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USFJCOM

U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld recently delegated technology transfer authority to U.S. Joint Forces Command (USJFCOM), allowing it to share technology with academia and industry for the purpose of research and development. While USJFCOM is not a national laboratory, the new authority gives the command many of the same authorities national laboratories use to structure partnerships with industry to exchange personnel and technical data, make technology assessments and collaborate on research and development efforts.

USJFCOM can use this technology transfer authority to speed up the research and development process.

USJFCOM develops future concepts for joint warfighting, serving as a “transformation laboratory” to enhance the unified commanders’ apability to implement military transformation strategies. They develop concepts, test these concepts through experimentation, educate joint leaders, train joint U.S. forces (and even some allies), and make recommendations on how the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines can better integrate their warfighting capabilities. The overarching transformation concept of effects-based operations (EBO) is the benchmark for all testing, concept development and training.

The command can now enter into core technology transfer agreements with private industrial and academic partners. It also allows partners to share costs by entering into Cooperative Research and Development Agreements (CRADA) with private companies and other entities. As a result, USJFCOM may not always pay for the services or products it needs to develop technologies. In fact, some projects may produce income for USJFCOM.

USJFCOM’s focal point for technology transfer is the command’s newly formed Office of Research and Technology Applications (ORTA). Dr. Russell Richards of USJFCOM’s Joint Experimentation directorate heads the new office. It will oversee partnership agreements between USJFCOM and industry. It will also identify new technologies that will help fulfill warfighter requirements. By law, any government organization using technology transfer authority must have an ORTA for offering advice and assisting the command with CRADAs, intellectual property agreements, patent licensing agreements, personnel exchange and research grants.

During USFJCOM’s 2005 Industry Symposium in Portsmouth, VA, Dr. Richards he outlined three principle ways for technology transfer to take place at USJFCOM:

1. Spin-offs, in which technology developed in federal labs is transferred to industry partners for commercial development.
2. Spin-on, where industry partners have good capabilities and technologies USFJCOM needs to embrace to enhance the warfighter’s effectiveness.
3. Spin-over, where technology and capabilities are shared among USJFCOM’s various subordinate organizations like the Joint Systems Integration Command, the Joint Futures Laboratory and the Joint Advance Training Technology Laboratory in Suffolk, VA.

“These new technology transfer authorities are but a means to an end – not the end itself,” USJFCOM commander Navy Adm. Edmund Giambastiani said. “The whole point of these authorities is to speed the process of turning the best ideas from industry and academia and other national and international research laboratories into integrated capabilities.”

Admiral Giambastani has been nominated as Vice Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, while his USFJCOM Deputy Commander Lt. Gen Robert W. Wagner has been nominated to lead the Special Operations Command (SOCOM).

Additional Readings & Sources

• USFJCOM News Release (May 10, 2005) – New Technology Transfer Authority helps put transformation on the fast track

• Admiral E.P. Giambastani – From the admiral: Technology Transfer Authority

• Admiral E.P. Giambastiani – Remarks for USJFCOM/NDIA Industry Symposium 2005