Around the acquisition community: a brief compilation of major acquisition news items, career development announcements, Defense Acquisition University initiatives, and leadership changes.

New Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology & Logistics

ACQweb.com, April 27, 2009

Dr. Ashton B. Carter was sworn in as under secretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics on April 27, 2009.

Before assuming this position, Dr. Carter was chair of the International and Global Affairs faculty at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government and co-director (with former Secretary of Defense William J. Perry) of the Preventive Defense Project, a research collaboration of Harvard and Stanford Universities. Dr. Carter was also senior partner at Global Technology Partners and a member of the Board of Trustees of the MITRE Corporation and the Advisory Boards of MIT's Lincoln Laboratories and the Draper Laboratory. He was a consultant to Goldman, Sachs on international affairs and technology matters. He was a member of the Aspen Strategy Group, the Council on Foreign Relations, the American Physical Society, the International Institute of Strategic Studies, the Advisory Board of the Yale Journal of International Law, and the National Committee on U.S.- China Relations. Dr. Carter was also co-chair of the Review Panel on Future Directions for the Defense Threat Reduction Agency Missions and Capabilities to Combat Weapons of Mass Destruction, chair of the National Security Strategy and Policies Expert Working Group of the Congressional Commission on the Strategic Posture of the United States, a member of the National Missile Defense White Team, and a member of the National Academy of Sciences Committee on International Security and Arms Control.

Dr. Carter served as a member of the Defense Science Board from 1991-1993 and 1997-2001, the Defense Policy Board from 1997-2001, and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's International Security Advisory Board from 2006-2008. In 1997, Dr. Carter co-chaired the Catastrophic Terrorism Study Group with former CIA Director John M. Deutch, which urged greater attention to terrorism. From 1998 to 2000, he was deputy to William J. Perry in the North Korea Policy Review and traveled with him to Pyongyang. In 2001-2002, he served on the National Academy of Sciences Committee on Science and Technology for Countering Terrorism and advised on the creation of the Department of Homeland Security.

Dr. Carter was assistant secretary of defense for international security policy during President William Clinton's first term. His Pentagon responsibilities encompassed: countering weapons of mass destruction worldwide, oversight of the U.S. nuclear arsenal and missile defense programs, the 1994 Nuclear Posture Review, the Counter proliferation Initiative, control over sensitive U.S. exports, chairmanship of NATO's High Level Group, the Nunn-Lugar program resulting in the removal of all nuclear weapons from the territories of Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and Belarus, establishment of defense and intelligence relationships with the countries of the former Soviet Union when the Cold War ended, and participation in the negotiations that led to the deployment of Russian troops as part of the Bosnia Peace Plan Implementation Force.

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Dr. Carter was twice awarded the Department of Defense Distinguished Service Medal. For his contributions to intelligence, he was awarded the Defense Intelligence Medal. In 1987, Dr. Carter was named one of Ten Outstanding Young Americans by the United States Jaycees. He received the American Physical Society's Forum Award for his contributions to physics and public policy. Dr. Carter was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Academy of Diplomacy.

From 1990-1993, Dr. Carter was Director of the Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government, and Chairman of the Editorial Board of International Security. Previously, he held positions at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the Congressional Office of Technology Assessment, and Rockefeller University.

Dr. Carter received bachelor's degrees in physics and in medieval history from Yale University, summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa. He received his doctorate in theoretical physics from Oxford University, where he was a Rhodes Scholar.

In addition to authoring numerous articles, scientific publications, government studies, and Congressional testimonies, Dr. Carter co-edited and co-authored eleven books, including Keeping the Edge: Managing Defense for the Future (2001), Preventive Defense: A New Security Strategy for America (1997), Cooperative Denuclearization: From Pledges to Deeds (1993), A New Concept of Cooperative Security (1992), Beyond Spinoff: Military and Commercial Technologies in a Changing World (1992), Soviet Nuclear Fission: Control of the Nuclear Arsenal in a Disintegrating Soviet Union (1991), Managing Nuclear Operations (1987), Ballistic Missile Defense (1984), and Directed Energy Missile Defense in Space (1984).

