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160301-N-GB257-003 CHARLESTON, S.C. (March 1, 2016) Rear Adm. Mathias W. Winter, Chief of Naval Research/Director, Innovation Technology Requirements and Test & Evaluation (N84) chats with young men visiting SPAWAR Systems Center (SSC) Atlantic as part of the "My Brother's Keeper" initiative in Charleston, S.C. Winter discussed the innovative research and development underway at Navy labs such as SSC Atlantic, and career opportunities available in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). After being welcomed by SSC Atlantic Commanding Officer Capt. Scott Heller, the young men were treated to a full day of events, including hands-on activities, dynamic talks and lab tours, all of which demonstrated how SSC Atlantic rapidly delivers cyber warfighting capability from seabed to space. Launched in 2014, "My Brother's Keeper" (MBK) is a challenge to cities, towns, counties and tribes across the country to become MBK communities that implement a coherent cradle-to-college-and-career strategy for improving the life outcomes of young men, regardless of who they are, where they come from or the circumstances into which they are born. (U.S. Navy photo by Joseph Bullinger/Released)

With threat of narrowing military lead, US DOD expands its global tech-scouting to sustain its technological edge

The technology environment across the world today is evolving to one where having one country have a technological advantage over another is not just going to be in our future,” said Air Force Gen. Ellen Pawlikowski, commander of the Air Force Material Command headquartered at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. With the proliferation of technology in the information age, “our near peers are comparable to us in many areas,” the four-star general said. “I think the key to the future of the United States is our ability to quickly field this new technology and to adapt and change and to be agile in how we do technology development,” she said.

Continuing to push the technology envelope is central to maintaining U.S. preeminence in military capability, said Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter  in his Silicon Valley speech, “threats to our security and our country’s technological superiority are proliferating and diversifying.” “The U.S. global lead in defense technology is being actively eroded by potential competitors who themselves are pursuing advanced technologies to develop asymmetric capabilities that challenge the U.S. ability to carry out critical missions.”

A Report of the CSIS Defense-Industrial Initiatives Group and the CSIS International Security Program, authored by Andrew P. Hunter & Ryan A. Crotty, explored the context of the global innovation environment that is driving the need for DoD to better connect with the global commercial economy and proposing recommendations to expand and enhance DoD’s awareness of and access to outside innovation.

“As changes in the nature of the global economic system have made advanced technologies and technical know-how widely available, many key technologies are increasingly commercial in origin and globally sourced. Most of these sources lie outside the traditional sphere of defense technology development, but these technologies are increasingly applicable for military purposes.”

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