Office of Force Transformation
Encyclopedia
The United States Department of Defense
Office of Force Transformation (OFT) was established October 29, 2001 in the Office of the Secretary of Defense
. It now appears to have been disestablished.
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld
called for the creation of this new office to support his transformation vision along with President George W. Bush
’s broad mandate to transform U.S. military capabilities. The transformation process intends to challenge the status quo with new concepts for American defense to ensure an overwhelming and continuing competitive advantage. The Director, Force Transformation serves as advocate, focal point, and catalyst for transformation among the Department, reporting directly to the Secretary and Deputy Secretary of Defense.
(ret.) Arthur K. Cebrowski
(often called the "Godfather" of Network Centric Warfare)http://www.nwc.navy.mil/press/Review/2003/Spring/art5-sp3.htm was appointed by the Secretary of Defense as the 1st Director, Force Transformation, October 29, 2001 to February 2, 2005, a position which reported directly to the Secretary and Deputy Secretary of Defense. Terry J. Pudas became the Acting Director until October 1, 2006, when he became the Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Forces Transformation and Resources.
, which according to OFT is a theory of war in the information age
and the organizing principle for national military planning and joint concepts, capabilities, and systems.
According to Cebrowski, "[Defense] Transformation is foremost a continuing process. It does not have an end point. Transformation is meant to create or anticipate the future. Transformation is meant to deal with the co-evolution of concepts, processes, organizations and technology. Change in any one of these areas necessitates change in all. Transformation is meant to create new competitive areas and new competencies. Transformation is meant to identify, leverage and even create new underlying principles for the way things are done. Transformation is meant to identify and leverage new sources of power. The overall objective of these changes is simply—sustained American competitive advantage in warfare."
The Defense Department's April 2003 "Transformation Planning Guidance" document defines transformation as "a process that shapes the changing nature of military competition and cooperation through new combinations of concepts, capabilities, people, and organizations that exploit out nation's advantages and protect against our asymmetric
vulnerabilities to sustain our strategic position, which helps underpin peace and stability in the world."
OFT engaged in several project aimed at transforming the Defense Department through experimentation within exercises. Some of its major projects included Operationally Responsive Space and Stiletto, and it produced strategies that helped to form DeVenCI. OFT was also engaged in funding projects and developing concepts for reconstruction and stabilization as early as 2003.
United States Department of Defense
The United States Department of Defense is the U.S...
Office of Force Transformation (OFT) was established October 29, 2001 in the Office of the Secretary of Defense
Office of the Secretary of Defense
The Office of the Secretary of Defense is a headquarters-level staff of the Department of Defense of the United States of America. It is the principal civilian staff element of the Secretary of Defense, and it assists the Secretary in carrying out authority, direction and control of the Department...
. It now appears to have been disestablished.
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld
Donald Rumsfeld
Donald Henry Rumsfeld is an American politician and businessman. Rumsfeld served as the 13th Secretary of Defense from 1975 to 1977 under President Gerald Ford, and as the 21st Secretary of Defense from 2001 to 2006 under President George W. Bush. He is both the youngest and the oldest person to...
called for the creation of this new office to support his transformation vision along with President George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
’s broad mandate to transform U.S. military capabilities. The transformation process intends to challenge the status quo with new concepts for American defense to ensure an overwhelming and continuing competitive advantage. The Director, Force Transformation serves as advocate, focal point, and catalyst for transformation among the Department, reporting directly to the Secretary and Deputy Secretary of Defense.
Disestablishment/Realignment
On October 1, 2006, the Office of Force Transformation was disestablished, and its functions spread between the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, and the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics.Leadership
Vice AdmiralVice Admiral
Vice admiral is a senior naval rank of a three-star flag officer, which is equivalent to lieutenant general in the other uniformed services. A vice admiral is typically senior to a rear admiral and junior to an admiral...
(ret.) Arthur K. Cebrowski
Arthur K. Cebrowski
Vice Admiral Arthur K. Cebrowski was a retired United States Navy admiral who served from October 2001 to January 2005 as Director of the Office of Force Transformation in the U.S. Department of Defense...
(often called the "Godfather" of Network Centric Warfare)http://www.nwc.navy.mil/press/Review/2003/Spring/art5-sp3.htm was appointed by the Secretary of Defense as the 1st Director, Force Transformation, October 29, 2001 to February 2, 2005, a position which reported directly to the Secretary and Deputy Secretary of Defense. Terry J. Pudas became the Acting Director until October 1, 2006, when he became the Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Forces Transformation and Resources.
Defense Transformation
OFT transformation plan includes changing the force and its culture from the bottom up through large amounts of experimentation, increased sharing of new knowledge and experiences, and by broadening military capabilities while mitigating risk. One of the pillar theories driving OFT is Network Centric Warfare (NCW), also known as Network Centric OperationsNetwork-centric warfare
Network-centric warfare, also called network-centric operations, is a military doctrine or theory of war pioneered by the United States Department of Defense in the 1990's....
, which according to OFT is a theory of war in the information age
Information Age
The Information Age, also commonly known as the Computer Age or Digital Age, is an idea that the current age will be characterized by the ability of individuals to transfer information freely, and to have instant access to knowledge that would have been difficult or impossible to find previously...
and the organizing principle for national military planning and joint concepts, capabilities, and systems.
According to Cebrowski, "[Defense] Transformation is foremost a continuing process. It does not have an end point. Transformation is meant to create or anticipate the future. Transformation is meant to deal with the co-evolution of concepts, processes, organizations and technology. Change in any one of these areas necessitates change in all. Transformation is meant to create new competitive areas and new competencies. Transformation is meant to identify, leverage and even create new underlying principles for the way things are done. Transformation is meant to identify and leverage new sources of power. The overall objective of these changes is simply—sustained American competitive advantage in warfare."
The Defense Department's April 2003 "Transformation Planning Guidance" document defines transformation as "a process that shapes the changing nature of military competition and cooperation through new combinations of concepts, capabilities, people, and organizations that exploit out nation's advantages and protect against our asymmetric
Asymmetric warfare
Asymmetric warfare is war between belligerents whose relative military power differs significantly, or whose strategy or tactics differ significantly....
vulnerabilities to sustain our strategic position, which helps underpin peace and stability in the world."
OFT engaged in several project aimed at transforming the Defense Department through experimentation within exercises. Some of its major projects included Operationally Responsive Space and Stiletto, and it produced strategies that helped to form DeVenCI. OFT was also engaged in funding projects and developing concepts for reconstruction and stabilization as early as 2003.
What sets OFT apart
According to OFT, they:- Are the only office solely dedicated to transformation;
- Strive to link creativity to implementation;
- Work at the intersection of unarticulated needs and non-consensual change;
- Identify and manage disruptive innovation;
- Work outside the normal course of business activities;
- Entrepreneurial mindset;
- Use concept-technology pairing to explore; and
- Experiment with new ways of operating.
External links
- The Command and Control Research Program (CCRP)
- Featured article (Wolf PAC)
- Transformation Planning Guidance (April 2003, PDFPortable Document FormatPortable Document Format is an open standard for document exchange. This file format, created by Adobe Systems in 1993, is used for representing documents in a manner independent of application software, hardware, and operating systems....
file)