The rapid growth and diversification of military science and technology precipitated the creation of numerous research facilities by the U.S. Army to ensure that the country remained competitive on the international stage, especially as Cold War tensions reached new heights.

Research installations began to prioritize the survival and longevity of their own operations over the overarching Army goals and engaged in turf disputes to protect their own interests.

Although AMC had hoped that this arrangement would encourage research sharing and foster cooperation, the lack of progress on this issue prompted the U.S. Army to change its approach.

[11] Not long after DARCOM carried out its reorganization, however, the Army launched another review that scrutinized its structure, indicating that the changes failed to resolve the existing issues.

This concept of a Laboratory Command was quickly adopted by the Army despite receiving unfavorable reviews that cited the likelihood of increased bureaucratic layering and overhead expenses.

As part of their duties, significant emphasis was placed on the pursuit of technology transfers and the sharing of information so that they could both exploit the advancements made by others and avoid duplication of research.

ARO, the eighth element placed in LABCOM, retained its original functions of managing grants and contracts with individual scientists, academia, and nonprofit entities to promote basic research relevant to the U.S. Army.

Although centralized oversight addressed some of the management problems that the Army sought to resolve, the geographic separation between the laboratories considerably hindered LABCOM's research synergy.

However, the proposal was modified to establish the centralized laboratory at two major sites—Adelphi, Maryland and Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland—accompanied by elements at White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico and at NASA facilities in Hampton, Virginia, and Cleveland, Ohio.

Inspired by a successful precedent in LABCOM, he established an advisory body of senior scientists and engineers known as the ARL Fellows to provide guidance to the director on various matters related to their field of expertise.

[3] Following the end of the Cold War, the administration helmed by President William J. Clinton pushed for further cutbacks in defense spending as part of a plan to reduce and reshape the federal government.

Taking advantage of this initiative to “reinvent the government,” Lyons saw an opportunity to address what he viewed as serious difficulties in the directorates’ operating environments that hindered their performance.

Upon review, however, the Army realized that the private sector had far surpassed the military in the development and fielding of wireless digital communications, as evidenced by the prevalence of cellular phones in the commercial market.

ARL lacked the money, time, and manpower to help the U.S. Army catch up to the rapid pace at which commercial wireless devices were evolving, much less incorporate the newest advancements into military applications.

Known as the Federated Laboratory, or FedLab, the approach entailed a closer working partnership between ARL and the private sector that couldn't be achieved through standard contractual processes.

SEN and PSD were merged to form the Sensors and Electron Devices Directorate (SEDD), and ASHPC became the Corporate Information and Computing Center (CICC).

[4][18] The September 11 attacks against the United States and the subsequent launch of Operation Enduring Freedom induced a sense of urgency across the U.S. Army to do whatever possible to accelerate the mobilization of offensive U.S. military capabilities.

Although long-term basic research traditionally represented the crux of ARL's work, heavy pressure from Army leadership redirected much of the laboratory's attention towards quick-fix solutions in response to urgent problems faced by troops in theater.

During this period of warfare, the laboratory strongly endorsed cross-directorate projects and funded high-risk, collaborative, and multi-disciplinary research in a bid to formulate more innovative science and technology capabilities that exceeded the Army's mission needs.

Its placement at the University of Southern California’s Institute for Creative Technologies reflected the laboratory's goals to collaborate with organizations located in and around the Los Angeles region.

Its placement at the University of Chicago’s Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation reflected the laboratory's goals to establish its presence in the Midwest region.

Its placement at Northeastern University’s George J. Kostas Research Institute for Homeland Security marked what was believed to be the laboratory's final extended campus location.

[41] In 2022, DEVCOM ARL discontinued its technical directorates and adopted a competency-based organizational structure that realigned the laboratory's intramural and extramural research efforts to underscore the Army's targeted priorities in science and technology.

[1][41] DEVCOM ARL manages five regional sites in the United States that collaborate with nearby universities and businesses to advance the Army's scientific and technological goals.

ARL West, located in Playa Vista, California, has technical focus areas in human-information interaction, cybersecurity, embedded processing, and intelligent systems.

[44] ARL South, located in Austin, Texas, has technical focus areas in artificial intelligence and machine learning for autonomy, energy and power, cybersecurity, materials and manufacturing, and biology.

[4] CTAs represent partnerships that focus on the rapid transition of new innovations and technologies found in academia to the U.S. manufacturing base through cooperation with private industry.

[52] The laboratory also engaged in International Technology Alliances (ITAs) that facilitate collaborations for research and development with foreign government entities alongside academia and private industry.

Situated at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, BRL served as a major Army center for research and development in technologies related to weapon phenomena, armor, accelerator physics, and high-speed computing.

Researchers at HEL investigated methods to maximize combat effectiveness, improve weapons and equipment designs, and reduce operation costs and errors.