You are on page 1of 10

AS PREPARED EMBARGOED UNTIL DELIVERY

SECRETARY OF DEFENSE ASH CARTER


STANFORD DRELL LECTURE: REWIRING THE PENTAGON:
CHARTING A NEW PATH ON INNOVATION AND CYBERSECURITY
STANFORD UNIVERSITY, PALO ALTO, CALIFORNIA
THURSDAY, APRIL 23, 2015
I. OPENING
Thank you, Dr. Hennessey, for that introduction. And thanks to all my many friends and
colleagues here at Stanford for the opportunity to be with you today. Its a special privilege for
me to give the Sidney Drell Lecture, and I need to tell you why.
I began my career in elementary particle physics, and the classic textbook in relativistic
quantum field theory was Bjorken and Drell, entitled Relativistic Quantum Fields, which
described the first of what are known as gauge field theories, namely, quantum electrodynamics.
Here is my copy of Bjorken and Drell, with my hand markings in the margins.
For my doctorate in theoretical physics, I worked on quantum chromodynamics, a gauge
field theory of the force by which quarks are held together to make sub-nuclear particles. And at
Oxford Universitys department of theoretical physics, the external thesis examiner for my
doctorate was none other than Sidney Drell.
When I visited the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center in subsequent years as a post-doc,
I remember sitting on the porch of the rambling ranch house right here on the Stanford campus
that Sid and Harriet Drell lived in. As post-docs tend to do, I would hang around their house at
dinnertime hoping that Harriet would invite me in to dinner, which she usually did. Sometimes
their daughter Persis would be there, who is now, of course, the dean of engineering here at
Stanford University.
A few years later, Sid was assisting the assembly of a team of scientists for the U.S.
Congress on a topic that preoccupied Cold War Washington at the time: how to base the tenwarhead MX intercontinental ballistic missile so that it could not be destroyed in a first strike by
3,000 equivalent megatons of Soviet throw-weight atop their SS-18 missile. He recommended
that I join this team. Sid Drell was an inspiration to all those who worked in those years to
control the danger of nuclear weapons. This was the beginning of my involvement in national
security affairs.
At about that time, I got to meet the then-Under Secretary of Defense in charge of
technology and procurement for the Department of Defense. He impressed me with how lucid
and logical he was, and how well he applied technical thinking to national security problems.
That Under Secretary was of course William Perry, who is also present here today, and who later
became Deputy Secretary of Defense and finally Secretary of Defense in a progression that I
have followed some 20 years later. Bill has been a major figure in my life, including standing in
for my father at my wedding.
So I thank both Sid Drell and Bill Perry, and many, many other colleagues and friends
here at CISAC, at the Freeman Spogli Institute, at the Hoover Institution, and in the engineering
faculty. I especially thank everyone for their warm welcome for me as a visitor earlier this
academic year. Not quite two months into it, on a fateful Monday morning in November,
though, duty called. And I found myself nominated by President Obama to be Secretary of
Defense.

AS PREPARED EMBARGOED UNTIL DELIVERY


When I became Secretary, I made three commitments. The first is to the troops and to
their families to safeguard them, to ensure theyre treated with dignity and respect, and above
all to ensure that when theyre sent into harms way, its done with the utmost care. The second
commitment is to President Obama to offer him my best strategic advice as he faces a complex
world, to ensure at the same time that he receives candid military advice, and finally that his
decisions are carried out with DoDs expected excellence. And my third commitment is to the
future to stay ahead of a changing world, to stay competitive, to stay aware of new generations
and attract them to our mission of serving the nation, and to stay abreast of technology the
topic of this lecture.
II. MY QUESTION
The Question Raised By Technology and Innovation
Over the years, Ive seen products developed here in Silicon Valley and throughout the
tech community enable boundless transformation, progress, opportunity and prosperityacross
all sectors of our economy and society commerce, health care, education, transportation, and
national defense among many others. And its made many things easier, cheaper, and safer.
But in recent years, its become clear that these same advances and technologies also
present a degree of risk to the businesses, governments, militaries, and individual people who
rely on them every daymaking it easier, cheaper, and safer to threaten them.
The same Internet that enables Wikipedia also allows terrorists to learn how to build a
bomb. And the same technologies we use to target cruise missiles and jam enemy air defenses
can be used against our own forces and theyre now available to the highest bidder. Whether
its the cloud, infrared cameras, or the GPS signals that provide navigation not only for ridesharing apps like Uber and Lyft, but also our aircraft carriers and our smart bombs our reliance
on technology has led to real vulnerabilities that our adversaries are eager to exploit.
This brings me to my question for today: how do we mitigate the risk that comes with
such technology while simultaneously unleashing its promise and potential? How do we protect
not just the freedom the Internet affords and the new opportunities to advance human welfare
that technology enables, but also our country?
The Answer is Partnership
The key is to ensure an alignment between a defense that leverages our strengths like
our robust and independent business and academic communities and that reflects our nations
values and longstanding traditionsand a defense that is effective in a changing future. And
how we achieve that alignment isnt new. We find the alignment in open partnership, by
working together.
Indeed, history shows us that weve succeeded in finding solutions to these kinds of
tough questions when our commercial, civil, and government sectors worked together as
partners. Today, we must and can do the same.
Looking out over the last 75 years, weve had a long history of partnership. Sometimes
the bonds between the academy, industry, and defense were particularly closelike during
World War II, when the Manhattan Project and the MIT Radiation Lab brought together our
brightest minds, and the best of industry cranked out the ships, planes, tanks, and bombs that
won the war. Another was during the Cold War, when a cross-section of military, academic, and
private-sector experts paved the way to a future of precision-guided munitions, battle networks,

