Assessing the Third Offset strategy

On 28 OCT CSIS held a day long conference titled “Assessing the Third Offset Strategy: Progress and Prospects for Defense Innovation,” which included a keynote address by Secretary Carter and a panel discussion featuring Deputy Secretary Work and Gen. Selva. Other DoD officials participating included Under Secretary for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics Frank Kendall; Defense Advanced Projects Research Agency Director Arati Parbhakar; and Raj Shah, managing director of the Defense Innovation Unit-Experimental, or DIUx, as well as several Allied experts on the topic. The proceedings addressed the global context for the Third Offset Strategy, its focus and progress, and its challenges.

Overall the messages during the conference were the following:

Defining the Offset Strategy by Robert Work (Deputy Secretary of Defense); Stephanie O’Sullivan (Principal Deputy Director for National Intelligence); General Paul Selva, USAF (Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff)

• Third Offset is focused on conventional deterrence, it is aimed at improving capabilities at the operational level of war
• The goal is to regain advantage against peer-competitors (who are also developing advanced capabilities) and maintain the ability to project power
• Theater wide battle networks will improve the operational/organizational construct of forces supported by technology
• Intel community has to change as well, developing better indicators and warning, and assessing adversary capabilities in every domain
• There will be a human in the loop and mission command will enable people to carry out the mission despite setbacks
• A resilient open architecture must be built to which all of our systems can subscribe
• DoD is NOT organized for innovation, the system is set up that when it sees a compelling threat it adapts, but there has to be a mindset shift: innovation on the micro level should not threaten the institution
• The Third Offset is not about technology – innovation really happens when we trust in technology and know how to operate it efficiently
• Jointness is essential, Alliances are crucial - as it was highlighted earlier by Bob Work on 28 APR in Brussels as well.

Keynote Address: The Path to the Innovative Future of Defense by Ash Carter (Secretary of Defense) keynote

• 5 challenges (Russia, China, N-Korea, Iran, ISIL) At the same time (parallel to this) US must prepare for a complex uncertain future – the force must innovate
• Innovation happens in multiple dimensions (technology, operations, organization, people)
• Technology: (1) commercial sector is driving the effort (2) technology within the force is improved through DoD labs’ experiments (3) technology outside is channeled into defense through DIUx type institutions (4) technology repurposing is carried out by SCO (5) 72 Bn USD is secured in the 2017 budget (6) SCO is developing cross-domain technology for Army missile system
• Operation: (1) full spectrum warfighting capability was diminishing while US was fighting COIN – need to return to full spectrum readiness (2) US needs to improve interoperability with Allies (especially in Europe) (3) Need to recapitalize on nuclear triad (4) Trans-regional approach is necessary
• Organization: (1) Innovative thinking and processes must be built inside the bureaucracy (2) Defense Innovation Board is giving advice earlier in OCT on targeted recruiting, machine learning investment through a virtual COE model (3) DoD will establish a Chief Innovation Officer (CIO) position
• People: (1) this is the most important aspect, since at the end of the day implementation depends on people (2) generations- labor market changing (3) Force of the Future is a concrete action plan focusing on recruitment, retention, development and transition: building ramps for technical talent, retention of talented individuals and ones with special skills, better integrating into the civilian marketplace and speeding up recruitment processes.

Link to the video feed