Monthly Archives: May 2009

Complex Transformation and the Future of the U.S. Nuclear Security Enterprise: The Proposed Restructuring of the Nation’s Nuclear Weapons Complex…past, present and future?

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Jack Jekowski. Innovative Technology Partnerships, LLC, PowerPoint presentation to the Institute of Nuclear Materials Management SW Chapter Annual Technical Meeting, 21 May 2009. Posted on the Commonwealth Institute Website (printable .pdf file).

Preparing the Quadrennial Defense Review 2010 – the hierarchy of responsibility

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The QDR’s governance structure is topped by the Defense Senior Leaders Conference (DSLC) made up of the nine combatant commanders, the service chiefs and the civilian Pentagon leaders.

Below the DSLC is the Deputy’s Advisory Working Group (DAWG), which is made up of the service secretaries, the vice chiefs and various under secretaries of defense; combatant commanders and others are also invited. Reporting to the DAWG are the QDR stakeholders, according to the documents. They include service, Office of the Secretary of Defense and combatant commander three-star representatives.

Michele Flournoy, Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, has overall responsibility for bringing the Secretary of Defense a document he will sign and send on to Congress and the President.

Jennifer Zakriski, Director of Force Development within the office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy serves as the “QDR chief of staff.”

The process of creating the QDR is coordinated by an “analysis and integration cell” headed by David Ochmanek, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Force Development. He works within Flournoy’s policy office.

Working with Ochmanek on “integration” are Eric Coulter, Deputy Director of Strategic Assessments and Irregular Warfare of the Program Analysis and Evaluation directorate. Lisa Disbrow, Deputy Director for Force Management at the Joint Staff, and Rear Adm. Philip Davidson, Deputy Director for Strategy and Policy from the Joint Staff’s J-5 directorate, serve as liaison with the Joint Staff.

There are five “issue teams”:

· Irregular Warfare. Garry Reid, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations and Combating Terrorism, heads this team. He is joined by Timothy Bright, Director of PA&E’s irregular warfare division; and Maj. Gen. William Troy, Vice Director for Force Structure, Resources and Assessments at the Joint Staff’s J-8 directorate.

· High-end Threats. Amanda Dory, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Strategy, heads this team. She is joined by Matthew Schaffer, Deputy Director of Conventional Forces at PA&E, and Brig. Gen. Lori Robinson, Deputy Director for Force Application at the Joint Staff’s J-8 directorate.

· Civil Support. Christine Wormuth, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Homeland Defense and Americas’ Security Affairs, heads this team. She is joined by Dennis Evans, Director of the Strategic Defensive and Space Programs division at PA&E, and Scott Norwood, Deputy Director for Global Security Affairs at the Joint Staff’s J-5 directorate.

· Global Posture. Janine Davidson, Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Plans, heads this team. She is joined by Krysty Kolesar, Director of PA&E’s Force and Infrastructure Cost Analysis Division. Lisa Disbrow and Rear Adm. Davidson will represent the Joint Staff.

· Cost Drivers. Kevin Scheid, Deputy Comptroller, heads this team. He is joined by Jerry Pannullo, Director of the Economic and Manpower Analysis Division at PA&E, and Brig. Gen. Glenn Walters, Deputy Director for Resources and Acquisition at the Joint Staff’s J-8 directorate.

The services are to provide one subject matter expert for each issue area team and the analysis and integration team.

Timing. The policy review within the Pentagon was scheduled to be completed by the end of June. In the fall there will be a “budget and execution review”.

[above information from Kate Brannen reporting for Inside the Pentagon, 14 April 2009]

Defense Secretary Gates has also set up a “red team” to ensure “we’re not the prisoners of a bureaucratic group-think of people who have done this work forever.” This team will be headed by Andrew Marshall, Director of the Pentagon’s Office of Net Assessment, and Marine Corps Gen. James Mattis, chief of the U.S. Joint Forces Command.

[John T. Bennett, “Marshall, Mattis To Lead QDR ‘Red Team’”, Defense News, 15 May 2009.]