VISITING COMMITTEE ON ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY 

National Institute of Standards and Technology

1

2009 Annual Report   

Visiting Committee on Advanced 

Technology (VCAT)  

of the 

National Institute of Standards and 

Technology 

U.S. Department of Commerce 

March 3, 2010 
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Table of Contents

Executive Summary of Recommendations................................................................................................ 3 

Report Overview .......................................................................................................................................... 6 

VCAT Members During the Period Covered by this Report ................................................................... 7 

VCAT Focus in 2009 .................................................................................................................................... 7 

Safety at NIST .............................................................................................................................................. 8 

NIST Role in Documentary Standards .................................................................................................... 10 

 Overall NIST Role in Documentary Standards ...................................................................................... 10 

 NIST Role in Smart Grid Interoperability Standards .............................................................................. 11 

 NIST Role in Healthcare Information Technology Standards ................................................................ 13 

 NIST Role in Cybersecurity Standards .................................................................................................. 14 

NIST Strategic Planning and Performance ............................................................................................. 15 

NIST Three-Year Programmatic Plan ...................................................................................................... 16 

NIST Management, Leadership, Staffing, and Organizational Structure ............................................ 18 

NIST Budget and Recovery Act ............................................................................................................... 20 

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Executive Summary of Recommendations______________________________________

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is vital to the economic and infrastructural 

well-being of the Nation. The United States continues to excel in translating basic research into new 

technologies due to its world leading commercial and industrial infrastructure. Efficiently deploying these 

new technologies in commercial products creates new prospects for economic growth and maintains U.S. 

competitiveness. It is often underappreciated that new technologies require the development of 

standards which can facilitate interoperability, as well as provide performance, safety, efficiency and 

economic benefit metrics, and benchmarks. For the past 100 years, NIST has vigorously acted on 

requests from U.S. industry and fellow government agencies to provide both first responder and 

sustained efforts in support of U.S. economic growth. NIST provides a superb staff and excellent facilities 

for developing measurement standards, supplying standard reference materials, and supporting progress 

in measurement science in both established and emerging areas of U.S. commerce. 

In his first year in office, President Obama launched several major initiatives designed to encourage the 

introduction of new technology to address several areas of critical national need and to enhance the 

competitive position of U.S. industry. These initiatives demand a leadership role by NIST to develop 

programs to provide a framework to assist the government and U.S. industry to achieve the President’s 

goals. These initiatives include: 

• Reducing medical costs and improving quality of health care by developing and deploying a 

universal standardized electronic medical records capability; 

• Improving U.S. energy efficiency and accelerating the adoption of renewable energy resources by 

establishing a ‘smart’ electrical grid utility; 

• Protecting the U.S. cyber network from disruption due to accidents and deliberate attacks; and 

• Accelerating the translation of biomedical research into effective diagnostic and therapeutic tools 

by improving and streamlining the drug development process. 

During the course of its work during 2009, the NIST Visiting Committee on Advanced Technology (VCAT) 

reviewed key elements of the NIST program and developed a set of recommendations for consideration 

by NIST management. These are set out below and amplified in the body of the text of this report. 

The NIST VCAT of 2009 makes the following recommendations: 

SAFETY RECOMMENDATIONS:

3⁄4 Eliminate common safety concerns. The VCAT continues to observe safety practices that are 

not consistent with a world-class safety-focused laboratory. The inconsistencies among 

individual laboratories suggest that safety is not yet part of a pervasive leadership-driven culture. 

3⁄4 Proactively seek advice from external experts. First, conduct a series of visits to research 

laboratories known to have excellent safety records and a strong safety culture. The NIST 

leadership has already initiated these visits and several best practices have been identified for 

implementation. Second, the Director should establish an independent, external review 

committee to assist the organization in monitoring the implementation of world-class safety 

practices in the laboratories. 

NIST OVERALL ROLE IN STANDARDS RECOMMENDATIONS:
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3⁄4 Serve as the principal inter-agency convener for documentary standards affecting national, 

international,and/or inter-agency interests by obtaining executive branch authority. The 

Department of Commerce (DOC) should sanction such a role for NIST where NIST would serve 

to coordinate the development of action plans and assure that overall architectural integrity of the 

standard is preserved. NIST would coordinate the application of expertise across relevant 

agencies. 

3⁄4 Promote and facilitate the development and use of international standards by insuring 

coordination with the State Department, the Office of the United States Trade Representative 

(USTR), and other agencies that share similar interests. 

NIST ROLE IN SMART GRID INTEROPERABILITY STANDARDS RECOMMENDATION:

3⁄4 Engage with the Consumer Product Safety Commission to assure that the Information 

Technology (IT) standards for Smart Grid provide for the kinds of consumer appliance safety 

testing undertaken by Underwriters Laboratories. 

NIST ROLE IN HEALTHCARE IT STANDARDS RECOMMENDATIONS:

3⁄4 Acquire expertise in the Healthcare IT sector by a combination of direct employment, 

delegating responsibility to and borrowing staff from agencies with the requisite expertise. 

3⁄4 Adopt the role of convener and facilitator of Healthcare IT documentary standards efforts,

engaging sources from within the U.S. government and the private sector as appropriate to the 

task similar to NIST’s responsibility in the Smart Grid program. 

NIST ROLE IN CYBERSECURITY STANDARDS RECOMMENDATIONS:

3⁄4 Expand collaborations with the Department of Energy (DOE), the National Security Agency 

(NSA), the National Science Foundation (NSF), and the Department of Homeland Security 

(DHS) (among others) to assure coordination among multi-agency security research, 

development, and standardization programs. 

3⁄4 Continue and potentially expand efforts in testing and evaluation of cryptographic 

standards including interoperation of distinct implementations. 

3⁄4 Consider assisting in evaluating the security of widely used open source software. 

STRATEGIC PLANNING RECOMMENDATIONS:

3⁄4 Continue a multi-year strategic planning process with annual updates to articulate the 

programmatic directions to the NIST technical personnel. Incorporate input from NIST 

stakeholders and customers into the process that is necessary to establish priorities and execute 

NIST’s mission. 

3⁄4 Use the Bioscience Planning document and the associated workshop initiative as a model

for other application (industrial) segments. 

