Responding to a Dynamic Environment

he National Security Technology Department (NSTD) began with a single program and a single mission—the security of the Navy’s strategic submarine force. Over the past 25 years of its existence, the department has evolved to successfully accommodate disruptive changes in the external environment. New missions emerged in areas closely aligned with existing endeavors such as undersea surveillance, as well as in areas unrelated to core activities of the department or even APL as a whole such as counterproliferation. New organizational structures and cultures followed. This transformation was accomplished through a combination of factors: dedicated staff, an enterprise culture that provided resources across the Laboratory, management with the foresight to encourage new activities, and visionaries who dared to venture outside the mainstream. Emerging theories of business strategy help explain NSTD’s past performance, give insight into dealing with an uncertain future, and defi ne a role for APL departments beyond management of their current business lines.