The rocky path to a third offset.

• Author: McKinley, Craig R.
• Position: President's Perspective

* In November 2014; then-Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel made a presentation at the Reagan National Defense Forum in Simi Valley, California, and announced what was described as the Pentagon's commitment to a "third offset strategy." Two months later, Deputy Secretary Robert Work provided greater detail during a Center for a New American Security speech.

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In very general terms, the United States over the past 60 years had enhanced its security by pursuing two "offset strategies." These were operational and technological initiatives, which improved its capabilities in areas our adversaries would be challenged to compete and fully match.

The first of these was the reliance on nuclear weapons during the beginning of the Cold War, with the second being the development of precision-guided munitions and the required intelligence capabilities needed to deploy them. These were both successful efforts to employ asymmetrical advantages, Work said.

Over time, potential adversaries have responded, which has necessitated the need for the next major offset. The hunt is on. Both industry and government are energetically trying to determine what this next offset will be, where the technology to support it resides and how it will be put to use for our national advantage. Autonomy, processing "big data," quantum science and hypersonic technology have all been mentioned as part of this new age.

As many of our speakers at the recent Women In Defense annual conference said, necessity breeds innovation, and we are rapidly approaching a time of need. Leaders must see innovation as a core behavior, acting Undersecretary of the Air Force Lisa Disbrow said.

There are two factors that come into play here: independent research and development (IRAD) and the Defense Innovation Unit-Experimental (DIUx) that has been positioned in Silicon Valley.

IRAD is funding that companies use for their own technological initiatives. It can result in new products or processes, or significantly enhance existing ones. In essence, such research and development is independent of established military requirements and contracts.

The Pentagon recently has made efforts to guide and direct IRAD, thinking that doing so would enhance the possibility of achieving synergy with its own efforts, while potentially reducing its own R&D budgets. As companies were cool to this thought, the Defense Department sweetened the pot a bit in 2014 by allowing companies to record IRAD as an...