Remarks by Secretary Carter on a major announcement in new technology at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts

SECRETARY OF DEFENSE ASH CARTER:  Thank you.  Thanks so much, President Reif, my old friend, for that introduction, and to Governor Baker, Governor Wolf, Senator Markey, Congressman Kennedy, DOD family.  I see here many friends and partners of long-standing, public servants, scientists, entrepreneurs and more, thanks for being here today.  

It's a pleasure be back in Cambridge to continue advancing what's been one of my core goals as secretary of Defense, and that's building, and in some ways rebuilding, the bridges between our national security endeavor at the Pentagon and the wonderful, innovative, open technology community of companies and universities that make up one of America's great strengths.  

We've got a long history of partnership, benefiting both our security and our society, and MIT is proof of that.  From the Rad Labs pioneering work on radar during the second world war to developing computer navigation systems on -- (inaudible) -- guided ballistic missiles, but also landed men on the moon, to the ground-breaking work that continues today at Lincoln Labs, this has always been a place where great minds and great ideas come together to help defend our country and build a better world.  

That is, in fact, the mission of the Defense Department.  That's why we have the finest fighting force the world has ever known.  And that's what our soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines do everyday all over the world.  They're working right now with our coalition partners in more ways everyday to accelerate the defeat of ISIL, which we will do.  They're training with our NATO allies in Europe to deter Russian aggression.  

They're sailing the waters of the Asia-Pacific, ensuring that the most consequential single region for America's future remains stable, secure and prosperous for all nations.  They're standing guard on the Korean Peninsula and countering Iran's malign influence against our friends and allies.  And all the while, they're helping protect our homeland.

Our men and women in uniform do this in an increasingly competitive and changing world, particularly when it comes to technology.  When I began my career in physics, most technology of consequence originated in America, and much of that was sponsored by the government, particularly the Department of Defense.

Today, we're still major sponsors, but much more technology is commercial and the technology base is global.  Indeed, technologies once long possessed by only the most formidable militaries have now gotten into the hands of previously less capable forces and even non- state actors.  Meanwhile, nations like Russia and China are modernizing their militaries to try to close the technology gap.

So to stay ahead of those challenges and stay the best, we're investing aggressively in innovation.  We're pushing the envelope with new research into new technologies, robotics, biotech, cyber defense, electronic warfare, hypersonic engines that can fly five times the speed of sound and many, many others.

We're building what I call on-ramps and off-ramps for technical talent to flow in both directions so more of America's brightest minds can contribute to our mission of national defense, even if only for a time or a project, and so our military and civilian technologists in the innovative defense industry that support us already can interact in new ways with the entire innovative ecosystem.

And we're developing new partnerships with our nation's innovative private sector and technology communities in places like Boston and Silicon Valley and Austin, Seattle, and America's many other great hubs of unrivaled innovation.

As I often say, we, in the Pentagon, need to think outside our five-sided box and formulate new ways to keep that enduring American technological edge in what is, after all, a new technological and competitive landscape.  That's why we've established an innovation hub in Silicon Valley and planned similar steps in other tech hubs.  More on that later.  That's why we created the Defense Digital Service.  

Is Chris here?  Our director of our defense -- there's Chris, director of the defense digital service.  By the way, if you want to get in and do something that really matters, and you're a technologist, see Chris.

The Defense Innovation Board I just established, which Eric Schmidt, former CEO of Google and now Alphabet, is chairing.  New internships and externships for technologists, uniformed and civilian.  New ways of accessing the American population, including women, for what is, after all, an all-volunteer force.

And while we're investing nearly $72 billion in R&D in the budget I just submitted to the Congress -- more than double, by the way, what Apple, Intel and Google spent on R&D last year combined.

And right here, right now, we're taking another step forward.  Today, I'm announcing the Department of Defense is partnering with Advanced Functional Fabrics of America -- (inaudible) -- has already described a competitively selected consortium with 89 companies, universities, non-profits, research organizations and startup incubators across the country to establish a new manufacturing innovation institute focused on revolutionary fibers and textiles.

And this is a pioneering field, combining fibers and yarns with things like flexible integrated circuits, LEDs, solar cells, electronic sensors and other capabilities to create fabrics and cloths that can see, hear, sense, communicate, store energy, regulate temperature, monitor health, change color and much more.

The Defense Department is making a $75 million investment, which has already been matched more than three times over, with more than $240 million in contributions from our public and private partners.

And like the seven other manufacturing innovations institutes established by the president over the last four years -- five of which DoD has helped lead, I should mention -- in the areas of 3D printing, light weight metals, integrated photonics, digital manufacturing and design and flexible hybrid electronics.

This will ensure that the innovations needed to develop, manufacture and commercialize these cutting edge materials will happen right here, in America.