3⁄4 Develop an annual Implementation Plan as part of the strategic planning process. 

THREE-YEAR PROGRAMMATIC PLAN RECOMMENDATIONS:

3⁄4 Continue efforts toward making multi-year planning an institutional culture. 
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3⁄4 Assure external and intra-government partnerships are clearly defined and are an integral 

part of planning and implementation. 

3⁄4 Balance the reporting of new initiatives in future multi-year planning documents with 

discussion of ongoing research activities and of programs that will be discontinued. This 

discussion should include a clear description of the plan that meets the resource requirements, 

both people and facilities, for the future portfolio. 

MANAGEMENT, LEADERSHIP, STAFFING, AND ORGANIZATIIONAL STRUCTURE 

RECOMMENDATIONS: 

3⁄4 Complete the evaluation of organizational structures that can most effectively support the 

achievement of the goals and priorities described in its three-year programmatic plan. The NIST 

Director and his key management already have this process well underway. It does and should 

include input from stakeholders including VCAT, Congressional staff, industry, and the NIST 

researchers. 

3⁄4 Obtain approval for and begin implementation of this organizational structure no later than 

the beginning of the second half of 2010. The VCAT supports the NIST leadership in designing 

and evaluating organizational alternatives and arriving at an optimized organizational 

recommendation. 

BUDGET AND RECOVERY ACT RECOMMENDATIONS:

3⁄4 Complete expeditiously the improvement of scientific and measurement capabilities, 

including neutron facilities, necessary for NIST and the U.S. industrial users of the facilities to 

remain in a competitive position in relation to European and Japanese facilities and to enable the 

United States to develop future generations of physical scientists and engineers. 

3⁄4 Complete NIST construction projects at the Boulder facility.
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Report Overview_____________________________________________________________________

In this report of the VCAT, we review new initiatives and ongoing programs at NIST which we are 

confident will provide critical resources to assist U.S. industry and government agencies in meeting the 

critical national needs identified by the President. 

The VCAT was established in its present form by the Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act of 1988 

and updated by the America COMPETES Act. The VCAT charter includes reviewing and making 

recommendations regarding general policy for NIST, its organization, budget, and programs within the 

framework of applicable national policies as set forth by the President and the Congress. In addition, the 

America COMPETES Act calls for the VCAT to comment on NIST’s three-year programmatic plan in its 

annual report to Congress. This 2009 annual report covers the March 2009 through the February 2010 

meetings. 

The Committee reviews the Institute’s strategic direction, performance and policies, and provides the 

Secretary of Commerce, Congress, and other stakeholders with information on the value and relevance 

of NIST to the U.S. science and technology base and to the economy. Over the past year, the Committee 

has been active in assessing NIST’s progress in the following areas: 

• Documentary standards: 

- Smart Grid 

- Healthcare IT 

- Cybersecurity 

• Strategic planning and performance 

• Safety 

• Organizational Structure 

The Committee reviews a significant portion of NIST programs through direct discussion with NIST 

leaders, scientists, and engineers. Reactions and observations are presented candidly to the NIST senior 

management and other attendees at each meeting. This feedback encourages continuous improvement 

in key areas in the overall operation. The Committee also visits various NIST Laboratories and satellite 

facilities to review and discuss the research projects directly with the technical staff. These laboratory 

tours help the Committee assess the impact of NIST research, determine the progress towards meeting 

the goals of the strategic plan, and assess the efficacy of the facility infrastructure. 

The charter of the Committee calls for the Director of NIST to appoint the members of the Committee. 

Members shall be selected on a clear, standardized basis in accordance with applicable Department of 

Commerce guidance. Members shall be selected solely on the basis of established records of 

distinguished service; shall provide representation of a cross-section of traditional and emerging United 

States industries; and shall be eminent in fields such as business, research, new product development, 

engineering, labor, education, management consulting, environment, and international relations. No 

employee of the Federal Government shall serve as a member of the Committee. Members are 

appointed for staggered three-year terms. 

Three new members were appointed during the period covered by this report: Dr. Tony Haymet (Scripps 

Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego), Dr. Alton D. Romig (Sandia National Laboratories) operated 

by Lockheed Martin Corporation, and Dr. Darlene J.S. Solomon (Agilent Technologies). 

This report highlights the Committee’s observations, findings, and recommendations. Detailed meeting 

minutes and presentation materials are available on the NIST web site at www.nist.gov/director/vcat. 
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VCAT Members During the Period Covered by this Report___________________

Dr. James W. Serum, Chair 

Scitek Ventures 

Dr. Vinton G. Cerf, Vice Chair 

Google 

Dr. Thomas M. Baer 

Stanford University 

Dr. Ruzena Bajcsy 

University of California, Berkeley 

Dr. Paul A. Fleury 

Yale University 

Dr. Peter Green 

University of Michigan 

Dr. Tony Haymet 

Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UCSD 

Dr. Pradeep Khosla 

Carnegie Mellon University 

Dr. Elsa Reichmanis 

Georgia Institute of Technology 

Dr. Alton D. Romig, Jr. 

Sandia National Laboratories 

Dr. Darlene J.S. Solomon 

Agilent Technologies 

Dr. Alan I. Taub 

 General Motors Corp. 

VCAT Focus in 2009_________________________________________________________________

The NIST core research areas remain very strong and should continue to have significant, long-term 

support. This effort, combined with new investments in nanoscience/nanotechnology and biosciences 

enable NIST to perform its mission in the areas of Smart Grid, Healthcare IT, and Cybersecurity.

In 2008, the VCAT was asked by the Director to explore in depth the role that the NIST laboratory and 

extramural programs play in stimulating innovation and competitiveness, and these findings are 

summarized in the 2008 Annual Report. In 2009, the VCAT continued the practice of focusing on a 

specific area of NIST’s mission, this time examining in depth the important role that NIST and its 

laboratory programs play in the development and implementation of documentary standards. As in 2008, 

the Director charged the VCAT with specific questions to consider: 

• What aspects of the Federal coordination role leverage the technical capabilities of the labs? 

• How could NIST enhance its support of Federal agencies? 

