Asymmetric threats are the new face of security in the 21st century, where a new breed of adversary threatens long established, essentially monolithic institutions at the core of western civilization. The direction of technology development has the potential to further exacerbate the unbalanced standoff between the new threat and established institutions, whether government, commercial, industrial or cultural, particularly when the adversary is a determined and ideologically driven foe that is willing to bide their time and develop their resources over extended periods that may stretch into decades. Systems Engineering has the potential of offering security solutions that look beyond the traditional approach of adding layers of security to functional systems. Security that is inherent to the product or process may be more adept at addressing the dynamic threat environments of today. The restructuring of organizational and product architectures may "rebalance" the threat/risk equation and reduce potentially catastrophic asymmetric threats to a tolerable symmetric "standoff." Such restructuring does not come about easily or quickly, however, and fundamental shifts in infrastructure and culture can require generations to fully implement, so research into new security concepts today may not be completely realized until the 22nd century.
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