Greater Cheyenne Chamber of Commerce Business Journal Q1 2015 | Page 46

M
MThe Pentagon Wants You To
Tell Them What To Invest in for
the Future our Community
By: Patrick Tucker, Author of Naked Future: What Happens in a World That Anticipates Your Every Move?
Orginally published by Defence One

Defense Department officials issued a request for
information calling on interested parties “to identify
current and emerging technologies…that could
provide significant military advantage to the United
States and its partners and allies in the 2030 time
frame.”
It’s a sort of prelude to the not-yet-revealed offset
strategy, the Pentagon’s ambitious plan to develop
technology to put the
United States decades
ahead of rival nations like
China and Russia in short
period of time.

people in the start-up world about bets that they’re
making. We would love to hear from folks in those
communities.
Stephen Welby, Deputy Assistant Secretary of
Defense for Systems Engineering stated “We made
the pilgrimage to the Bay,” said Welby, referring to
that American Mecca of computer technology, San
Francisco Bay. They “talked to people in the startup world about bets that
they’re making. We would
love to hear from folks in
those communities.” That
includes everyone from
hotshot, 20-something
social network magnates
to “billionaire hobbyists”
with rockets and moon
ambitions.

“... the Pentagon’s
ambitious plan to
Previous examples of offset
breakthroughs include
develop technology
precision-guided weapons
and stealth. The concepts
to put the United
that win the current
problem,
competition could shape
States decades There’s just oneyou ask,
no matter who
weapons investment —
predicting what sort of
indeed the military itself —
ahead of rival
technology will remain
well into the next decade.
nations like China relevant decades into the
future was a lot easier when
“We’re after a competition
and Russia in short the Defense Department
of ideas,” Deputy Assistant
first attempted it 30 years
Secretary of Defense
for Systems Engineering
period of time..” ago. “The crystal ballsaid
worked pretty well,”
Stephen Welby said on
Wednesday during a
briefing with reporters. “It’s a good time to ask, what’s
the future of the department look like? That’s what
we’re asking here.”

Welby, when the United
States had but one major adversary in the Soviet
Union and exclusive domain over the most cuttingedge research and development.

Who are they asking? Silicon Valley first.

That’s no longer the case. New