lab to build the national security strategy that will address the threats we face. Our strategy is really the result of that intersection between threat and strength.”
ORNL’s national security programs develop solutions — including datasets, hardware, software, publications and reports — for the nation’s military, defense, intelligence and emergency response programs.
“I get jazzed up when I see our people delivering products,” Khaleel said. “It’s very powerful when you see something you’re delivering and see that it’s making a difference.”
While the mission may be rooted in deep legacy, the lab’s national security sciences have exciting developments on the horizon. These include new uranium science and enrichment facilities, expanded autonomous system and AI security programs, growing efforts in classified HPC, and critical research into materials and manufacturing for extreme environments. These capabilities can help ORNL researchers execute on a constantly changing national security landscape.
“We’re trying to promote innovation through investments, renovating facilities, centers and new capabilities,” Khaleel said. “You cannot deal with big things without great infrastructure.”
These solutions and infrastructure were on full display on the second day of NSS week during a show-and-tell-style event featuring national security science exhibits on ORNL’s main campus. Staff were able to climb inside a cybersecure tractor trailer, see a fully 3D-printed vehicle, hold uranium glass and understand what researchers are doing to counteract nefarious biometric artificial intelligence.
Exhibits included one of the lab’s Mobile Uranium Facility units, part of a deployable system that can be sent anywhere in the world to support the characterization and removal of uranium. Lab staff also visited exhibits on forensics, cybersecurity, meteorology and AI security research.
While cross-cutting initiatives are often heralded in lab communications, staff saw them in operation during the quad event, with multiple science areas represented. This allowed people from multiple science areas to see, touch, and experience capabilities they may have only heard about before. As Khaleel noted in his talk, keeping our nation safe “takes the lab.”
National security programs — including work for the Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security and the Intelligence Community — fund 764 full time employees across the lab, nearly half of those outside the directorate. Overall, 2,141 ORNL staff out of 7,000 have supported national security programs so far in FY25.
“When we're doing anything, we're basing it on science to outpace our nation's adversaries and mitigate our national security threats,” Khaleel said. “To do it, it takes the lab — not just one directorate — it takes the lab.”
The final day of National Security Sciences Week brought attendees to the most important part of science in national security sciences: the application. Three panel sessions and a fireside chat brought together seasoned voices from the intelligence and military communities. While much of their careers weren’t spent at a national laboratory, it was clear they understood the importance of science to national security.
Former Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence Stacey Dixon gave a keynote, emphasizing the fundamental position of science to the nation’s defense and diplomacy strategies.
“Science is itself a strategy,” Dixon said. “Science is going to position us to deter the adversary. We can’t just focus on what’s needed today but on what might be needed in the future.”
Other panel speakers during the day, including retired Vice Admirals Kenny Whitesell, Ross Myers, Bill Galinis, Kelly Aeschbach and retired Marine Corps Lieutenant General Jerry Glavy echoed this sentiment, stating the biggest threat to the U.S. is the ability to maintain readiness. Forward-thinking innovations from ORNL, such as those produced by the Manufacturing Demonstration Facility and using resources like Frontier can allow decision-makers to stay ahead.
Ultimately, as Khaleel said in his talk, the ORNL national security strategy is about providing solutions to rapidly outpace U.S. adversaries.
“During the Manhattan Project, ORNL assembled to address a pressing national security challenge. Technology and national security go together,” Khaleel said. “By basing our strategy on the science and strengths of this lab, we can be flexible and agile. We can adjust with global challenges and deliver for the nation.”
After briefings and tours of the lab’s national security science capabilities, the visiting officials expressed deep appreciation for ORNL’s ability to deliver. “Thank goodness for the folks in this room,” Lt. Gen. Glavy said during a panel discussion. “I sleep better at night knowing that you are working on these challenges.”
UT-Battelle manages ORNL for DOE’s Office of Science, the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States. DOE’s Office of Science is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, visit energy.gov/science.
Media Contact
Audrey Carson , Science Writer , CARSONAL@ORNL.GOV