AS PREPARED EMBARGOED UNTIL DELIVERY


and stealth. At times, we also eyed each other warily like when Bobby Inman faced off against
Martin Hellman and Whit Diffie over public-key encryption and commercialization; during the
controversy over the Clipper chip in the 90s; and, more recently, after the actions of Edward
Snowden.
Through successes and strains, our ties have broadly enduredbut I believe we must
renew the bonds of trust and rebuild the bridge between the Pentagon and Silicon Valley.
III. WHY WE NEED TO REBUILD BRIDGES
We Live in the Same World
One reason to do so is that we share many of the same underlying objectives and values.
As our government has demonstrated in recent trade negotiations, diplomacy, and decisions on
net neutrality, we are strong proponents of a free and open Internet, and strong supporters of
protecting intellectual property rights.
But we also need to work together because were living in the same world, with the same
basic trends and threats.
The first of these trends is the evolutions were seeing in technology from mobility and
the Internet of things to advanced materials and bioengineering, and much more you all know
about.
Second, theres been an evolution of where technology comes from. When I began my
career, most technology of consequence originated in the United States, and much of that was
sponsored by the Department of Defense. Now much more technology is commercial, and the
technology base is global.
Globalization and commercialization have led to more competition, which is good,
because it leads to more innovative thinking. Thats driven a third trend, which is that the
competition for talent has become more aggressive and Ill have more to say about that later,
because that matters a lot to me as Secretary of Defense.
These trends are contributing to a growing problem we think about every day in DoD: the
fact that threats to our security and our militarys technological superiority are proliferating and
diversifying. This is happening in terms of conventional weaponry and technologies, and in the
cyber domain. You may think some of this should just be left up to DoD, but these challenges
should concern us all.
Let me briefly step back. During the Cold War, Bill Perry drove a so-called offset
strategy that, as I noted, harnessed American technology to radically change warfare through
precision-guided munitions, network-centric forces, and stealth aircraft. It came to life during
the 1991 Gulf War when the world watched, stunned, at what American military might had
achieved. But the world has since had a quarter century to figure out how to counter these
capabilities.
So now were seeing high-end military technologies long possessed by only the most
advanced forces find their way into arsenals of both non-state actors and previously less-capable
militaries. And nations like Russia and China have been pursuing long-term, comprehensive
military modernization programs to close the technology gap between them and the United
Statesparticularly through capabilities designed to thwart our traditional advantages of power
projection and freedom of movement. Theyre developing and fielding new and advanced
aircraft, submarines, and ballistic, cruise, anti-ship, and anti-air missiles that are both longerrange and more accurate. And theyve been working on new counter-space, cyber, electronic

