This week Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro announced the establishment of a new Department of the Navy Office of Strategic Assessment (DoN OSA) as part of his maritime statecraft initiative.
The DoN OSA aims to give the secretary independent data-driven assessments and recommendations that can help inform making the future naval force modernized and more lethal, all the better to deter high-end conflict.
The service said the office will “help drive smart choices for the Department of the Navy to balance current readiness investments and future modernization” and that it also demonstrates Del Toro’s commitment to ensure the department uses dollars efficiently.
Del Toro appointed Cara LaPointe to serve as the first Director of Strategic Assessment. La Pointe served in the Navy as a surface warfare officer and engineering duty officer as well as within the executive office under three presidents, rising up to being a Senior Adviser. She also serves as one of the initial members of the Department of the Navy Science and Technology (DoN S&T) Board.
The Defense department established the DoN S&T Board in July (Defense Daily, July 17).
She comes most recently from John Hopkins University, where she served as founding co-director of the Institute for Assured Autonomy.
“I am deeply honored to serve in this new role as Director of OSA. I look forward to collaborating with the Navy and Marine Corps as well as with our other key partners across the Department of Defense, academia, and industry as we collectively chart a course for the future of the DON in the face of dynamic global change,” LaPointe said in a statement.
She added that under her leadership, the office will be focused on building on the transformational paths the Navy and Marine Corps have directed to advanced DoD priorities.
In September, Del Toro started to call for a new maritime statecraft during a speech at the Harvard University Kennedy School of Government. In his speech he outlined an approach that encompassed naval diplomacy plus a whole-of-government approach to build U.S. and allied commercial maritime and naval power, improve U.S. shipbuilding, and work with partners to improve maritime coalitions with new technologies like unmanned systems (Defense Daily, Sept. 29).
Another piece of his maritime statecraft effort was the recent convening of a new group of U.S. government shipbuilders to improve shipbuilding and repair collaboration across government offices (Defense Daily, Nov. 20).
Del Toro argued the new office “will provide a critical capability ensuring that we are ready to build upon our maritime supremacy across the globe today while also preparing for the dynamic challenges of the future.”
“Data-driven assessments looking strategically across the entire DON enterprise in support of the Joint Force will help us make smarter choices as we balance investments in current readiness and future modernization,” he added.