Contract Specialist Opportunities in Iraq/Afghanistan

Are you a civilian contract specialist looking for a job that is challenging, rewarding, and career enhancing? Or perhaps you are retiring or departing from one of the military services and you're looking for a contract specialist position that will support your former members in arms. If so, the joint Contracting Command-Iraq/Afghanistan is for you. The JCC-IA needs experienced contract specialists to work in the highly charged, stimulating environment of Iraq.

The Project and Contracting Office was established in 2004 to support the humanitarian relief efforts in Iraq. In 2006, the various contracting offices operating independently in Iraq were brought under the Multi-National Forces-Iraq command, and JCC-IA was established by Central Command to support Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom. The mission was to provide responsive operational contracting support to the chiefs of mission, Multi-National Forces-Iraq, and Combined Forces Command-Afghanistan to efficiently acquire vital supplies, services, and construction in support of coalition forces and the relief and reconstruction of Iraq and Afghanistan; and to provide capacity building to establish effective contracting and procurement processes within the Iraqi and Afghani ministries to build and sustain self-sufficient security forces. Since 2004, more than 70 civilian contract specialists with a variety of backgrounds have served in the JCC-IA, either on detail or temporary assignment.

Maile Parker, a senior contracting officer now serving in theater, said of her tour: "My experience here has been life-altering. The ability to serve and support our military men and women in the combat zone makes me feel like a contributor in our country's war on terror. The commodities and services I procure are used in direct support of our soldiers, in aircraft, on the roads; and [it] helps make a difference in the daily lives of our heroes here. I am glad to be a part of it. The most rewarding experience I have had as a contracting officer was when an Army soldier thanked me for getting an essential piece of military equipment to him in two days versus the normal two weeks. Being here makes me focus on the big picture of life, duty, and service to country and minimize my small travails. I am proud to be serving my country."

Ken Nix, now the chief of staff at the Mission and Installation Contracting Command, Fort Sam Houston, Texas, tells people "Never say, 'If only I had.'" He described his two tours in Iraq: "I look back now, after two tours in Iraq, and realize that these assignments were the most rewarding of my career. Like every other civil servant that made the decision to go, I was worried about being one of the unlucky ones that may never return home. I could have easily thought of a dozen reasons that would prevent me from going and am thankful every day that I did not invoke any of those reasons to stay safely at home. I was assigned to the Joint Contracting Command--Iraq and Afghanistan in the international zone and got to be a part of a joint military and civil servant team of the most dedicated personnel that the Department of Defense has to offer. We were not the smartest people in the room, we were not the very best in DoD acquisitions, we were not the bravest people on the battlefield--all those people used some of the dozen reasons to stay safely at home. But we were there, and we gave it everything we had to help make the mission a success.

"To all those civil servants that are still on the fence about volunteering to go to Iraq or Afghanistan, I know firsthand that the decision is not easy. What I can tell you is that the feeling that you get by genuinely serving your country and your profession in a war zone is something that you will never look back on and regret. There is not a week that goes by that someone does not come up to me and tell me how they would have gone to support the effort if not for one of the dozen reasons. The feeling of accomplishment that I got from my service in Iraq is incredible, and an action that I will never look back on and have to say 'if only I had."'

There are additional benefits that go along with the job, other than a feeling of satisfaction in doing work directly supporting the warfighter. Employees are eligible to receive Danger Pay (35 percent of base salary) and Foreign Post Differential (35 percent of base salary). The workweek is Sunday through Thursday, so Sunday premium pay is a part of the compensation package, as well as overtime and night differential.

If you are interested in pursuing a position in JCC-IA and would like further information, please contact Carolyn Creamer, human resources specialist for the office of the assistant deputy assistant secretary of the Army for Procurement--Iraq/Afghanistan, at [e-mail].

For more acquisition news, please go to the Defense AT&L magazine Web site at <www.dau.mil/pubs/damtoc.asp> and click the links under the "Acquisition News Topics" heading.