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| US SecDef: Ashton Carter |
By Franz-Stefan Gady
Yoda has left the building: What does the U.S. Secretary of Defense want the Pentagon’s internal think tank to focus on?
Yesterday, the Washington Post reported that the Pentagon’s enigmatic internal think tank, the Office of Net Assessment, has received its directives on the future focus of its research and analysis efforts in the service of the U.S. Secretary of Defense.
In a June 4 memo titled “Guidance,” Defense Secretary Ashton Carter outlined that he expects the institution, which has a $10 million annual budget and is headed by ret. Air Force Col. James H. Baker, to focus its expertise more on current defense policy issues rather than hypothetical future threats.
“The Office of Net Assessment has long been my predecessors’ source of independent, long term, deep thinking about our future. That is the legacy I expect you to maintain and upon which I expect you to build,” the memo reads. However, Carter emphasizes that analyzing the future of warfare should not come at the expense of up-to-date informed advice on current pressing policy issues for the secretary of defense:
[H]elp me think about the long-term consequences of near-term policy decisions. Your work remains future focused, but you must ensure the team’s work has present relevance to me.
Additionally, he wants the office’s work to emphasize “finding opportunities, rather than just challenges” and have stronger ties to the American intelligence agencies.
Read the full story at The Diplomat