• The NIST role in coordinating federal standards has become a priority (e.g. Cybersecurity, Smart 

Grid, Healthcare IT). How should this change shape planning and priority setting efforts for the 

NIST Laboratories? 

To address these questions, the VCAT explored the role that NIST plays in documentary standards in 

three areas of critical importance to the government: Smart Grid Interoperability; Healthcare IT; and 

Cybersecurity. In each of these areas, the VCAT explored the role of NIST in coordinating federal 

standards activities working with the private sector. The NIST Laboratories provide a framework for the 

coordinated development, effective adoption, and utilization of documentary standards by coordinating 

input from both NIST staff as well as interested parties from the private sector and other federal agencies. 

The technology laboratories of NIST also provide unique resources when, for example, new 

measurement methods are needed for the development and assessment of documentary standards. 

Although the VCAT did not specifically review the areas of Bioscience and Nanotechnology in 2009, the 

Committee continues to support the recommendations from last year regarding these research areas as a 

high priority and accordingly, they should receive significant support and attention. 
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This 2009 VCAT Annual Report addresses our observations, findings, and recommendations for these 

topics as well as some comments about the NIST budget; management, staffing, and organizational 

structure; safety at NIST; and NIST’s approach to strategic planning. 

Overall, the VCAT strongly endorses NIST’s efforts to recruit and retain among the best and brightest 

technologists and researchers. The record of major awards, including three Nobel Prizes, is a strong 

indication of the strength of the research capacity of the organization and its commitment to measurement 

science as a core expertise in many different disciplines. 

Safety at NIST_________________________________________________________________________

Since the Safety Incident at the NIST Boulder Laboratories in June of 2008, NIST has taken a number of 

concrete steps to strengthen and improve its safety practices and is making progress as it works to 

develop a comprehensive and well integrated safety program and culture that is central to everyday NIST 

operations. 

To strengthen overall safety at NIST, NIST and DOC arranged for independent assessments of safety 

management performance at NIST. In addition to the initial report of the Ionizing Radiation Safety 

Committee, these included a special review of safety at the NIST Boulder Laboratories by the DOE Office 

of Independent Oversight and an assessment of management and safety at NIST by a Blue Ribbon 

Commission. NIST has also had numerous discussions with high-performing safety organizations and 

outside safety experts and internal discussions of safety priorities. As a result of these reviews and 

assessments, NIST has taken a number of actions. 

Specific Actions Taken to Strengthen Safety at Boulder: 

• Updated the inventory of chemicals at the NIST Boulder Laboratories and properly disposed of 

unused, excess, and legacy chemicals. 

• Developed an emergency notification checklist for reporting events to the City of Boulder and to 

other jurisdictions and agencies that regulate NIST Boulder’s handling and disposal of hazardous 

materials. 

• Developed and implemented a worksite training program for the NIST Boulder staff in the 

prevention and reporting of accidental hazardous material releases to the environment. All 

employees and associates have taken the training and all future employees and associates will 

be required to take the training as part of their beginning work at NIST. 

• Established a broad agreement with the City of Boulder on the desirability of formalizing future 

reporting and coordination functions between the City and NIST Boulder through a new 

Memorandum of Understanding. 

• Moved a senior-level research-director position, previously located in Gaithersburg, to Boulder to 

strengthen local line-management responsible for the safety of all laboratory activities in Boulder. 

• Established a senior safety management position to oversee the safety organization in Boulder 

and filled that position with a highly qualified safety manager. 

• Established and hired a new executive-level site-manager position in Boulder to coordinate 

safety, emergency preparedness, and security for the entire DOC Boulder campus, including 

NIST, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the National 

Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA). 
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Actions Taken to Strengthen Safety at All NIST Sites: 

• NIST has established and filled a senior-level safety executive position to oversee the safety 

support organizations in both Gaithersburg and Boulder and is strengthening both of those 

organizations through additional staff and resources. 

• NIST is working to develop and implement a formal written safety program that clearly defines 

roles, responsibilities, and authorities. 

• NIST has developed key metrics and improved safety information sharing across the laboratory. 

• NIST has taken steps to ensure leadership awareness of their responsibilities by providing 

managers and supervisors with training on their responsibility to provide staff with a safe and 

healthful working environment. As part of this effort, Dr. Gallagher has personally briefed the 

management and staff in every Operating Unit (OU) about their responsibilities. 

• NIST has established hazard management and management observation programs at the OU 

level. 

• NIST has made structural changes in its organization to enhance lines of authority and 

accountability regarding safety and has worked to embed policy development and implementation 

capabilities in the responsible organizations. 

• NIST has improved its Emergency Preparedness Program. 

• NIST is working towards creating a “Safety Culture” at NIST, demonstrating commitment by 

senior management, starting with the NIST Director, which is intended to flow down through 

management through a robust communications plan, capturing proper metrics including leading 

indicators and a sound lessons learned program. Behavioral based safety and/or Human 

Performance Improvement Programs should be considered as a possible enabler. 

• NIST takes its responsibility to protect the health and safety of its staff and the surrounding 

community very seriously and is working to strengthen its capabilities in this area, but realizes 

that it will be a multi-year effort, one that they are just beginning. 

RECOMMENDATIONS: 

3⁄4 Eliminate common safety concerns. The VCAT continues to observe safety practices that are 

not consistent with a world-class, safety-focused laboratory. The inconsistencies among 

individual laboratories suggest that safety is not yet part of a pervasive leadership-driven culture. 

3⁄4 Proactively seek advice from external experts. First, conduct a series of visits to research 

laboratories known to have excellent safety records and a strong safety culture. The NIST 

leadership has already initiated these visits and several best practices have been identified for 

implementation. Second, the Director should establish an independent, external review 

committee to assist the organization in monitoring the implementation of world-class safety 

practices in the laboratories. 
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NIST Role in Documentary Standards____________________________________________

Documentary standards are of critical and strategic importance to a number of our nation’s top priorities. 

From Smart Grid to healthcare IT and cybersecurity, standards and technology have a prominent role to 

play in meeting the goals of the U.S. Government. The Committee examined NIST activities in the 

coordinated development of documentary standards, as well as closely examining activities associated 

with the priorities above. 

