“The Speed of Relevance”

Some thoughts on the recently released National Defense Strategy (NDS).

First of all I applaud Secretary Mattis on the NDS.

As I read through the summary, I was reminded of a conversation I had with him several moons ago at the Integrated Team Solutions Facility (ITSFAC) just outside of Quantico in Stafford County Virginia. During a tour of that facility, which provided direct support to numerous capabilities being developed within PM Intelligence, we provided him with a detailed status update of the Distributed Common Ground Surface System-Marine Corps (DCGS-MC) and other programs under that portfolio. At one point during the tour, he made a comment about something that resonated then and still resonates today based on an experience he had during a return trip from Africa.

I am paraphrasing the comment due to the "tyranny of time:"

“Why is it that National Geographic can give me all the information I want at my fingertips, and I have been promised the same for decades and still can’t get it from the systems and material solutions being developed today?”

Please understand that this is not a specific attack on the current state of things within DoD, the acquisition community or within the larger context of “whole of country” activities for that matter. Rather, it is just the musings of someone who has navigated the good, bad and ugly of his question over the course of my journey.

Within the public facing summary of the National Defense Strategy, I feel that the Defense Department laid out a good articulation of need for fundamental change on multiple fronts. It identifies a clear framework necessary in assessing the way ahead and a fundamentally different approach needed to take us from the status quo. It firmly lays a challenge for what needs to be done in order to effectively and efficiently shape the conditions for our future at all levels of government, industry and academia.

Within the strategy one specific phrase speaks volumes but may get lost in the perpetual art of kicking the can down the road. That phrase? “The Speed of Relevance.”

Although there is much great information in the NDS summary, this one phrase and the ensuing paragraph captures the essence of the challenge before us. That paragraph, found on page 10 of the summary encapsulates a fundamental philosophic mindset and approach for the necessary change needed to remain relevant. That one paragraph just may encapsulate the essence of the NDS summary and nests effectively and poignantly with our National Security Strategy. 

As I read and re-read this paragraph and thought back to the conversation with General Mattis, I wanted to make sure that I put this phrase and the particular word of relevance in context.

I am confident many of you don’t need the definition but am placing Webster’s definition here both in context to that conversation and in light of the challenges before us.

Webster defines relevance as such:

1a : relation to the matter at hand

b : practical and especially social applicability 

2: the ability (as of an information retrieval system) to retrieve material that satisfies the needs of the user

Across all elements of national power, “Speed of Relevance” just may need to be shouted from the mountain top. In a world experiencing grand challenges and exponential change, we find ourselves being confronted by an increasingly complex and interdependent world at the local, regional, national and international levels. Speed and relevance are in fact required across many of the components of the NDS, our National Security Strategy and maybe at the global level for that matter.

I am cognizant that the challenges of working across the landscape of entities, internal and external to DoD, are not trivial. Where so many operate under different missions and visions. Where many find themselves executing day to day operations under separate authorities. Where many just may find themselves “nesting” under multiple conflicting and incongruent statutory, regulatory, policy and procedural constraints and restraints. 

The ability to respond at the speed of relevance will not be an easy undertaking, but necessary for our collective future. 

Historically recalcitrant or promising transformation? Bureaucratic factors that will influence the NDS may prove either problematic or present a refreshing change of pace in the actions necessary to achieve speed or relevance. Some of this may include approaches that will support:

·        Effective and substantive integration and interoperability within the US Interagency domain.

·        Transformative modernization through education, research, manufacturing and engineering.

·        Fostering a competitive mindset that does not mean mutual exclusivity in the attainment of strategic success.

·        Shaping actions necessary to organize for Innovation and disrupting the status quo.

·        Deepening interoperability through efficient and meaningful solutioneering.

·        Expanding mechanisms for collaborative planning and supported/supporting coordination and execution.

·        Cultivating and sustaining workforce talent at all levels.

·        Accountability at all levels.

The US military and DoD for that matter, will continue to reform and transform as they have from their inception. The Acquisition community, that helps drive material solution and product development, likewise has and will continue to adapt and adjust to need. Change, response, reorganization and adaption manifest themselves in different ways at the tactical, operational and strategic levels. Across the enterprise, they continue to respond and provide critically needed focus, often when the nation at large is least ready or too busy arguing over monumentally and sensationally profound topics of the day.

Across the Diplomatic, Informational, Military and Economic elements of power we see a constant ebb and flow of the pendulum as it swings. Sometimes in subtle and discrete ways, while during other moments in time the pendulum swings widely and yes, maybe even sporadically. 

I am not sure if the new NDS is a discrete movement of the pendulum, or a radical alteration of the mechanism. In its publication however, I applaud its effort to strengthen existing definitions while redefining our collective mindset and philosophical approach to the future. 

The NDS may just be the foundation for a much needed shaking of the apparatus. Although oriented to necessary action across all components of the defense enterprise it might just be a wake-up call for all of us.

Speed of relevance indeed.