AS PREPARED EMBARGOED UNTIL DELIVERY


warfare, undersea, and air attack capabilities that challenge our own. As Ill explain more in a
moment, DoD is of course innovating to stay ahead of these threatsbut they are still real.
Meanwhile, as tech companies see every day, the cyber threat against U.S. interests is
increasing in severity and sophistication. While the North Korean cyberattack on Sony was the
most destructive on a U.S. entity so far, this threat affects us all. And it comes from state and
non-state actors alike. Just as Russia and China have advanced cyber capabilities and strategies
ranging from stealthy network penetration to intellectual property theft, criminal and terrorist
networks are also increasing their cyber operations. Low-cost and global proliferation of
malware have lowered barriers to entry and made it easier for smaller malicious actors to strike
in cyberspace. Were also seeing a blended state-and-non-state threat in the cyber
domainwhich complicates potential responses for DoD and others.
And We Face the Same Opportunities
This is serious business, and it requires our collaboration. But in addition to dangers,
there are also really great opportunities to be seized through a new level of partnership between
the Pentagon and Silicon Valley opportunities that we can only realize together.
Consider the historic role that DoD and government investments have played in helping
spur ground-up technological innovation both in this Valley, and on this campus. Some
examples are well known. Vint Cerf fathered the Internet while a Stanford assistant professor
and a researcher at DARPA. GPS likewise began as a defense-driven project, as did, in an
earlier era, jet engines and communications satellites. And even today, Stanford continues to be
among the top university recipients of federal R&D funding.
But other examples we hear less about. Work on Googles search algorithm was funded
by a grant from the National Science Foundation. And most technologies used throughout
Silicon Valley including many that Apple brilliantly integrated into the iPhone can be traced
back to government or DoD research and expenditures. The developers of multi-touch worked
together through a fellowship funded by the National Science Foundation and the CIA. iOSs
Siri grew out of not only decades of DARPA-driven research on artificial intelligence and voice
recognition, but also a specific project DARPA funded through SRI to help develop a virtual
assistant for military personnel. And Googles self-driving cars grew out of the DARPA Grand
Challenge.
Now, obviously none of this diminishes the genius, hard work, and sacrifices by
innovators here at Stanford, or in Mountain View, Boston, and elsewhere. Together we helped
ignite the spark, but it was this place that nurtured the flame and created incredible applications
we never couldve imagined. I mention this because it speaks to a partnership that has long
existed between Americas technology sector and its government and defense institutionsa
relationship that can continue in a way that benefits us both.
The Bottom Line
All these facts both challenges and opportunities lead to a clear conclusion.
Renewing our partnership is the only way we can do this right.
Now, it wont always be easy. Weve had tensions before, and likely will again. We
shouldnt diminish that. Those who work in the tech community are no strangers to intense
grappling with ideas. The same is true for those who work with me at the Pentagon. And, in
part because we have different missions and different perspectives, sometimes were going to
disagree.

AS PREPARED EMBARGOED UNTIL DELIVERY


But I think thats okay. Because being able to address tensions through our partnership is
much better than not speaking to each other at all. And there can even be great ideas that come
out of candid conversations.
IV. HOW TO BETTER WORK TOGETHER
This of course leads us to a new question what would this renewed partnership look
like? And whats the best way to re-wire the Pentagon for better partnership?
As Secretary of Defense, I believe that we at the Pentagon must be open, and think, as I
like to say, outside our five-sided box. So I want to spend the rest of these remarks talking about
two areas where I believe our partnership is most vital innovation broadly and cybersecurity
particularly. And I want to be open with you about our plans for each of them.
Let me start with innovation.
Its no secret that DoD is coming out of fighting two wars for over 10 years. While we
were focused on solving the problems we faced during those wars, we lost sight, in some ways,
of the bigger picture about the impact and proliferation of technology around the world.
Now, this isnt to say that DoD has completely ceded R&D funding and innovative
thinking to everyone else we still make up half of federal research and development, about $72
billion dollars in our current budget request. These are the resources that help build the worlds
most advanced fighters and bombers, develop new phased arrays for radar, and produce the
satellites, missiles, and ships that let us strike terrorists in the Middle East and underwrite
stability in the Asia-Pacific. And unlike our R&D investments during the past 14 years of war
like when we needed thousands of Mine Resistant, Ambush Protected vehicles, or MRAPs, to
protect our troops from roadside bombs the investments were making today are preparing us
to face the types of high-end threats I described earlier.
Some of these R&D funds $12 billion dollars worth support the breakthrough
science and technology research done at universities and companies and DoD labs across the
tech community. For example, a number of folks here at Stanford have worked with DARPA,
our advanced technology research agency. In the past three years DARPA has partnered with
nearly 50 different public- and private-sector research entities in Silicon Valley. These
relationships are really valuable to us, and we must nurture and continue them.
Come June, well start to see this in action, when the finals for the DARPA Robotics
Challenge take place in Southern California. This event will showcase how work on smaller
sensors, pattern recognition technology, big data analysis, and autonomous systems with human
decision support, could combine into a rescue robot that navigates a disaster-stricken area with
the same speed and efficiency that you or I wouldbut without putting anyone else at risk.
Another example is how were looking beyond GPS. While DoD will of course continue
to support GPS because of all the commercial applications it sparked, we also need to find
alternatives for military use that are more resilient and less vulnerable. Well do that in part by
advancing microelectromechanical systems technology for small inertial navigation units. Today
this technology is in our smartphones thats how they know theyre being rotated and were
pushing it to be far more precise. Well also push the performance envelope in timing and
navigation technology by harnessing the Nobel Prize-winning physics research that uses lasers to
cool atoms. Stanford has been a tremendous force in this area, with one group of researchers
creating a company we work with, AOSense, to make practical cold-atom systems.