Overall NIST Role in DocumentaryStandards 

NIST has a unique role in documentary standards activities with the federal government. The National 

Technology Transfer and Advancement Act (NTTAA) charges NIST with the role of coordinating “Federal, 

State, and local technical standards activities and conformity assessment activities, with private sector 

technical standards activities and conformity assessment activities, with the goal of eliminating 

unnecessary duplication and complexity in the development and promulgation of conformity assessment 

requirements and measures.” Furthermore, in support of this Act, the Office of Management and Budget 

(OMB) Circular A-119 on “Federal Participation in the Development and Use of Voluntary Consensus 

Standards and in Conformity Assessment Activities” assigns NIST the responsibility of chairing the 

Interagency Committee on Standards Policy (ICSP), an inter-agency group of Standards Executives from 

Federal Agencies and Commissions. Thus, statute and supporting policy charge NIST with significant 

responsibility for coordination of standards interests among federal agencies and the private sector. 

In fiscal year (FY) 2008, more than 450 technical experts from NIST participated in almost 1,100 

standards related activities, in more than 100 standards developing organizations. In FY 2009, under the 

Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, NIST was assigned “primary responsibility to coordinate 

development of a framework that includes protocols and model standards for information management to 

achieve interoperability of smart grid devices and systems.” 

NIST is playing a significant role in supporting the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in 

development and deployment of standards and conformance systems in Healthcare IT, a major 

Administration priority. The Federal Information Systems Management Act (FISMA) charges NIST with 

the responsibility for developing standards and guidelines for all federal, non-national security, information 

systems. Other examples of NIST leadership and coordination of federal government agencies in 

standards and conformity assessment include assisting the Election Assistance Commission with the 

development of voluntary voting system guidelines under the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (HAVA). 

Based on NIST’s investigations of the collapse of the World Trade Center structures on September 11, 

2001, NIST has proposed various changes to model building codes, some of which have been adopted in 

recent revisions to the building codes, and other are still being discussed. 

It is clear from these examples, among numerous others, that NIST’s technical expertise, its reputation as 

an unbiased and neutral party, and its extensive participation in standards and conformity assessment 

activities, strongly positions NIST to address the standards related challenges of the 21st century, and 

helping the U.S. maintain a competitive edge. However, NIST needs to address a number of issues in 

how it engages and leads in standardization activities. NIST is working to implement a number of steps 

to strengthen its role in standards including: 

• Working with the White House to re-open OMB Circular A-119 to clarify and strengthen NISTs 

effective role in coordination; 

• In areas where there is a well defined national need for standards (e.g. Smart Grid) to establish a 

formal interagency process to develop the framework for standards development in those areas 
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and to define the roles and responsibilities of the various stakeholders, all the while taking 

advantage of the use of private sector standards and standards developing oganizations (SDOs); 

• Ensure that technical programs needed to support implementation and use of standards are 

developed concurrently with the coordination and development process; and 

• Work closely with USTR to ensure that international standards development activities are 

consonant with a common U.S. position. The goal is to insure that international standards are 

supportive of U.S. competitiveness. 

RECOMMENDATIONS:

3⁄4 Serve as the principal inter-agency convener for documentary standards affecting national, 

international, and/or inter-agency interests by obtaining executive branch authority. The 

Department of Commerce should sanction such a role for NIST where NIST would serve to 

coordinate the development of action plans and assure that overall architectural integrity of the 

standard is preserved. NIST would coordinate the application of expertise across relevant 

agencies. 

3⁄4 Promote and facilitate the development and use of international standards by insuring 

coordination with the State Department, USTR, and other agencies that share similar interests. 

NIST Role in Smart Grid Interoperability Standards 

Smart Grid interoperability is a major priority for the Administration and one where standards development 

is critical. It illustrates the important leadership and active coordination role that NIST can play in 

standards development. The development and deployment of a Smart Grid presents a major 

interoperability challenge as the nation must work within an electrical grid that consists of more than 

3,100 power utilities using 9,200 power generation plants that are connected to more than 300,000 miles 

of transmission lines supplying electricity to residential and business consumers all over the country to 

say nothing of the millions of business, industry, and residential devices that have to interwork with each 

other and power generation and distribution systems. The introduction of distributed renewable energy 

sources such as solar panels, wind turbines, and fuel cells bring additional challenges in integrating these 

systems seamlessly into the grid, through the use of smart meters. It is also important to comprehend the 

impact of plug-in vehicles on the grid. Clearly defined interoperability requirements and standards to 

support such implementations will be critical not only in the creation of a Smart Grid, but also in 

engendering innovation and competition amongst the suppliers, supplying components to the systems 

thereby reducing costs of implementation, and providing a greater choice to consumers. 

NIST has taken a number of steps to fulfill its role as defined under the Energy Independence and 

Security Act (EISA) of 2007, which gives NIST the “primary responsibility to coordinate development of a 

framework that includes protocols and model standards for information management to achieve 

interoperability of Smart Grid devices and systems....” NIST has made significant progress according to 

the three-phase plan outlined by Dr. Gallagher and the Smart Grid team at NIST: 

Phase 1 (March to September 2009) – NIST focused on identifying an initial set of existing 

consensus standards and developing priority action plans to fill any critical gaps. This phase was 

completed when NIST released the draft report, NIST Framework and Roadmap for Smart Grid 

Interoperability Standards, Release 1.0, during the GridWeek conference on September 24, 

2009. 

Phase 2 (September to December 2009) – NIST established a public/private Smart Grid 

Interoperability Panel (SGIP) to identify, prioritize, and address new and emerging requirements 
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for Smart Grid interoperability and security. To help administer the SGIP, NIST awarded an $8.5 

million dollar contract to EnerNex Corporation. NIST hosted the first meeting of the SGIP held at 

the Grid-Interop 2009 Conference. With a current membership of more than 500 organizations 

sending 1,500 representatives spread among 22 stakeholder categories, the SGIP has three 

primary functions: 

• Provide technical guidance to facilitate development of standards for a secure, 

interoperable Smart Grid; 

• Specify testing and certification requirements necessary to assess the interoperability 

Smart Grid-related equipment, software, and services; and 

• Oversee the performance of activities intended to expedite the development of 

interoperability and cyber security specifications by standards development 

organizations. 

