Departmental Structure
Overview
The Department of Strategic Continuity is led by the Secretary of Strategic Continuity. Its research is carried out by five divisions and supported by three Continuity Research Facilities. Three independent advisory bodies and an Office of the Inspector General review its work. Headquarters is in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area.
| Unit | Abbreviation | Led by | Principal function |
|---|---|---|---|
| Office of the Secretary | — | Secretary; Deputy Secretary | Departmental direction, priorities, external relations, mission support |
| Office of the Chief Scientist | — | Chief Scientist | Scientific quality, research allocation, publication clearance |
| Office of Ethics and Research Integrity | — | Chief Ethics and Research Integrity Officer | Research integrity policy, ethics program, RERB secretariat |
| Office of the Inspector General | OIG | Inspector General | Independent audit, inspection and investigation |
| Office of Advanced Artificial Intelligence | OAAI | Director | Frontier AI evaluation; AI dependence of critical infrastructure; computational modeling support |
| Office of Strategic Risk Assessment | OSRA | Director | Interconnected threats; owns the ICSM; issues the Outlook series |
| Directorate of Neural Continuity | DNC | Director, Directorate of Neural Continuity | Computational neuroscience; connectomics; cognitive preservation research |
| Continuity Infrastructure Administration | CIA-DSC | Administrator | Continuity Research Facilities; archival infrastructure; power and cooling engineering |
| Office of Long-Term Systems Research | OLSR | Director | Forecasting methods; decision-making under deep uncertainty; institutional design |
Leadership offices
- Secretary of Strategic Continuity
- Head of the Department. Sets departmental priorities, approves Policy and Administrative documents, and is accountable for the Department’s work and its use of public resources.
- Deputy Secretary
- Principal deputy to the Secretary and the Department’s chief operating official. Oversees mission support functions, including finance, human resources, information technology, security, legal counsel and records management.
- Chief Scientist
- Senior scientific official. Responsible for the quality and coherence of the research portfolio, chairs the facility allocation committee, and gives final scientific clearance for Technical Reports, Working Papers and Frameworks.
- Chief Ethics and Research Integrity Officer
- Leads the research integrity and ethics program, receives integrity concerns, and supports the Research Ethics Review Board. Has direct access to the Secretary and to the External Scientific Advisory Board.
- Inspector General
- Leads the Office of the Inspector General, which operates independently of Department management.
Each research division is led by a Director. The Directorate of Neural Continuity is led by an Associate Director for Neural Continuity, who holds the title Director, Directorate of Neural Continuity. CIA-DSC is led by an Administrator. The Department publishes officials’ titles but not their names.
Research divisions
The five divisions were formally stood up in March 2026. Each leads at least one research program and partners on others. Program pages list their lead and partner divisions in full.
Continuity Research Facilities
CIA-DSC manages three Continuity Research Facilities, which serve all divisions.
| Facility | Region | Focus | Status (October 2026) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Facility Alpha (CRF-A) | Southern Nevada | Neural computation and high-performance computing | Operational |
| Facility Bravo (CRF-B) | Colorado Front Range (subsurface) | Underground archival and computational research infrastructure | Partially Operational |
| Facility Charlie (CRF-C) | Interior Alaska | Long-duration information preservation and redundant systems research | Commissioning |
Advisory and review bodies
- External Scientific Advisory Board (ESAB)
- Fourteen members drawn from outside the Department, covering the natural, computational, social and ethical sciences relevant to its work. The board meets quarterly and advises the Secretary and Chief Scientist on the research portfolio, program phase transitions and scientific quality.
- Research Ethics Review Board (RERB)
- A standing board that reviews all Neural Continuity Research Program protocols and any other research involving human subjects, human tissue or identifiable human data. Its approval decisions are binding.
- Model Review Panel (MRP)
- An independent panel that reviews each major version of the Integrated Civilizational Systems Model before it is used for published results. Panel members may record dissenting opinions, which are published with the relevant report.
The functions of these bodies are described further on the Institutional Governance page.
Workforce
In October 2026 the Department’s workforce numbered approximately 2,340 federal staff and contractor personnel. About 610 of them work at the three facilities; the rest are at headquarters and in the research divisions. The workforce includes modelers, computer scientists, neuroscientists, engineers, archivists, ethicists, economists and operations staff. Many joined from the ITFCC or from federal science agencies, universities and industry.