AS PREPARED EMBARGOED UNTIL DELIVERY


But to stay competitive and stay ahead of threats, DoD must do more. We need to better
harness the commercial sectors vibrancy and innovation in DoD research and development,
and other aspects of our work, too.
Innovation: People and Presence
That starts with our people, who are our most important asset both in Silicon Valley
and in the military. Who they are, and where they are, matters tremendously in affecting our
ability to innovate. And thats the rationale behind three initiatives Im announcing today.
First of all, its important that we at the Pentagon find new ways to help bring in new
people with the talent and expertise we need, and who want to contribute to our mission as part
of our force of the future, even if just for a time. Thats one reason why were establishing a
DoD branch of the U.S. Digital Service, the outgrowth of the tech team that helped rescue
healthcare.gov, which will help solve some of our most intractable IT and data problems. In fact,
we have a small sprint team of experts already in the Pentagon working on more seamlessly
transferring our troops electronic health records from DoD to the Department of Veterans
Affairs. And if you want to be a part of the U.S. Digital Service, you can just go to
whitehouse.gov/usds to find out more.
Second, its indisputable that theres great talent in Americas technology sector, but the
reason places like Silicon Valley work so well is that they are true innovation ecosystems.
Everyones in the same general area, which not only helps forge relationships, but also helps
spread new ideas. And that geographic proximity, coupled with strong links between academia
and industry, has made this entire region a nexus for innovation.
So today Im directing that we establish a new DoD point of partnership located here in
Silicon Valley, called Defense Innovation Unit X the X stands for experimental. This first-ofits-kind unit will be staffed by an elite team of active-duty and civilian personnel, plus key
people from the Reserves, where some our best technical talent resides. They will strengthen
existing relationships and build new ones; help scout for breakthrough and emerging
technologies; and function as a local interface node for the rest of the department. Down the
road, they could potentially help startups find new ways to work with DoDeither through
technology insertion in modular platforms or open systems, or through matching them with
businesses we already work with.
Third, were going to improve what we already do. For example, we currently have a
Secretary of Defense Corporate Fellows Program that sends about 15 of our people a year to
commercial companies like Oracle, Cisco, and FedEx. Right now we dont effectively harness
what theyve learned when they come back when we do, its the exception, not the rule.
So were going to expand that fellows program into a two-year gig one year in a
company, and one year in a part of DoD with comparable business practices. That way we have
a better chance to bring the private-sectors best practices back into the department.
Innovation: Investing in the Most Promising Technologies
We must also think more about investing in the most promising emerging technologies.
While DoD has sought to continuously improve our acquisition processes over the past five years
and Im proud to have helped begin that effort at the beginning of the Obama Administration
there are still areas where we can and must do better.
One concern Ive heard is the worry that the government will insist on taking intellectual
property, and then reveal proprietary information to the public and competitors. Let me assure