Phase 3 (January to December 2010) – In 2010, NIST will develop a testing and certification 

framework to help ensure the interoperability of Smart Grid systems and devices. 

NIST brought to the Smart Grid interoperability challenge an unusual approach to organizing the work. 

Using a combination of bottom-up and top-down methods, NIST facilitated the creation of dozens of 

Priority Action Plans addressing specific interoperability issues. In addition, it facilitated the creation of 

the SGIP Governing Board and the formation of a non-profit, non-governmental organization housing the 

governing board and the interoperability panel. This construct is explicitly not a Federal Advisory 

Committee under the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA). The framework achieved provides for a 

wide range of participating stakeholders and substantial flexibility in the conduct of the work. 

NIST staff also undertook to assure the creation of a reference model of the Smart Grid system that will 

serve as the basis for standards architecture development and articulation. The importance of this 

initiative would be hard to overestimate. The absence of a comprehensive reference model would disable 

the development of a coherent architecture for the Smart Grid system. The reference model itself 

emerges out of the broad spectrum of use cases contributed by the participants in the SGIP. 

The successful efforts thus far reflect well on NIST and its National Coordinator for Smart Grid 

Interoperability Office through which the SGIP activity is managed. The importance of this work is 

underscored by the planned use of the SGIP technical guidelines in the Smart Grid funds-granting plans 

of DOE. 

The VCAT observes that the broad spectrum of smart appliances expected to enter the consumer market 

in consequence of the Smart Grid program will inevitably highlight consumer demand for easy to install 

and use equipment taking advantage of “plug and play” features that can only arise in the presence of a 

strong interoperability standards framework. This same avalanche of new consumer equipment will also 

awaken interest in and concern for consumer safety, leading to the need for the Consumer Product 

Safety Commission to engage in standards development and conformance testing capabilities. 

The VCAT believes that the aggressive coordination role taken on by NIST in the area of Smart Grid 

should be used as a model and applied to other areas of national priority where standards development is 

required. The VCAT would like to emphasize that NIST’s Smart Grid Program encompasses more than 

coordinating the interoperability standards framework for Smart Grid devices and systems. The 

capabilities of the NIST Laboratories in measurement science, modeling, and conformance assessment 

provide unique resources that contribute to Smart Grid standards development. The technical outputs of 

the NIST Laboratories can help accelerate the implementation and improve the effectiveness and security 

of the Smart Grid especially in the key areas of power system monitoring, power meters and sensors, 
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electromagnetic interference, conformity assessment programs, and cybersecurity. Continued increased 

support for NIST’s research programs in measurement characterization of electrical systems, data 

networking, cybersecurity, building energy management, and industrial control systems will be critical for 

future success. The VCAT strongly urges Congress and the Administration to support increased funding 

for these activities. 

The VCAT believes that NIST can also play a significant role in other energy related areas such as 

“verification.” NIST has organized a conference in 2010 to identify and validate other areas of energy 

focus. 

RECOMMENDATION:

3⁄4 Engage with the Consumer Product Safety Commission to assure that the IT standards for 

Smart Grid provide for the kinds of consumer appliance safety testing undertaken by Underwriters 

Laboratories. 

NIST Role in Healthcare Information Technology Standards 

Like Smart Grid, the Administration has made improving the healthcare information infrastructure a 

national priority and is committed to the adoption of Electronic Health Records (EHRs). Unlike NIST’s 

role in Smart Grid, NIST is not the primary coordinator for standards development in the area of 

Healthcare IT, that role falling to HHS and the Office of the National Coordinator for Healthcare 

Information Technology. Rather NIST’s current efforts are focused on providing the infrastructure to 

ensure that the expansion of the health information network that is correct, complete, secure, and 

testable. NIST’s programs support the accelerated development and harmonization of standards for 

healthcare IT technologies, expand the healthcare IT testing infrastructure, increase the usability of 

healthcare, and address healthcare delivery beyond traditional physical locations. As part of this work, 

the VCAT feels strongly that NIST should emphasize the development of standards and tools to 

safeguard the privacy of patient data. 

The VCAT observes that the present state of healthcare IT standards has led to complexity and 

dependence on proprietary offerings that can result in anti-competitive, complex, and non-interoperable 

offerings. A strong effort, led by NIST, to develop definitive reference models and from these a rational 

protocol architecture is clearly needed. 

While the VCAT believes that a stronger NIST leadership role would benefit the HIT community, the 

Committee is concerned that NIST does not currently have personnel with the background and standing 

in both the medical and standards development communities necessary to effectively lead in this area. 

RECOMMENDATIONS:

3⁄4 Acquire expertise in the Healthcare IT sector by a combination of direct employment, 

delegating responsibility to and borrowing staff from agencies with the requisite expertise. 

3⁄4 Adopt the role of convener and facilitator of Healthcare IT documentary standards efforts, 

engaging sources from within the U.S. government and the private sector as appropriate to the 

task, similar to NIST’s responsibility in the Smart Grid program. 
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NIST Role in Cybersecurity Standards 

Cybersecurity is vital to the economic and national security interests of the United States. The 

Administration has declared the cyber infrastructure a strategic asset. In addition to more than $200 

billion of e-commerce transactions in the United States alone for 2008, interconnected networks of 

computers are essential for life-critical functions such as air traffic control, factory operation, and electric 

power distribution and NIST plays a critical role in the development of standards and testing and 

validation capabilities that are necessary to strengthen the Nation’s cybersecurity posture. As with its role 

in Smart Grid, NIST benefits from a clear definition of its role in cybersecurity. NIST is obligated by 

statute to develop standards and to coordinate with other agencies: 

• Homeland Security Presidential Directive (HSPD)-12, 2004: DOC required to develop a “Federal 

standard for secure and reliable forms of identification” 

• FISMA, 2002: NIST responsible “for developing standards and guidelines” for cybersecurity 

• OMB Circular A-130, 2002: “The Department of Commerce through NIST is assigned the 

responsibility to develop and issue security standards and guidelines...” 

• Computer Security Act, 1987: NIST responsible for developing standards and guidelines for 

Federal computer systems. 

