Defense Scientists Encouraged to Broaden Scope of Their Research.

• Author: Kennedy, Harold
• Position: Interview

To fight wars successfully in the future--2025 and beyond--the Defense Department must allow the research-and-development (R&D) community to be more creative and focus on long-term projects, rather than "quick-fix solutions," according to Navy Adm. Harold Gehman, outgoing commander in chief of the U.S. Joint Forces Command (USJFCOM).

"We need to keep motivating and prodding the system to move in the right direction," Gehman told a conference, sponsored by the Arlington, Va.-based Potomac Institute for Policy Studies. "The Joint Forces Command is in the forefront of this effort because of our role in leading the transformation of the U.S. armed forces and meeting the security challenges of the 21st century.

USJFCOM, based in Norfolk, Va., was established in 1999. Previously known as the U.S. Atlantic Command, USJFCOM's new mission is to serve as the primary catalyst for joint force integration, training experimentation, doctrine development and testing for all military services, Gehman explained.

Despite this broad mandate, however, Gehman confessed that he has had a hard time getting his people to think creatively.

"What we like to call 'experimental' is not really experimental," he said. "It's demonstrations or trials. Rarely are we interested in anything new and radical. Near-term quick fixes--that's where everybody likes to work."

Long-term research--the topic of the conference--attracts little attention from the services, Gehman said.

"I can't help but be struck by the absence of uniforms in this room," he told...