The Defense Sector- Dinner w/Brad Berkson, former Acting Deputy Undersecretary of Defense
The HBS Club has invited us.
The Defense Sector – Quo Vadis?
Reservations: Click here to buy tickets!!!
Alternatively, please register through the Club Administrator, Beverley
Time: 6:30-9 PM
Where: Alfio’s LaTratteria
Cost: $25 per person for Members and their Guests; $35 for Non-Members
Dinner with cash bar
Transportation: Valet Parking is available at Restaurant;
The Program: We are fortunate to have a presentation by a particularly knowledgeable Defense authority at a time when the Pentagon is at a cross-roads.
Our Speaker’s background in defense matters is both wide-ranging and practical – it encompasses policy and planning, program evaluation, budgetary, procurement, regulatory and logistics matters. His recent experience providing direct support to Secretaries Rumsfeld and Gates put him at the heart of efforts to meet the the most significant challenges facing the Defense Department and the country.
Mr. Berskon’s presentation will concentrate on the questions of logistics, readiness, and effectiveness in the overall context of the missions and budget of the Defense Department – in a changing environment that involves both remediation and adaptation.
We have been using our materiel and munitions to the point that re-equipment is a pressing and expensive need, and we need to equip ourselves for future requirements at the same time. We are making enormous efforts to care for those who have been harmed in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and we are re-orienting our personnel to prepare them for new missions. Technology provides new capabilities, but also creates new threats.
All this is taking place in an environment of geopolitical and economic turmoil, and involves a sector which occupies a predominant place in our economy and society. One of the most interesting aspects of change implementation in Defense is the challenge of accomplishing it in a vast system – the planners in the Pentagon have been making use of innovative management approaches to try to make an elephant move like a fox.
The Speaker: Bradley Berkson (HBS MBA 1991) served in the Defense Department for seven years after having been a successful entrepreneur and leading principal at McKinsey and Company. He was awarded the Defense Department Distinguished Public Service Medal in 2009
His activity at the Pentagon began with oversight of the $129 billion Global Logistics and Weapons Support Program, progressed to responsibility for analysis and evaluation of logistics, weapons systems, and force structures in the Office of the Secretary, service as Director of Secretary Gates’ ISR (Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance) Task Force and service as Acting Deputy Undersecretary of Defense - Logistics and Material Readiness. (additional biographical information below *).
Mr. Berkson has been involved with key issues and activities. Our armed forces have been carrying out some incredible feats of logistics – moving massive amounts of manpower, materiel and supplies through the most hostile and inhospitable terrains in the world. It has become necessary to make enormous adjustments in order to assure readiness – the training programs alone have been extraordinary – to prepare two million men and women under arms to carry out new missions to an extent of capability that they can also train the soldiers in other countries to perform them.
But, change has occurred. Covert operations have become a large scale undertaking; there are now more drone pilots than pilots who travel with their planes; and improved sensors, communications, artificial intelligence and other computerized capabilities have transformed combat. The requirements of hot wars have accelerated these developments and provided early stage experience with the technologies of the future.
Background: The Defense Sector is facing mission/threat and budgetary challenges
Threats: Significant adaptations are needed to adapt to swift changes in the nature of the threats facing the country – new opportunities and challenges created by swift technological development, as well social, political and economic turmoil here and abroad.
Ten years ago, there was much less concern about matters like terrorism, rapid deployment, robotization, distance reconnaissance, command, control and strike capability, cyber warfare, covert action, nuclear, chemical and biological proliferation, pacification and threat prevention through social and economic development. Many needs were already felt: to improve product development and procurement, logistics, financial controls, training in new approaches and technologies – these needs have become more acute.
Budgetary challenges: Defense is much more significant to the United States than generally realized – the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have been far away, and few people have been focusing on the defense industry during the course of our recent financial meltdown, recession and sporadic recovery.