NIST is engaged in a number of research efforts that impact cybersecurity including: Authorization, 

Biometrics, Cryptography, Forensics, Identification & Authentication, Key Management, Network Security, 

Product Assurance, and Security Metrics. In each of these areas, NIST has made significant progress 

with limited resources. Much of NIST’s work is translated into standards through the development of 

Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) that provide the Federal government with a common 

set of standards and testing protocols to provide security for federal information systems, and provides 

the private sector with a platform of validated standards and tests upon which they can base their security 

protocols. 

An important example that illustrates the importance of the NIST laboratory research programs in 

supporting the development of standards is NIST’s work related to cryptography. NIST FIPS 46, the Date 

Encryption Standard (DES), was the first unclassified publicly disclosed algorithm for the protection of 

U.S. government sensitive but unclassified data. The DES was subsequently adopted by the American 

National Standards Institute (ANSI) and the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and 

became the world’s leading encryption algorithm for 25 years. This standard spawned additional NIST 

research in cryptanalysis, key management, and other areas leading to the development of the Advanced 

Encryption Standard (AES), which to this day underpins multiple security systems. Today NIST research 

is working toward the development of a replacement for AES with efforts such as the Secure Hash 

Algorithim-3, which leverages the talents of the entire cryptographic community to test multiple hash 

algorithms through NIST-designed competitions. The VCAT endorses the utilization of competitions such 

as this or other activities such as NIST-sponsored “connectathons” to test interoperability that take 

advantage of the capabilities of the wider community and leverage the use of NIST resources. 

NIST is also engaged in long-term research that will apply quantum methods to security, exploiting the 

potential benefits of a quantum computer, and developing cryptographic methods not subject to analysis 

using quantum computing methods. Key distribution by means of quantum entanglement is also of 

interest and importance and should continue to be part of the quantum research portfolio. The VCAT 

strongly supports such long-term research and sees NIST as a leader in the field. Closer coordination 

with the DOE labs in quantum computing should be encouraged. However, the VCAT believes that NIST 

should balance the resources committed to this work, as the larger cybersecurity threat comes from the 

use of classical computing and non-quantum attack methods. 
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Research conducted by NIST in these areas is first-rate. The benefits derived from research in quantum 

computing to NIST programs in the area of measurement science and standards are important. 

Furthermore, it is necessary for NIST to perform research in the area of quantum computing because of 

all the potential security implications. This area is at the frontier of the field of Physics and quite 

consistent with research that has led to three Nobel Prizes to NIST researchers over the years. 

RECOMMENDATIONS:

3⁄4 Expand collaborations with DOE, NSA, NSF, and DHS (among others) to assure coordination 

among multi-agency security research, development, and standardization programs. 

3⁄4 Continue and potentially expand efforts in testing and evaluation of cryptographic 

standards including interoperation of distinct implementations. 

3⁄4 Consider assisting in evaluating the security of widely used open source software. 

NIST Strategic Planning and Performance  

NIST has made progress since last year when it laid the framework by identifying a series of strategic 

priorities and investment priority areas (IPAs) against which future planning would be conducted. The two 

major advances in NIST planning efforts come in the establishment of a multi-year programmatic planning 

process and the establishment of an external needs assessment workshop series. 

Multi-year strategic planning is exactly the right path that NIST must follow. That said, NIST should 

realize that the planning process is on-going and that its plans will need to be updated annually. The 

world is rarely so static that events will not cause NIST to modify its plans. It will also be important for 

NIST to develop a Communications Plan so that the strategy is driven down into the organization. 

Although the VCAT applauds the progress in planning in the past year, we continue to emphasize that 

this planning process is still missing some key elements of a full Strategic Plan. We have previously 

provided input related to our expectations for a comprehensive Strategic Plan so we shall not repeat it 

here. The focus on national priorities, recognized technology limitations, and feedback from industry and 

stakeholders is a move in the right direction (See Table I below from NIST’s three-year programmatic 

plan). The Bioscience Planning document was also a step toward Industrial Segment or Application 

Strategic Planning and we recommend that this approach be considered for other application areas. 

The VCAT also recognizes that strategic planning for an organization that addresses so many industrial 

segments ranging from construction to biotechnology is very complex and difficult. We support the 

Director’s effort to continue to improve both their strategic multi-year thinking and planning processes. 

As the NIST strategic planning process matures, there will be a need to create an Implementation Plan 

that will articulate the resources NIST needs to realize the plan. Funding and derivatively staffing, 

equipment, and facility needs must be clearly identified and communicated. 

RECOMMENDATIONS: 

3⁄4 Continue a multi-year strategic planning process with annual updates to articulate the 

programmatic directions to the NIST technical personnel. Incorporate input from NIST 

stakeholders and customers into the process that is necessary to establish priorities and execute 

NIST’s mission. 
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3⁄4 Use the Bioscience Planning document and the associated workshop initiative as a model for 

other application (industrial) segments. 

3⁄4 Develop an annual Implementation Plan as part of the strategic planning process. 

NIST Three­Year Programmatic Plan

The Committee has read and reviewed the submitted NIST three-year programmatic plan (“Plan”) as of 

February 2, 2010 and commends NIST management for its preparation. 

The programmatic planning process is intended to move the agency away from single year initiativebased planning and instead create the culture and infrastructure that enables the development and 

maintenance of multi-year program plans with discrete goals, objectives, and performance measures. 

Current program planning efforts are directed against a series of IPAs: Buildings and Physical 

Infrastructure, Energy, Environment, Healthcare, Information Technology, and Manufacturing. These 

IPAs were selected by senior NIST management and technical staff, along with inputs from other 

stakeholders (including VCAT), based on the following criteria: 

• Clearly matches NIST’s mission and goals; 

• Addresses urgent national needs and priorities, including Administration and Congressional 

priorities; 

• Demonstrates a compelling innovation or competitiveness issue; and 

• Represents previously identified NIST priorities that remain important. 

NIST is still making progress in this area and we expect the process to evolve. However, we see this as a 

step in the right direction towards the development of a more robust strategic planning capability at NIST. 

Table 1 shows the NIST Programs relationship to the IPAs. Clearly identified ownership and 

responsibility are vital for the success of these new areas of research. The mappings are not intended to 

be comprehensive, but rather to indicate the strongest connections between programs and IPAs. 

