The most extensive research and development (R&D) into the adult cognitive skills essential for workplace literacy has been conducted by the U.S. military. Military R&D related to workplace literacy has been concentrated in the following areas: formulation of developmental model for literacy in four stages (basic adaptive processes, conscious control and memory, language development, and processing representations); assessment of literacy and other cognitive skills; identification of the literacy demands of jobs based on approaches that included predictive validity and task analysis methods; and development of programs which included the literacy program of World War II, Functional Literacy program (FLIT), Job-Oriented Basic Skills program (JOBS), Job Skills Education Program (JSEP), and Experimental Functional Skills Program (XFSP). Among the major findings of literacy-related R&D conducted by the military are the following: literacy is highly related to measures of intelligence and aptitude; literacy and job performance are continuously related; there is no technical solution to the problem of setting standards for literacy; there is no best method of identifying jobs' literacy demands; and workplace literacy programs can produce significant improvements in job-related reading for only brief periods of time and must be supplemented by continued opportunities for education and learning. (Twenty-six tables/figures are included. Contains 73 references.) (MN)