But, the Defense Sector of the US economy looms large, no matter how you look at it – 10 years of continued increases have led to:
At a time when the country needs economic stimulus to recover forcefully from a nagging recession and high unemployment, and needs budgetary reform to prevent national bankruptcy, the impact of Defense and its evolution will be very significant.
Old Solutions to Meet New Challenges?: It seems certain that Defense expenses will drop following the draw-downs in Iraq and Afghanistan. Before leaving office, Robert Gates called for a reduction of $92 Billion, and that was considered a preliminary gesture. The Joint Strike Force Fighter is widely considered to be the last manned fighter aircraft program. The environment is shifting rapidly, flexibility is called for, it will be necessary to do more with less.
Yet there continue to be battles in Congress to impose unwanted armaments on the Defense Department, and the procurement system is still so cumbersome that many weapons systems are considered to be outdated by the time that they are delivered.
Before the Irak war caused massive reorientation to the Defense Department, Brad Berkson came into the Pentagon as part of the effort to create major reforms in the way that things are done – at a time when radical new technological possibilities were becoming apparent, and there was a budget surplus. Secretary Panetta now takes up the challenge in new circumstances. Is this mission impossible? What is his best course of action?
*About Mr. Berkson: Berkson joined Office of the Secretary of Defense in January 2003 serving as Director, Studies and Analysis for the Senior Executive Council serving as the senior DoD official overseeing its $129 B global logistics and weapons systems support enterprise. He served as Director, Program Analysis & Evaluation, Office of the Secretary of Defense. In this role, he provided the Secretaries Rumsfeld and Gates independent analytic advice regarding alternative weapon systems and force structures, the development and evaluation of defense program alternatives, and the cost effectiveness of defense systems. He was tapped by Secretary Gates to lead his ISR (Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance) Task Force in 2008. He was awarded the Department of Defense Distinguished Public Service Medal in 2009 for his service to the nation.
Prior to his appointment, Mr. Berkson was the President of NEW Customer Service Companies, Inc. He came to that position from IP-Mill, Inc., that he, as founder and CEO, sold to NEW in 2000. IP-Mill, Inc. was engaged in efforts to commercialize business process technology utilizing unique identifiers across the supply chain. Prior to his entrepreneurial efforts at IP-Mill, Inc, Mr. Berkson was a Partner at McKinsey & Company, Inc., a leading international management consultancy. At McKinsey, Mr. Berkson co-led the firm’s Corporate Strategy and Finance, Innovation and Technology Management, and Energy Practices. His client efforts included leading global electronics, energy, and technology companies in work including product development, organizational and financial restructuring, merger, acquisitions, and alliances, and operational performance improvement. Mr. Berkson also co-led McKinsey’s work with the United States Marine Corps and Southwest Airlines on best practices in front-line performance. Prior to graduate school, Mr. Berkson worked as a Senior Project Engineer in Exxon’s Prudhoe Bay operations on the North Slope of Alaska.
He received a Bachelor’s of Science Degree in Engineering, Cum Laude from the University of Tulsa, in 1985 where he was selected as one of the University’s top ten graduates. He also graduated with a Masters of Business Administration with scholastic honors from Harvard University in 1991.
**7 Largest Defense Budgets 2010 (Source SIPRI Yearbook):
***US Defense-Related Expenses (Source Wikipedia Commons):
A dinner with the HBS Club's very own Brad Berkson, former Acting Deputy Undersecretary of Defense.
When: Tuesday, November 29
4515 Willard Avenue
Chevy Chase MD 20815
Metro: Red Line/Friendship Heights Station
Mr. Berkson has authored many articles in the business and technical press. His work includes participation in an article on the USMC for the Harvard Business Review, “Going Slow to Go Fast”, a review of best practices in new product development for the McKinsey Quarterly, as well as other articles on organizational performance, the computer industry, and risk management techniques.
Mr. Berkson is married, has a daughter and two sons, and is a pilot. He flies as a volunteer for several mercy medical airlift organizations, transporting cancer and other patients and their relatives for treatment. In 2009 he was named a Significant Sig.