The president takes a personal interest in these institutes, I should tell you, asks about them -- I've spoken with him about them a number of times.  And so, I know how important it is to him that America keeps leading in manufacturing innovation, and continues to bring great manufacturing jobs back home.

Because a strong U.S. economy, I know, is the bedrock of American security.

With a range of innovators involved in technical textiles here in New England and the greater Northeast, including companies like Bose, and New Balance and DuPont and others, this institute will be headquartered here at MIT, and it will be strengthened by a robust network of research partners and manufacturers all across the country, from Oregon, to Ohio, to South Carolina, to Georgia, to Pennsylvania.

Revolutionary fibers and textiles have enormous potential for our defense mission.  For example, light weight sensors woven into the nylon of parachutes will be able to catch small tears that might otherwise expand in mid-air, risking paratroopers' lives.

Uniforms with electronics embedded in their fibers will be able to detect potential chemical and radiological agents.  Help power the various network devices that our troops carry into the field, and know when a wounded service member might need an anti-bacterial bandage.

And with tents, whose very fabrics can generate and store their own power, and even regulate the temperature inside, we will be able to reduce fuel consumption on the battle field, which is critically important when you consider -- and I remember this very well -- but in the middle the war in Afghanistan some years ago, four or five years or so ago, the Army would lose an average of two soldiers for every 50 fuel supply convoys.  

The reality is that as I stand here, we don't know all the advances this new technology is going to make possible.  That's the remarkable thing about innovation, and it's another reason why America and America's military must get there first.  

The commercial applications of technical textiles will be just as transformative, if not more so, given the drive toward wearables and the internet of things.  For example, running shoes as lightweight as socks will be able sense impact load for every step so athletes can better understand their physiological condition.  New fibers will strengthen walls and floors in buildings and other structures, reducing construction costs while also providing improved protection from the elements.  

First responders will benefit from firefighting gear that's not much heavier than that which exists today, if at all, but yet is vastly more protective against even the hottest of flames.  And instead of tracking physical performance with straps on our wrists, we'll have the same capability embedded in our clothing thanks to washable featherweight sensors providing an even clearer picture of our health and fitness.  

Now this an exciting time.  It reminds me of the collaboration between companies, universities and government that built the Internet and GPS, and before that, communication satellites and the jet engine.  For those interested in foreign policy and national security, there are lots of interesting challenges and problems to work on, and that's also true for those interested in technology.  But the intersection of the two is truly an opportunity rich environment.  

These issues matter.  They have to do with our protection and our security in creating a world where our fellow citizens can go to school and live their lives, dream their dreams and one day give their children a better future.  Helping defend your country and making a better world is one of the noblest things that a business leader, a technologist, an entrepreneur or a young person can do, and we're all grateful to all of you for doing that with us.  Thanks.  

SEC. CARTER:  This is an important milestone in our efforts to keep the technological edge for our military and our country more broadly.  

I want to thank Governors Baker and Wolf and Senator Markey and Congressman Kennedy for being here.  President of MIT, President Reif, I don’t know whether he's here right now, but once again, for his leadership of this and the partners represented in this room.  It's an important thing for national defense, important for our country and I'm grateful for all the leaders who joined me in this announcement and in this important enterprise today.

We talked about what it does and why it's important to us, and I'm not going to try to recapitulate all that.  Why don't we go right to your questions?  

MR. COOK:  Yes.  The first question, Kevin Baron.

Q:  Thank you, Mr. Secretary.  I'm Kevin Baron from -- executive editor from Defense One.  (inaudible) news today, the president spoke with the P5-plus one on the Iran deal to defend it, saying it's making the country and the world safer.  I wondered if you could expand on that from your perch at DoD?  The criticism on that is that it's not safe or it's going to, you know, it's destabilizing the region.  From your perspective, how is it making the world or the region safer?  And are there any signs of improving relations military wise, cooperation wise with the fight against ISIS in the region in Iraq?

SEC. CARTER:  I don't, Kevin, have anything really to add today beyond what I've said in the past, namely that the nuclear deal was a good deal in keeping Iran from getting a nuclear weapon, if it's fully implemented, which is important.  but it doesn't change much of our mission in the Department of Defense.  We still have an enduring mission in the Gulf to defend our partners and allies there, especially Israel, freedom of navigation and freedom of the commerce in the Gulf, countering Iran's other malign influences in the region, deterring aggression, and of course, the military option, which the president has instructed us to preserve, which we do.

So all that continues to go on for the Department of Defense.  Oh, I'm sorry.  I should add missile defense to that, both of our own forces and our allies.  So we're all full speed ahead on everything we've been doing.

MR. COOK:  Next.  Kevin, let me try and get to as many people as I can.  Kim?

Q:  Yes.  Hi, Secretary.  Kim Tunick, with WBZ Radio.  Just wondering how specifically you think this new fiber technology may help in specifically the fight against ISIS?

