During the decades after WWII the Pentagon and the US Intelligence Agencies substantially controlled the development of military related technologies. Through this period, also, they only needed to innovate faster than a ponderous and less wealthy opponent, the Soviet Union. A considerable number of critical technologies now develop and are disseminated outside the US security establishment, the pace of innovation and dissemination is much faster, and the complexity of resulting systems is greatly increased. How should the US Government and American corporations respond to these changes? Do these trends make us less secure? This talk will answer both questions, illustrating the speaker’s view with illustrations from a range of technologies.