Science Policy News
Statistics in Defense and National Security:
Lessons in Outreach to Policymakers
Nancy spruill, Office of the secretary of Defense, and
Alyson Wilson, Iowa state university
For this month’s column, I’m pleased to have representatives from the ASA’s Section on Statistics
in Defense and National Security as guest authors. Members of this section have made out-
reach to policymakers an integral part of their activities, with significant strides. After attend-
ing, and being impressed by, their meeting during JSM this summer, I thought it would be
helpful for them to share with other ASA members their progress to date and their plans for
the future. ~ steve Pierson, AsA Director of science Policy,
pierson@amstat.org
A
t JSM this summer, the Section on Statistics
in Defense and National Security (SDNS)
sponsored a one-day meeting that was
attended by senior defense and homeland security
officials. The meeting was one effort by SDNS to
Science Policy Actions
educate decisionmakers about how statistics and
• AsA president sends letter to secretary of Education Arne
statisticians can address their challenges. It also
Duncan regarding stature and autonomy of the National Center
helped educate our fellow statisticians about the
for education statistics
many interesting and exciting opportunities in this
area. We accepted the invitation to write this col-
• AsA president joins leaders of 17 other science organizations
umn to share our activities with you so you might
in signing letter to all u.s. senators on scientific consensus of
learn from our experience, but also so we can hear
climate change science
and learn from you.
A brief history of the SDNS section is helpful to • AsA president sends letter of support for Bureau of Justice
understand our efforts and illustrate the importance statistics director nominee, James P. Lynch
of persistent, incremental progress. Our inception
can be traced, in part, to the 1984 JSM comments
• AsA hosts meeting on election auditing attended by
of former ASA President Richard Savage, who
statisticians, election officials, political scientists, computer
argued that statisticians should have a major role in
scientists, and voting advocates
defense issues because of the inherent uncertainty
and the measurement of variability in so many of
its topics. Through the support of many ASA presi-
dents and committed ASA members, SDNS started
will make statistics an integral member
as a committee in 1988 and became a section in
of the national and international security
2004. Former ASA President Sallie Keller-McNulty
communities.
was particularly helpful in assisting SDNS in iden-
tifying potential outreach directions through her
To answer this challenge, her task force devel-
establishment of the ASA Task Force on Defense
oped a long set of recommendations, many of
and Security.
which are the basis for SDNS’ road map. The map
Keller-McNulty’s comments from the time echo
is rather broad, so we’ll focus on the items most
themes going back to Savage and lay out a clear
relevant to policy.
challenge for the ASA:
Outreach to Decisionmakers
National/international security is a
The meeting held during JSM was planned to
problem that is growing in importance
take advantage of JSM being in Washington, DC,
at a frightening pace, and my experience
and funded by a member initiative from the ASA
at Los Alamos National Laboratory has
Board of Directors. A day-long event, the morn-
made me aware that statistical science is
ing sessions included presentations by senior offi-
nearly invisible in this arena … ASA must
cials of the Office of the Secretary of Defense, U.S.
provide a strong and unified voice that
Army, Department of Homeland Security, Defense
December 2009 AmstAt News 31
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