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Issue Brief

October 27, 2000

Scientific Literacy and National Security: What's the Connection?

by Eric Wallace
Project Coordinator, AAAS Science and Human Rights Program

For Americans in the year 2000, a basic understanding of scientific concepts and reasoning is considered fundamental to a liberal education. However, many Americans are scientifically illiterate. Scientific illiteracy has harmful implications not just for individuals, but it may also be hazardous to our national security.

According to the National Science Foundation's Science and Engineering Indicators 2000: "Science literacy in the United States (and in other countries) is fairly low. That is, the majority of the general public knows a little, but not a lot, about science and technology. For example, most Americans know that the Earth goes around the Sun and that light travels faster than sound. However, not many can successfully define a molecule, and few have a good understanding of what the Internet is despite the fact that the Information Superhighway has occupied front page headlines throughout the late 1990s-and usage has skyrocketed. (…) In addition, most Americans have little comprehension of the nature of scientific inquiry."1

The NSF report goes on to express concern over the enduring popularity of belief in pseudo-science and the paranormal, which is an element of scientific illiteracy.2 The report's authors point out that many scientists are concerned that people who hold irrational beliefs, such as confidence in the medical effectiveness of psychic surgery, lack the critical thinking skills needed for responsible citizenship.

Widespread scientific illiteracy may have a variety of harmful effects on national security.

• The U.S.'s current prosperity is so tied up in scientific and technological endeavors that a scientifically literate workforce is necessary to maintain our economic health, which is key to our national security. We may not be able to draw scientists from China, India and the former Soviet Union indefinitely.
  
  
• Policy makers lacking in basic scientific literacy may be more prone to making flawed science policies then they would be if they had a better understanding of what science is and (equally important) what science is not.
  
  
• Misunderstanding of science and scientists may have aggravated tensions between scientists and security personnel at our national laboratories, tensions that are arguably more harmful to national security than any of the security leaks that are alleged to have taken place.3
  
  
• A scientifically literate society would be able to make informed and thoughtful decisions about national security matters. Such a society would be better able to assess national security risks that have a significant scientific or technological component, such as cybercrime or nuclear terrorism. Scientific literacy and basic critical thinking skills would give citizens an improved ability to differentiate between genuine threats and hoaxes, so that national security resources can be allocated accordingly.

On the other hand, perhaps widespread scientific illiteracy is overstated as a threat to our national security.

• It hasn't hurt us so far. The United States remains the world's scientific leader, even if most of its citizens don't know a quark from a gluon. Many people are poorly informed about things they depend on. It would be difficult to argue that people's ignorance of how their plumbing or their cars work constitutes a threat to national security. Perhaps, like plumbing literacy and car repair literacy, scientific literacy can be safely left to the professionals.
  
  
• Putting the problem of scientific illiteracy into perspective, it pales before other threats to our national security, such as the widening gap between rich and poor nations. Perhaps we should spend our energies addressing this and other more menacing threats, and view scientific illiteracy in its proper place as an educational problem, rather than a national security problem.

Science is one of American society's most important and effective tools for keeping itself secure. We use it to maintain our prosperity, monitor our safety and to confound our enemies. To use any tool effectively, one has to understand what it is for and what its limits are. If national security is the business of all citizens, rather than the sole province of government, than every citizen would be well served by basic scientific literacy.

Resources

The National Science Foundation's Science and Engineering Indicators 2000.

Frankel, M.S. 1998. "The Role of Science in Making Good Decisions." Testimony before the House Committee on Science (June 10).

Project 2061 is a long-term effort to reform science, mathematics and technology education.

The James Randi Educational Foundation works to increase scientific literacy and expose hoaxes.

Notes

1 See Science and Engineering Indicators 2000 Chapter 8, Section 1. The NSF's Science and Engineering Indicators 2000 Report

2 See Science and Engineering Indicators 2000 Chapter 8, Section 5.

3 Baker, Howard H. and Hamilton, Lee H. Science and Security in the Service of the Nation: A Review of the Security Incident Involving Classified Hard Drives at Los Alamos National Laboratory. This report is not yet available on the internet, but can be obtained from the National Nuclear Security Administration. Its phone number is 202-586-5555.