Department of Defense, Director, Operational Test and Evaluation

Department/Agency: Department of Defense

Position:

Director, Operational Test and Evaluation

Executive Schedule: Executive Level IV - Presidential Appointment with Senate Confirmation

Major Responsibilities:

Develop policies and procedures for Operational Test and Evaluation that ensure all major defense weapons and equipment acquisitions are evaluated for effectiveness and suitability
Advise the Secretary of Defense and Under Secretary for Acquisitions
Designate and develop standards for major defense acquisitions programs
Issue reports on major acquisitions programs to the under secretary and Congress
Monitor and review operational test and evaluation procedures
Coordinate joint testing projects with other DOD components
Consult with the Defense Secretary on OT&E budget

Key Competencies and Preferred Qualifications:

Engineering background
Extensive weapons systems experience
Prior research and development work

Insight:

As the Pentagon’s chief weapons tester, the Director of Operational Test and Evaluation is often called the “technical conscience” of the Defense Department. The director develops the policies and procedures to detect dangerous technical flaws before the Pentagon sinks money into — and bets lives on — a new weapons system or piece of defense equipment.

Charles McQueary highlighted the major challenge of this task in his written response to the Senate Armed Services committee prior to his 2007 confirmation.

“The long war on terrorism is making resources for adequate OT&E difficult to come by,” he said. “Soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines are in general either deployed into theater or training to return to theater. The Army and Marines are particularly affected. The workload on the DOD T&E community has been steadily increasing without an increase in manning.”

To overcome the challenges associated with strained resources, he recommended taking a more active role in the Pentagon budget process to direct funds and manpower toward testing operations. He also suggested greater information-sharing and transparency between his office and the secretaries in acquisitions to improve relations between the often-combative offices.

An unchecked acquisitions team can endanger the lives of armed service men and women. The flawed Osprey aircraft, although sharply questioned by then-director of operational test and evaluation Phillip E. Coyle III, was hurried through the acquisition process and into the field. Its engineering shortcomings resulted in several fatal crashes.

As his term to an end in 2001, Coyle shared a statement with the New York Times that encapsulates the driving philosophy of OT&E: ''The ultimate customer is the soldier, sailor, airman or marine — our sons and daughters — who will judge our efforts with their lives and their mission accomplishment. This is a sacred trust.''

Key Relationships – Within the Department or Agency:

Secretary and Deputy Secretary of Defense
Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics
Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness
Director of Defense Research and Engineering
Assistant Secretary of Defense for Networks and
Information Integration
Inspector General
General Counsel
Directors of the Services' Test and Evaluation organizations
Joint Requirements Oversight Council
Director of the Defense Test Resource Management Center

Key Relationships – Within the Government:

Congressional oversight committees

Key Relationships – Outside the Government:

Defense contractors

Nomination Referred to:

Senate Committee on Armed Services

Current Position Profile:
1. Michael Gilmore (Confirmed: September 21, 2009). Former Assistant Director for National Security, Congressional Budget Office. Former Deputy Director for General Purpose Program, the Office of the Secretary of Defense; Former scientist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

Recent Position Profiles:

2. Charles McQueary, Ph.D. (2006-2009). First DHS under secretary for science and technology. Former president of General Dynamics Advanced Technology Systems and former executive at AT&T and Lucent Technologies. Former head of missile operations department and head of field operations supporting Naval oceanographic research at Bell Laboratories.

3. Thomas P. Christie, MA (2001-2005). Former director of the operational evaluation division at the Institute for Defense Analyses. Former director of DOD acquisitions program integration and deputy assistant secretary of defense for program analysis and evaluation. Former director, DOD tactical air division. Former chief of analysis and director of weapon systems analysis at the Air Force Armament Laboratory.

4. Phillip E. Coyle III, MS (1994-2001). Former associate director of Livermore National Laboratory. Assistant secretary for defense programs in the Department of Energy during Carter Administration. Former high school math and science teacher. Master’s in engineering from Dartmouth College.