AS PREPARED EMBARGOED UNTIL DELIVERY


you that we understand and appreciate industrys right to intellectual property. DoD has a long
history of successfully protecting companies proprietary information, and we respect the fact
that IP is often the most important and valuable asset a company holds, and that businesses
cannot be forced to sell their IP to the government. We need the creativity and innovation that
comes from start-ups and small businesses, and we know that part of doing business with you
requires protecting your intellectual property.
This is particularly important because start-ups are the leading edge of commercial
innovation, and right now DoD doesnt have many effective ways to harness promising
technologies they come up with. We need to fix that. I dont want us to lose out on an
innovative idea or capability we need because the Pentagon bureaucracy was too slow to fund
something, or we werent amenable to working with as many startups as we could be.
So, borrowing on the success of the Intelligence Communitys partnership with the
independent, nonprofit startup-backer In-Q-Tel, I can announce that were proposing a pilot
project with In-Q-Tel to provide innovative solutions to our most challenging problems. We will
make a small investment with In-Q-Tel in order to leverage their existing proven relationships,
and apply their approach to DoD. As some in this audience know, In-Q-Tel has been working
with Silicon Valley for over 15 years, and continues to provide the U.S. government with access
to the start-up world. In order to regain our competiveness, we must expand our ways of
investing in identifying and implementing new technologies and capabilities and this new
approach may yield a long-term advantage.
Now, commercial technology is not a panacea, and it never will bewe cant get
everything from outside, and we need many special technologies for our own special missions.
Stealth is one example: we need aircraft to look as tiny as sparrows to radar, but the commercial
world doesnt. Similarly, the Mach 5-plus hypersonic scramjet we tested with the X-51 a couple
years ago is technology we need for a new dimension in warfighting its not something the
commercial sector can provide.
But there are many areas where the potential in leveraging commercially-driven
technology is so huge, we have to embrace it going forward.
We want to partner with businesses on everything from autonomy and robotics to
biomedical engineering and 3D printing; from power, energy, and propulsion to distributed
systems, data science, and the Internet of things. Because if were going to leverage these
technologies to defend our country and help make a better world, the Department of Defense
cannot do everything in all these areas alone. We have to work with those on the outside who
have expertise.
V. CYBERSECURITY
The same is true with cybersecurity were going to have to work together on this one.
While we in DoD are an attractive target, the cyber threat is one we all faceas
institutions, and individuals. Networks nationwide are scanned millions of times a day. And as
weve seen cyber attackers bombard the public websites of banks, make off with customer data
from retailers, try to access critical infrastructure networks, and steal research and intellectual
property from universities and businesses alikeso too have individual citizens been compelled
to guard against identity theft.
Indeed, this is one of the worlds most complex challenges today, which is why the
Department of Defense has three missions in the cyber domain. The first is defending our own

AS PREPARED EMBARGOED UNTIL DELIVERY


networks and weapons, because theyre critical to what we do every dayand theyre no good if
theyve been hacked. Second, we help defend the nation against cyberattacks from abroad
especially if they would cause loss of life, property destruction, or significant foreign policy and
economic consequences. And our third mission is to provide offensive cyber options that, if
directed by the President, can augment our other defense systems.
In some ways, what were doing about this threat is similar to what we do about more
conventional threats. We like to deter malicious action before it happens, and we need to be able
to defend against incoming attacks as well as pinpoint where and whom an attack came from.
Weve gotten better at that because of stronger partnerships across the government, and because
of private-sector security researchers like FireEye, Crowdstrike, and HP when they out a group
of malicious cyber attackers, we take notice.
Still, adversaries should know that our preference for deterrence and our defensive
posture dont diminish our willingness to use cyber options if necessary. And when we do take
action defensive or otherwise, conventionally or in cyberspace we operate under rules of
engagement that comply with domestic and international law.
This approach reflects two goals. First, keeping the Internet open, secure, and
prosperous. And second, assuring that we continue to respect and protect the freedoms of
expression, association, and privacy that reflect who we are as a nation.
Let me repeat that second goal: We must continue to respect, and protect, the freedoms
of expression, association, and privacy that reflect who we are as a nation.
To do this right, we have to work together. And as a military, we have to embrace
openness. Today dozens of militaries are developing cyber forces, and because stability depends
on avoiding miscalculation that could lead to escalation, militaries must talk to each other and
understand each others abilities. And DoD must do its part to shed more light on cyber
capabilities that have previously been developed in the shadows.
So today, I want to share an example we just declassified that will help illustrate the
cyber threat we face and what we do about it. Its never been publically reported, and it shows
how rapidly DoD can detect, attribute, and expel an intruder from our unclassified military
networks.
Earlier this year, the sensors that guard DoDs unclassified networks detected Russian
hackers accessing one of our networks. Theyd discovered an old vulnerability in one of our
legacy networks that hadnt been patched.
While its worrisome they achieved some unauthorized access to our unclassified
network, we quickly identified the compromise, and had a crack team of incident responders
hunting the intruders within 24 hours. After learning valuable information about their tactics, we
analyzed their network activity, associated it with Russia, and then quickly kicked them off the
network, in a way that minimized their chances of returning.
This episode illustrates a step in the right direction, but DoD remains far from perfect.
Like a lot of CEOs across the country, my primary goal in cyber is defending our networks
because were a network-centric organization, but still I worry about what we dont know.
Because this was only one attack.
One way were responding is by being more transparent, to raise awareness in both the
public and private sector. Indeed, shining a bright light on such intrusions can eventually benefit
us all governments and businesses alike by spurring us to better work together.

