Emerging Threats Require Proactive American Innovation

By Pat Fallon

Monday, April 20, 2026

 

In 1942, the United States utilized the greatest minds in particle physics to spearhead the Manhattan Project and achieve an absolute victory in World War II. NASA employed a similar approach for the Apollo missions to beat the Soviets and win the space race, giving life to advanced computing technologies, material sciences, and communication satellites. Under President Ronald Reagan, the Strategic Defense Initiative, which its critics mockingly called “Star Wars,” allowed the U.S. to out-innovate the Soviets in directed energy weapons, space-based sensors, and kinetic interceptors.

 

In each of these examples, the U.S. was able to leverage perhaps its greatest comparative advantage over the opposition: American innovation and the freedom to manufacture the future. But as technological innovation in today’s geopolitical landscape accelerates at an unprecedented pace, the U.S. must abandon its more recent posture of reacting to emerging threats and transition to a proactive posture that detects, deters, and suppresses threats before they even emerge.

 

President Trump fully believes that the U.S. must maintain its position as the world’s dominant superpower, and he has shown a commitment to making that the prime focus of his administration. Just over a year into Trump’s second term, the U.S. is not only seizing the current moment but preparing our nation for the challenges and threats of tomorrow. The Trump administration is creating an industry-friendly environment unlike any we’ve seen before — a key shift if we are to remain the dominant global leader for the foreseeable future.

 

In late March, under the leadership of Secretary Marco Rubio, the State Department formally notified Congress about the creation of the Bureau of Emerging Threats. This office’s mission will vary dramatically compared to established government agencies. Instead of regulating key sectors only after a substantial threat has already developed, this office’s outlook will be proactive. Its goal is to get ahead of global competitors, establish dominance, and retain the initiative.

 

While the U.S. has traditionally displayed its dominance over state-sponsored terrorists, criminal groups, and insider threats with intelligence and kinetic capabilities, the magnitude at which our peer adversaries are investing and developing emerging technologies must be met with the full force of the U.S. government and our private sector experts.

 

These adversaries are already using emerging technologies as tools of state power in the gray zone, wherein states employ ambiguous or plausibly deniable methods for strategic ends. For example, we have seen this with repeated Russia-linked cyberattacks on U.S. government agencies, as well as with surveillance and data mining software embedded in Chinese-produced electronics. Perhaps the most recent high-profile example would be China’s hack of the AI assistant, Claude. It is in the gray zone that states often operate below the threshold of armed conflict in the areas of economic disruption, espionage and intelligence collection, and communication and information interference.

 

If the U.S. wants to continue to deter and combat these threats, it must remain the global superpower in artificial intelligence, quantum computing, space, advanced cybersecurity, biotechnology, and advanced military technology. This is why the Bureau of Emerging Threats’ three overarching pillars focus on cyberattacks targeting critical infrastructure, threats in the space domain, and military applications of artificial intelligence and quantum technologies.

 

Still, many like to focus on the latency or failures of the U.S. government in terms of technological development. Thankfully, the U.S. has an unprecedented resume when it comes to innovation domination, and organizations like the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, commonly known as DARPA, have pioneered countless world-altering technologies, such as the internet, GPS, and next-generation stealth fighter systems.

 

Similarly, the U.S. government can also be credited with advanced research and development of semiconductors through the SEMATECH consortium, the nuclear submarine via the Naval Reactors program, and other commercial technologies like GPS, artificial intelligence, and microelectronics.

 

Secretary Rubio is anticipating — and envisioning — an even more highly sophisticated world where U.S. dominance of emerging capabilities will be a key metric in the fight for global superiority. The establishment of the Bureau of Emerging Threats stands as a testament to how seriously this administration is taking that fight.

 

Under the Bureau of Emerging Threats, the U.S. government will be able to effectively and efficiently identify advanced threats, powered by American innovation via the private sector. The battlefield of tomorrow is unknown, but if we take a proactive, pragmatic position, we can mitigate — and ultimately eliminate — those threats before they manifest.