SEC. CARTER:  Well, a couple of ways.  It will allow our soldiers to carry, for example, antennas within their clothing to operate in a hot climate, and those of our troops that are training and enabling and equipping Iraqi forces, for example, in Iraq, summer is coming.  A number of these fabrics are much more light-weight and shed heat better, and that's not an insignificant matter when you're a soldier and you're carrying around a lot of weight.  There are more lightweight ways of weaving batteries into fabric.

So there are all these things that are very important to the war fighter.  One other one, just while I'm mentioning them, is some different ways of attaching parachutes to cargoes for air drops.  We do air drops in both Iraq and Syria. 

So, all of this is relevant to a lot of different military tasks, including in the war against ISIL, which we are prosecuting and will win.  But this will be another way that we're helped in that regard, and in all the other ways that we stand guard against other kinds of threats around the world in the future.

So, it's a big deal for national defense, it's a big deal for the world of technology, and it is also going to be very important to the economic future of our country, which no secretary of defense can be completely indifferent to either, because it's the foundation of our long-term strength.

MR. COOK:  Jeremy?

Q:  Thank you.  Mr. Secretary, today, North Korea launched another short-range missile just hours after President Obama's Chinese counterpart met at the second National Nuclear Security Summit.

Is there anything the U.S. can do more at this point to deter North Korea?  And what would you like to see China -- steps China take?

SEC. CARTER:  Well, we do a lot to deter and also to defend.

I'll just take them in turn.  We stand alert on the DMZ every single day.  We never forget that; we wake up to that every morning, and at the Department of Defense, that's been going on decade, after decade, after decade.

We have strong forces there, as the Republic of Korea, and we have more that would reinforce if there is ever a crisis there.  And specifically, with respect to ballistic missiles, we have very strong ballistic missile defenses there ourselves and in concert with our South Korean and Japanese allies.

We have defenses against ballistic missiles of varying ranges, all the way -- in terms of our defensive systems, from Patriot through THAAD, through the GBI system in Alaska and California, which we're adding to both quantitatively and qualitatively, constantly upgrading that.

So, we do a lot to protect ourselves, and also our friends and allies and also to deter conflict.

MR. COOK:  WBUR?

Q:  Thank you.  So, cyber intelligence and surveillance seems to be playing an increased role in the Air Force.

Can you speak to the importance of that from the Defense Department's perspective?

SEC. CARTER:  It's extremely important.  We -- all of our equipment today, our planes, our ships, our tanks, they're networked, and they only function -- or function much better when they're networked.

Not only that, our troops are young people; they've grown up in the Information Age.  They're used to having these tools available for them.

So, it's very important that we provide them, but also that we have strong cyber defenses to protect them.

Job one in cyber for the Department of Defense is the protection of our own networks.  In that mission, we have a great common cause with the commercial sector -- also concerned about the exact same thing.

We make common cause with them, we share technologies, we're a great funder of innovation in that field, even as we are in the textiles and advanced fabrics field that we have been discussing here today.

And we do that in partnership with industry, because we're stronger when we do it that way.

And again, not here today, but also in Massachusetts, previously, another way -- places around the country, Seattle, Austin, San Francisco and so forth -- we are strengthening our links to the commercial cyber sector, because we are mutually dependent

MR. COOK:  We've got time for one more.  Paul?  

Q:  (Inaudible) -- Paul Shinkman with U.S. News and World Report.  I just -- (inaudible) -- to ask you about why you felt you didn't need to be at the nuclear security summit this week in D.C.  

And just to follow up on Jeremy's question about what China could be doing, they have a much stronger relationship with North Korea but have expressed their own concerns recently about their actions.  What more could China be doing, and what might you be asking China to do in the coming weeks?  

SEC. CARTER:  Well, it's a very important meeting.  The Department of Defense is represented at this summit as it has been represented at all the previous summits by the commander in chief of the armed forces.  

MR. COOK:  And on China, sir.  

Q:  What could China be doing to help deter North Korea?  

SEC. CARTER:  Well, that's an important question.  And China has, by dint of geographic proximity and the strength of their economic relationship, much more leverage than any other of the parties to the Six Party talks on nuclear matters with North Korea.  And so their potential is very great, and them realizing that full potential, I think, is going to be essential if the goal of those talks, which is a non-nuclear Korean Peninsula -- which remember, everybody signed up to, we're just not moving yet in that direction -- is to be realized.  

And we're parties to that, we're very important to that as well.  But I think it's fair to say that our relationship with North Korea is not one that has the historical closeness, let alone the economic and geographic proximity of China.  So they're essential.  

MR. COOK:  All right.  Thank you, everyone.  Appreciate it.  

SEC. CARTER:  Great.  Thanks, guys.  Good to see you.