AS PREPARED EMBARGOED UNTIL DELIVERY


DoD has spent a lot of time figuring out how to help do so while also holding true to our
nations enduring interests, traditions, and values. And weve developed a new cyber strategy
that details what our cyber missions are and when we will take certain actions and why.
Cyber: New Strategy, and How We Can Work Together
This strategy our first since 2011 is to help guide development of DoDs cyber forces,
and its also a reflection of DoD being more open than before. Today were making it available
to the public both online, at defense.gov/cyberstrategy, and at the back of the room. And Id
like to tell you a little bit about it.
Like everything we do, our cyber strategy starts with our people its first strategic goal is
building and training our Cyber Mission Forces. These are the talented individuals who hunt
down intruders, red-team our networks, and perform the forensics that help keep our systems
secure. And their skill and knowledge makes them much more valuable than the technology they
use. We are just beginning to imagine this force.
Another goal is to be better prepared to defend DoD information networks, secure DoD
data, and mitigate risks to military missions. Well do this in part through deterrence by denial,
in line with todays best-in-class cybersecurity practices building a single security architecture
thats both more easily defendable, and able to adapt and evolve to mitigate both current and
future cyber threats. Well also strengthen our network defense command and control to
synchronize across thousands of disparate DoD networks, and conduct exercises in
resiliencyso that if a cyberattack degrades our usual capabilities, we can still mobilize, deploy,
and operate our forces in all other domains air, land, and sea. And were already taking action
just this week I directed that we consolidate DoDs IT services in the Pentagon and throughout
the D.C. region, which will not only help improve our overall cybersecurity, but also save
millions of dollars we can better spend elsewhere.
Of course, as Ive said, we know that working together in the cyber domain is essential.
Thats why one of the primary aspects of our strategy is working with partners in the private
sector, across our government, and around the world.
Indeed, because American businesses own, operate, and see approximately 90 percent of
our national networks, the private sector must be a key partner. The U.S. government has a
unique suite of cyber tools and capabilities, but we need the private sector to take its own steps to
protect data and networks. We want to help where we can, but if companies themselves dont
invest, our countrys collective cybersecurity posture is weakened.
For example, as we continue to build our vital cyber force, were looking at new ways to
attract talent through new private-sector exchange programs that let people contribute to
something a lot bigger than themselves. And as we ensure our people have the right tools to
execute their missions, well be working on leap-ahead technologies through research and
development with both established and emerging private-sector partnersso that together, we
can create cyber capabilities that not only help DoD, but can also spin off into the wider U.S.
marketplace.
Were also going to work more closely with our law enforcement partners at the FBI,
Homeland Security, and elsewhere. There are clear lines of authority about who can work
where, so as adversaries jump from foreign to U.S. networks, we need our coordination with law
enforcement to work seamlessly. Weve already started practicing less than two weeks ago,
DoD cyber experts did a rehearsal with their FBI counterparts on how exactly this would work
and were going to be exercising together much more going forward.

AS PREPARED EMBARGOED UNTIL DELIVERY

VI. CONCLUSION
Now, as Secretary of Defense, my job is to make sure our military can defend the country
and its interests and were at our best when we have the best partners. Knowing how weve
worked together in the past, and how critical your work is to our country, strengthening this
partnership is very important to me.
We have a unique opportunity to rebuild bridges and renew trust. Thats why Im going
to Facebook this afternoon, and meeting with a roundtable of tech leaders tomorrow morning.
Because Im confident that in the years to come, a new level of partnership will lead to great
things.
Rule number one back in Washington is never answer a hypothetical question. But in the
academic and tech communities, asking what if is the first step toward the next big idea. So I
want to ask, what if we work together more? What can we achieve together?
The answer is real results.
If we stay the course with our experimental innovation unit, a future Reservist working
there on cybersecurity could help stop an intrusion of DoD networks, then apply skills she
learned there in her civilian job when a cyberattack uses similar techniques against the tech
company she works for.
If we stay the course with collaborative investments were making in areas like
biomedical engineering, a future infectious disease outbreak could be cut short by leapfrog
technology advances that collapse the time it takes for diagnosis, treatment, and developing and
distributing vaccines.
Thats whats possible through our partnership. And whether its helping safeguard the
Internet or helping save lives, working together more for the greater good is bigger than who we
are as individuals.
Its an imperative we facean opportunity we shareand its the only way to make a
better world together.
Thank you.
###

10

You might also like