The second major change in NIST planning efforts is the establishment of a formal external needs 

assessment program. Program planning is a continuous process. To be prepared for tomorrow’s needs, 

NIST needs to understand the future priorities and challenges in each of the IPAs, as well as to identify 

additional IPAs that may emerge. As the cycle to commercialize innovative products accelerates, so 

does the need for NIST to deliver increasingly, timely and complex measurement solutions to enable 

innovation and competitiveness. To address these needs and gain earlier input involvement of customers 

and other stakeholders, NIST is initiating an external needs assessment workshop series to provide an 

opportunity for stakeholders to lay out external drivers and/or opportunities for specific technology focus 

areas. NIST is planning to hold these workshops to inform NIST’s strategic decision making and program 

planning activities. In some cases, NIST will conduct follow-on workshops to address identified key 

technical barriers in more depth. The workshop series will be a vehicle for accelerating the most critical 

measurement solutions to support innovation and technology. The initial workshops in the series will 

address two key areas: Advanced Solar Energy Technologies and Climate Change. 

The Plan includes a description of NIST’s planning priorities, which include: 

• Strengthen and focus NIST Laboratories and facilities to ensure U.S. leadership in measurement 

science and standards. 

• Focus new NIST activities to address critical national priorities. 
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• Expand collaboration to leverage NIST capabilities and advance innovation at regional and 

national levels.

TABLE 1: NIST Programs by Investment Priority Area 

(  Primary, 9 Secondary ) 

We support these planning priorities and believe that the Plan appropriately describes NIST’s proposed 

activities to address these priorities. In particular, we applaud their increased emphasis to partner with 

other Federal Agencies related to standards, including documentary standards described earlier in this 

report. In addressing the nation’s priorities in areas like energy and healthcare, we believe that NIST is in 

a unique position to take a leadership role across government because of their expertise for developing 

state-of-art measurements and defining relevant standards. 

NIST Programs

NIST Investment Priority Areas 

Buildings and 

Physical 

Infrastructure 

Energy Environment Healthcare Information 

Technology Manufacturing 

Advanced Alternative 

Energies  9 9

Net-Zero Energy Buildings  9 9

Greenhouse Gas 

Measurements and Climate 

Change  9

Sustainable Manufacturing 9 9 

Biomedical Measurements to 

Support Disease Diagnosis 

and Treatment  

Nanomaterial Environmental 

Health and Safety  9 9

Scalable Cybersecurity for 

Emerging Technologies and 

Threats 

Infrastructure Development 

and Remediation  

Standards for National 

Priority Critical 

Infrastructures: 

– Smart Grid 

Interoperability 

– Health Information 

Technology 

 9



9

9

9

9
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We consider this year’s three-year programmatic plan to be clearly written and it does an excellent job in 

describing the organization’s priorities and plans to address these priorities. However, it does not discuss 

their plans for ongoing programs, resources required, nor their plans for what they will stop doing in order 

to launch new activities. This will flow directly from the Implementation Plan recommended by the VCAT 

as described in the previous section of the report. 

RECOMMENDATIONS: 

3⁄4 Continue efforts toward making multi-year planning an institutional culture. 

3⁄4 Assure external and intra-government partnerships are clearly defined and are an integral 

part of planning and implementation. 

3⁄4 Balance the reporting of new initiatives in future multi-year planning documents with 

discussion of ongoing research activities and of programs that will be discontinued. This 

discussion should include a clear description of the plan that meets the resource requirements, 

both people and facilities, for the future portfolio. 

NIST Management, Leadership, Staffing, and Organizational Structure

The Committee applauds the nomination and confirmation of Dr. Patrick Gallagher as the Director of 

NIST. Dr. Gallagher’s selection will provide NIST with much needed leadership and stability so necessary 

to the management, long-term planning, and implementation of important programs. We have already 

begun to see the positive impact of his appointment as evidenced by a much more proactive engagement 

with his staff and the VCAT regarding organizational improvements. 

NIST is a broad-based organization with activities ranging from deep technical work executed within their 

own laboratories and with external collaborators to supporting the creation of national standards to 

managing external funding and recognition programs. These activities have evolved over the years, but 

the underlying NIST organizational structure that supports them has not seen major change for at least a 

decade. 

In an effort to respond to the various chartered NIST activities, Dr. Gallagher has put forward for approval 

a top-level reorganization of NIST’s management structure. This reorganization would replace the current 

structure, which has each OU reporting directly to the NIST Director, with a streamlined executive 

management team consisting of three Associate Directorships. The newly created positions would 

include the Associate Director for Laboratory Programs responsible for all of the laboratory programs; an 

Associate Director for Innovation and Industry responsible for all of NIST’s extramural programs, and an 

Associate Director of Management Resources responsible for all of NIST service-providing organizations 

(safety, facilities, finance, IT, human resources, etc). This new management structure will streamline the 

management and planning within the agency and put in place the decision-making structure necessary 

for more effective operations. 

Beyond this top-line reorganization of management capabilities, NIST is currently evaluating its broader 

organizational structure to determine how to maximize the impact of its programs and best serve its 

stakeholders. In particular, the Director has engaged his leadership team to explore a more efficient way 

to organize the research laboratories and technical program management. The VCAT had an opportunity 

to review the principles by which the team is evaluating organizational alternatives and we found the 

approach to be very sound. The NIST leadership team clearly appreciates the tradeoffs among 

disciplinary, sector, and mission-based organizational constructs. There appears to be a good 

understanding of how to balance the needs of program management with internal people development 
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and external constituencies. As such, the evaluation process is being designed to take into account the 

views of various stakeholders inside and outside of NIST including, of course, the researchers. 

We had a chance to hear from many of the NIST Laboratory directors and it is very apparent that the 

broad leadership team is fully engaged in the reorganization discussions and sees opportunities for a 

realignment of laboratories that can improve the efficiency of executing their technical agendas. The 

VCAT strongly endorses the proposed top-level restructuring as well as a rigorous analysis and 

implementation of a research laboratory organizational structure which can most effectively achieve 

NIST’s priorities and goals. 

