Project SOCRATES is a foreign technology capability assessment system which is managed by the SOCRATES Project Office, Defense Intelligence Agency, Washington, D.C. SOCRATES provides intelligence information on worldwide technology capabilities to policy and decisionmakers [sic] within the Federal Government. SOCRATES assesses the capabilities of advanced and emerging technologies of all technologically significant countries worldwide [sic] relative to the United States.

Project SOCRATES uses numerous classified and unclassified information sources to generate its assessments on worldwide capabilities. To ensure maximum system efficiency SOCRATES first breaks the technologies down into the specific commodities (equipment, material and know how) which are required for the technology to be at a state-of-the-art level. This array of key commodities for The Technology Outline is then used to specify what information must be collected, how it is distributed, the form of the finished intelligence assessment and its dissemination. The Technology Outlines are the heart of the SOCRATES Project.