From the Editor-in-Chief @
Email Nelson McCouch III
ArmyALT@gmail.com
Te very word “innovation” makes most people think of world-altering inventions or concepts such as the wheel, Newton’s law of gravity, flying machines and the Internet with all it offers. Take today’s ubiquitous cellphone, for instance. Making a cellphone from scratch would be overwhelm- ing for anyone, and, at the very least, daunting for any company. Inventing the microprocessor, LED display and antenna for the cellphone is hard enough, but you also have to invent the cell tower, the switching system, speakers, keypad and on and on to make it work!
BACK TALK
Let us know how well we are meeting your needs. Send an email to
ArmyALT@gmail.com.
For more news, information and articles, please go to the USAASC website at
http://asc.army.mil. Click on the Publications tab at the top of the page.
Indeed, no one person or company produced today’s cellphone. Te multitude of ideas that were heaped, one upon another upon another, over time to create the final products we use today are lost on most people. In reality, while some inno- vations may spring into being in an instant or by accident (fire comes to mind), most represent an iterative process with one idea spawning another, and another, and so on. According to the August issue of Scientific American, the single reason humans came to dominate the planet is our abil- ity to cooperate. By cooperating and exchanging ideas, we are able to innovate and create almost anything we have been able to imagine.
So, who are the innovators? Quite literally, every- one in the Army Acquisition Workforce and those in support can lay claim to that distinction. Any- one who tries to make something new, better or faster qualifies as an innovator.
Tis issue focuses on the people in the acquisi- tion community who have used their knowledge, experience and creativity to make processes, products or people more effective. For example, the software engineers at the Program Executive Office for Missiles and Space who are applying the Agile software development framework to the acquisition of software. Or the smart people at the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center in Vicksburg, MS, who have adapted a red-teaming initiative to incorporate Soldier feed- back and troubleshooting into every step of the development process. And, in Critical Tinking,
we have an in-depth, down-to-earth interview on the nature of innovation with Pierre Chao of Renaissance Strategic Advisors and the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Innovation is a continuous phenomenon, of course. In a future issue of Army AL&T, you undoubtedly will
read about how scientists at
the U.S. Army Research Laboratory are work- ing with graphene (just one atom thick), and its unique strength, flexibility and electrical conduc- tivity properties to make everything from flexible displays to lasers—all of which can lead to other product improvements. Again, WHAM! You have innovation on top of innovation.
Not every innovation has to be a product. Tis issue features a special section on the innovative ways in which the United States helps other coun- tries fill security gaps through the foreign military sales (FMS) program, which in turn helps exer- cise and preserve U.S. industrial capabilities. Te lead story in that section shows how one FMS case helped the Colombian government vastly improve security for that nation and its people.
Finally, sad news but an opportunity to celebrate a remarkable life: Te Hon. Claude M. Bolton Jr., the assistant secretary of the Army for acquisi- tion, logistics and technology from January 2002 to January 2008, passed away suddenly on July 28. Te Army and Air Force communities, as well as Defense Acquisition University, lost a valued leader, innovator and mentor whose innumerable contributions helped shape today’s superior acqui- sition workforce. See our tribute to him on Page 102.
As a reminder, the news and information don’t start or stop with the printing of this magazine. Please visit our online Army AL&T magazine at
http://usaasc.armyalt.com and see online extras that we just couldn’t fit in the print ver- sion. As always, if you have questions, comments or a great idea for a future article or issue, write me at
ArmyALT@gmail.com. I look forward to hearing from you!
Nelson McCouch III Editor-in-Chief
ASC.ARMY.MIL 5
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135 |
Page 136 |
Page 137 |
Page 138 |
Page 139 |
Page 140 |
Page 141 |
Page 142 |
Page 143 |
Page 144 |
Page 145 |
Page 146 |
Page 147 |
Page 148 |
Page 149 |
Page 150 |
Page 151 |
Page 152 |
Page 153 |
Page 154 |
Page 155 |
Page 156 |
Page 157 |
Page 158 |
Page 159 |
Page 160 |
Page 161 |
Page 162 |
Page 163 |
Page 164 |
Page 165 |
Page 166 |
Page 167 |
Page 168 |
Page 169 |
Page 170 |
Page 171 |
Page 172 |
Page 173 |
Page 174 |
Page 175 |
Page 176 |
Page 177 |
Page 178 |
Page 179 |
Page 180 |
Page 181 |
Page 182 |
Page 183 |
Page 184 |
Page 185 |
Page 186 |
Page 187 |
Page 188 |
Page 189 |
Page 190 |
Page 191 |
Page 192 |
Page 193 |
Page 194 |
Page 195 |
Page 196 |
Page 197 |
Page 198 |
Page 199 |
Page 200 |
Page 201 |
Page 202 |
Page 203 |
Page 204 |
Page 205 |
Page 206 |
Page 207 |
Page 208
