guardian | Among my questions, I asked:
"Does the US Department of Defense see protest movements and social activism in different parts of the world as a threat to US national security? If so, why? Does the US Department of Defense consider political movements aiming for large scale political and economic change as a national security matter? If so, why? Activism, protest, 'political movements' and of course NGOs are a vital element of a healthy civil society and democracy - why is it that the DoD is funding research to investigate such issues?"
Minerva's programme director Dr Erin Fitzgerald said "I appreciate
your concerns and am glad that you reached out to give us the
opportunity to clarify" before promising a more detailed response.
Instead, I received the following bland statement from the DoD's press
office:
"The Department of Defense takes seriously its role in the security of the United States, its citizens, and US allies and partners. While every security challenge does not cause conflict, and every conflict does not involve the US military, Minerva helps fund basic social science research that helps increase the Department of Defense's understanding of what causes instability and insecurity around the world. By better understanding these conflicts and their causes beforehand, the Department of Defense can better prepare for the dynamic future security environment."
In 2013, Minerva funded a University of Maryland project in
collaboration with the US Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest
National Laboratory to gauge the risk of civil unrest due to climate
change. The three-year $1.9 million project is developing models to anticipate what could happen to societies under a range of potential climate change scenarios.
From the outset, the Minerva programme was slated to provide over $75
million over five years for social and behavioural science research.
This year alone it has been allocated a total budget of $17.8 million by
US Congress.
An internal Minerva staff email communication referenced in a 2012 Masters dissertation
reveals that the programme is geared toward producing quick results
that are directly applicable to field operations. The dissertation was
part of a Minerva-funded project on "counter-radical Muslim discourse" at Arizona State University.
The internal email from Prof Steve Corman, a principal investigator
for the project, describes a meeting hosted by the DoD's Human Social
Cultural and Behavioural Modeling (HSCB) programme in which senior
Pentagon officials said their priority was "to develop capabilities that
are deliverable quickly" in the form of "models and tools that can be
integrated with operations."