RECOMMENDATIONS:

3⁄4 Complete the evaluation of organizational structures that can most effectively support the 

achievement of the goals and priorities described in its three-year programmatic plan. The NIST 

Director and his key management already have this process well underway. It does and should 

include input from stakeholders including VCAT, Congressional staff, industry, and the NIST 

researchers. 

3⁄4 Obtain approval for and begin implementation of this organizational structure no later than 

the beginning of the second half of 2010. The VCAT supports the NIST leadership in designing 

and evaluating organizational alternatives and arriving at an optimized organizational 

recommendation. 
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NIST Budget and Recovery Act

NIST management faced a difficult challenge in FY 2009 with the late passage of the FY 2009 Omnibus 

and the near simultaneous passage of the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act (ARRA), which 

stressed the NIST business and financial systems to their limits. While the VCAT appreciates the 

additional funding that NIST received through ARRA (see Table 2), the majority of this funding will go 

outside of NIST and will not address NIST’s long-term budgetary shortfalls. 

TABLE 2: NIST Budget (Dollars in Millions) 

FY 2008

Enacted

FY 2009

Enacted ARRA*

FY 2010

Enacted

Scientific and Technical Research and Services 

(STRS) $440.5 $472.0 $220.0 $515.0

National Measurement and Standards Labs 415.2 442.6 211.0 478.1 

Baldrige National Quality Program 7.9 9.4 0.0 9.6 

Corporate Services 16.5 16.5 9.0 16.8 

Congressionally Designated Projects 0.9 3.5 0.0 10.5 

 

Industrial Technology Services (ITS) 154.8 175.0 0.0 194.6

Technology Innovation Program 65.2 65.0 0.0 69.9 

Hollings Manufacturing Extension Partnership 89.6 110.0 0.0 124.7 

 

Construction of Research Facilities (CRF) 160.5 172.0 360.0 147.0 

NIST Construction and Major Renovations 79.2 98.0 180.0 80.0 

Competitive Construction Grant Program 30.0 30.0 180.0 20.0 

Congressionally Designated Projects 51.3 44.0 0.0 47.0 

 

Total NIST 755.8 819.0 580.0 856.6 

                  * Excludes $10 million from DOE for Smart Grid and $20 million from HHS for healthcare IT. 

NIST Recovery Act Spending

With the passage of the Recovery Act, NIST received $580 million in direct appropriations, as well as 

another $30 million in transfers from other agencies ($20 million from HHS for healthcare IT and $10 

million from DOE for Smart Grid). 

In determining how to allocate these funds, NIST took the position that increased investment in 

measurement science would strengthen the platform upon which long-term economic recovery would be 

built, namely through future innovations in areas like green technology, alternative energies, advanced 

computing, and information technologies. Examples of how NIST is focusing its Recovery Act spending 

on strengthening the nation’s measurement science capabilities include the following activities: 

• $108 million to purchase advanced scientific and measurement equipment available from U.S. 

manufacturers that are needed to strengthen NIST’s capabilities targeting the development of 

alternative energy technologies, the environmental monitoring and mitigation tools, the 

development and fabrication of advanced nanotechnology, and many other technical areas. 

Examples include: advanced laser systems that are necessary for precise and accurate 
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greenhouse gas monitoring tools or one of a kind high-speed, high resolution neutron imaging 

system that will allow the advanced design and testing of alternative energy sources and devices.

• $35 million in grants to support R&D in U.S. universities, companies, and other research 

organizations in order to advance the state of the art in measurement science and engineering 

that is needed to sustain long-term economic growth through innovation in critical national priority 

areas: energy; environment; manufacturing; bioscience and healthcare; infrastructure; and 

information technology. 

• $42 million to support the next generation of measurement scientists and expand NIST’s 

interaction and collaborations with industry and academia. Of these funds, $22 million will 

expand the NIST postdoctoral research program providing recent PhDs in science and 

engineering with the opportunity to work at NIST and gain valuable experience and training in the 

area of measurement science. Twenty million dollars of these funds will be competitively 

awarded to support the creation of a collaborative fellowship program that will bring top students 

and scientists to NIST from industry and universities for limited terms (up to two years) to work 

with NIST technical staff performing research in key national priority areas. 

• $180 million to invest in construction projects that will improve or provide new research facilities 

for NIST. 

• $180 million in competitively awarded construction grants to U.S. universities. These funds are 

an important contribution to strengthening the nation’s S&T infrastructure, which is a key 

component to future innovation. The competitive grant program has been important in enabling 

universities access to high quality facilities. 

NIST FY 2010 Appropriations 

The FY 2010 Appropriations provided NIST with a total of $856.6 million in funds. Of this amount, NIST 

laboratory programs received $515 million out of a requested $534.6 million. This provides a total of 

$34.2 million to support new initiatives in healthcare IT, Smart Grid, clinical diagnostics and medical 

imaging, greenhouse gas emissions measurements, Net-Zero Energy Buildings, cybersecurity, quantumbased measurements, and the NIST Center for Neutron Research (NCNR) Reactor Operations. NIST 

received $194.6 million to support both the Technology Innovation Program (TIP) and the Hollings 

Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP), with an increase of $4.9 million for TIP and $14.7 million for 

MEP. In construction funds, NIST received $147 million. Of this amount, $47 million is for 

congressionally directed projects; $58 million will go to the Safety, Capacity, Maintenance, and Major 

Repair fund; $12 million will be applied to renovations of Building 1 in Boulder; $2 million will fund a 

Gaithersburg space study;, and $8 million will finish the expansion of the NCNR. This is important as the 

expansion will have major positive impact on U.S. neutron science, which has been lagging internationally 

in recent years. The improvement in U.S. position resulting from the Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) at 

Oak Ridge National Laboratory will take years to fully materialize, and is not a substitute for an improved 

NCNR. Finally, $20 million will again be available for a competitive construction grant program for U.S. 

universities. 

RECOMMENDATIONS: 

3⁄4 Complete expeditiously the improvement of scientific and measurement capabilities, 

including neutron facilities, necessary for NIST and the U.S. industrial users of the facilities to 

remain in a competitive position in relation to European and Japanese facilities and to enable the 

U.S. to develop future generations of physical scientists and engineers. 

3⁄4 Complete NIST construction projects at the Boulder facility.