The article presents the evolution of system research against the background of contemporary methodological problems in the area of security of social systems and technical systems. It has been assumed that contemporary systems research includes holistic-systems methodology, numerous systems theories, and systems analysis and systems engineering. The experience of operations research and RAND Corporation was taken into account. It was found that the value of modern systems research in the field of security sciences is the application of systems (networks) models as well as evaluation and decision-making methods and techniques.