They have been charged to prepare a "long range strategic plan" for the US fusion energy program. FESAC chair Don Rej appointed a subpanel of FESAC chaired by FESAC member Troy Carter (UCLA) to prepare that plan and to deliver a report back to FESAC in December.

Troy Carter stated that the charge for the preparation of the strategic plan was as follows:

• Identify specific research areas, in which the U.S. should establish or enhance global leadership
• Maintain a healthy and flexible program, which incorporates the roles and contributions of universities, national laboratories, and industry, to deliver science results through next decade
• Maintain, upgrade, and/or pivot current small-, mid-, and large-scale facilities, including DIII-D and NSTX-U, and also initiate new experiments/facilities/projects
• Identify international collaborations and partnerships giving U.S. scientists access to devices with unique capabilities
• Provide support for private-public partnership ventures.
• Position U.S. to obtain maximum benefits in ITER burning plasma science era.
• Considering budgetary constraints, technical readiness and feasibility for any activity to proceed:
  Using FY 2019 enacted budgets, assume:
  • Constant level of effort (defined as the published OMB inflators for FY 2022-2031)
  • Modest growth (use 2 percent above the published OMB inflators)
  • Unconstrained budget