Software is an integral part of every dimension of U.S. national security and civil society. The United States’ ability to project force and defend its interests depends on the proper and safe functioning of software-defined systems. Yet, our ability to understand, verify, and reason about software has been dramatically outpaced by its production and uptake. This has resulted in what is known as the software understanding gap. Because of the increasing prevalence and importance of software to U.S. national interests, and the risks associated with insufficient understanding of software-defined systems, closing this gap has become a national security priority. The U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee has recently directed the Department of War to develop a comprehensive strategy to transition formal methods research into production environments across the department, a concrete first step toward securing the software-defined systems that underpin U.S. national security. This report examines how the software understanding gap intersects with U.S. national security and the related implications. It concludes with a set of recommendations designed to close the software understanding gap and mitigate the challenges and risks identified in this report.

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