ABSTRACT
Research and development projects to produce better equipment to deter terrorist attacks, such as devices to detect explosives, have been a priority of the U.S. government (USG) counterterrorism (CT) effort since the 1980s. The research, development, and evaluation efforts involve many federal agencies and subagencies, cooperative programs with other nations, and the private sector and universities. Some of the projects are specialized, for use by one or a handful of agencies, including equipment to cope with a hostage taking or other attack that is underway. Other projects have broad applications that are useful to more than one organization.
