By Cheryl Pellerin
DoD News, Defense Media Activity
WASHINGTON, Nov. 15, 2014 – In a keynote speech tonight at
the 2014 Reagan National Defense Forum, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel announced
a plan to harness the brightest minds and cutting-edge technology to change the
way the Department of Defense innovates and operates.
On the second day of a five-day trip nationwide to see some
of the critical training the force receives to maintain readiness, Hagel
addressed members of Congress, DoD officials, military leaders, and members of
the defense industry during the annual forum held in Simi Valley, California.
Along with the new innovation initiative, the secretary also
announced a project to reform the defense enterprise, preparing it to deal with
dwindling budgets in an uncertain future.
DoD Experiencing a Time of Transition
“The Department of Defense is undergoing a defining time of
transition,” Hagel said. “We [face] a reshaping of our enterprise by a fiscal
environment plagued by … budget uncertainty and a large decline in resources,
and by an historic realignment of interests and influences around the world.”
As these dynamics unfold, he added, the U.S. military is
engaged in crises and security challenges around the world -– degrading the
terrorist organization the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, helping to
stop the spread of Ebola virus disease, and reinforcing NATO allies.
“Few would have predicted these missions a year ago,” the
secretary said, adding that DoD is responsible for addressing a range of
contingencies and crises.
New, Old Threats, Challenges
“We face the rise of new technologies, national powers and
non-state actors,” as well as “sophisticated, deadly and often asymmetric
emerging threats ranging from cyberattacks to transnational criminal networks,
[and] persistent, volatile threats we have faced for years,” Hagel said.
The nation’s long-term security, he added, depends on
whether the department can address today’s crises while preparing for tomorrow’s
threats.
Hagel described the department’s two most-important
investments as bolstering the United States’ unrivaled capacity for innovation
and reforming the defense enterprise to ensure that the military foundation is
reliable, agile, accountable and worthy of the men and women who serve.
While the United States and its allies spent more than a
decade at war, he said, countries like Russia and China have heavily invested
in military modernization programs to blunt the U.S. military’s technological
edge, fielding advanced aircraft, submarines and longer-range and more accurate
missiles, and developing new anti-ship and air-to-air missiles, and
counter-space, cyber, electronic warfare, undersea and air-attack capabilities.
New Defense Innovation Initiative
“Today I am announcing a new Defense Innovation Initiative,”
Hagel told the audience, describing the effort as an ambitious, departmentwide
effort to identify and invest in innovative ways to sustain and advance
America’s military dominance for the 21st century.
“Continued fiscal pressure will likely limit our military’s
ability to respond to long-term challenges … so to overcome challenges to our
military superiority we must change the way we innovate, operate and do
business,” the secretary explained.
The innovation initiative, he said, will ensure that U.S.
power-projection capabilities continue to sustain a competitive advantage over
the coming decades.
Identifying, Developing Cutting-edge Technologies
As part of the initiative, Hagel said, a new Long-Range
Research and Development Planning Program will help identify, develop and field
breakthroughs from the most cutting-edge technologies and systems, especially
in robotics, autonomous systems, miniaturization, big data and advanced
manufacturing, including 3-D printing.
“The program will look toward the next decade and beyond,”
he said, “[but] in the near-term it will invite some of the brightest minds
from inside and outside government to … assess the technologies and systems DoD
[should] develop over the next three to five years and beyond.”
The innovation initiative will explore and develop new
operational concepts, including new approaches to warfighting, and balancing
DoD’s investments between platforms and payloads, Hagel said.
People Are DoD’s Premier Asset
New approaches to war-gaming and professional military
education already are in development, the secretary added, “and [the
initiative] will focus on the department’s most-important asset -- people -- by
pursuing time-honored leadership development practices and emerging opportunities
to reimagine how we develop managers and leaders.”
Deputy Defense Secretary Robert O. Work will guide the
innovation initiative’s development and lead a new Advanced Capability and
Deterrence Panel to drive it forward, Hagel said.
“The panel will integrate DoD’s senior leadership across the
entire enterprise -- its policy and intelligence communities, the armed
services, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and research, development and acquisition
authorities,” he said.
Hagel said he expects the panel to propose changes to the
way DoD diagnoses and plans for challenges to the military’s competitive edge,
and to face a new challenge head-on -- the fact that many breakthrough
technologies are no longer in the domain of DoD development pipelines or traditional
defense contractors.
Seeking Private-sector Proposals
“We all know that DoD no longer has exclusive access to the
most cutting-edge technology or the ability to spur or control the development
of new technologies the way we once did,” the defense secretary said. “So we
will actively seek proposals from the private sector, including firms and
academic institutions outside DoD’s traditional orbit.”
The Defense Innovation Initiative will shape the
department’s programs, plans and budgets, Hagel said, adding that as the
initiative matures over time he expects its impact on the defense budget to
scale up as well.
“As the world in which we operate changes, we must change
too,” the defense secretary said, adding that he has ordered full reviews of
the department’s business and management systems.
“The first reviews are underway now, starting with the
Office of the Secretary of Defense,” Hagel said. “DoD must embrace better
business practices that are core to any modern enterprise, private or public.”
Upgrade Business, Information Technology Systems
The department will upgrade business and information
technology systems and processes, striking the right balance between civil
service and contractor support and avoiding duplication of support functions in
OSD and the services, he said, adding that after years of postponement and
delay the department is making progress in moving toward greater financial
accountability.
Hagel said the department has been making hard choices and
mustering the flexibility required by new geopolitical and fiscal realities.
“But to succeed,” he said, “we need the support and
partnership of Congress, especially at a time when demands on our military are
surging and our resources are shrinking and our ability to manage our
institution is being more and more limited.”
The continuation of sequestration could impose nearly $1
trillion in cuts to the defense budget over 10 years, the defense secretary
said, in a department that has already begun taking deep cuts over the last few
years.
Sequestration ‘Would Devastate’ Military Readiness
Sequestration, he said, “would devastate our military
readiness and threaten our ability to execute our nation’s defense strategy.
Congress has an opportunity this year to help the Defense Department, and I and
all the leaders of DoD look forward to working with Congress on this
challenge.”
Hagel added, “If we make the right investments in our
partnerships around the world in innovation and in our defense enterprise we
will continue to keep our nation’s military and our nation’s global leadership
on a strong and sustainable path for the 21st century.”
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