Deputy Secretary of Defense Robert Work spoke to a group of at the InterContinental Hotel, illustrating the need for a new offset strategy. (Daniel Hersh/MNS)
WASHINGTON – The United States’ technological advantage over its enemies is slowly diminishing, according to Deputy Secretary of Defense Robert Work.
He wants to change that.
Work presented Wednesday the details of the proposed Third Offset Strategy that was conceived in November, highlighting unmanned sea vehicles, high-speed strike weapons, advanced aeronautics and more, as a one way to stay technologically ahead of American adversaries.
Strategically, the plan focuses on new approaches to war-gaming and professional military education.
“The United States has relied on a technological edge ever since, even in World War II,” Work said. “We’ve relied upon it for so long. It’s steadily eroding. We still believe we have a margin, but it’s steadily eroding and it’s making us uncomfortable.
As the United States fought two wars in the last 13 years, the rest of the world, including potential adversaries, saw how the military operated, looked for weaknesses and devised ways to attack, according to Work.
The so-called Offset Strategy was put together in response to growing North Korean, Iranian and ISIS threats.
“In 2010, the NATO strategy concept highlighted the risk entailed by the spreading of new technologies,” said France’s Jean-Paul Paloméros, supreme allied commander transformation of NATO. “And today, it’s a reality.”
The strategy is the key element of a Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments report written by Senior Fellow Robert Martinage, who says the U.S. military needs to “offset” increasing missile stockpiles in some hostile countries.
This is America‘s the third offset strategy. Earlier plans were developed during the Cold War to cope with Soviet aggression.
In a speech before a NATO Transatlantic Forum Wednesday, Work said, “We don’t face a single monolithic, implacable adversary like we did in the Cold War.”
Into the 1970s, the Pentagon official said military labs were driving new technology. Now, it is driven by the commercial sector.
There is no “cookie-cutter” solution, he added, because of the rising number and variety of threats.
“We’re not going to be able pick out one specific strategy that’s going to be good for all potential adversaries and all potential capabilities,” Work said. “It has to be much more innovative and agile.”
Work said that Defense Department will seek to turn around a slowing in defense spending in order to help protect the nation. President Barack Obama’s 2016 budget for the Pentagon and other agencies will be unveiled on Monday.
It’s more than “just technology,” Work said. “They’re [defense programs] about increasing the competitive advantage of our American forces and our allies over the coming decades.”
