As many of our friends and colleagues are aware, we have been hard at work effecting the transition of our team at the Center for Asymmetric Warfare from the federal government to the private sector. The motivation for this transition is two-fold: (1) the Naval Postgraduate School is working under guidance from the Navy to re-prioritize research efforts toward its core mission of academics and (2) the programs conducted by CAW have become increasingly focused on a “whole of society” approach to asymmetric threat response that has outgrown the research mission of the Department of Defense.
Effective October 1, 2016, CAW will be realigning and reconstituting as the Center for Threat Management, a research initiative of Global Trade & Technology. GT2 is a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation that works to increase the competitiveness of U.S. products and services in the global marketplace. As CTM, we will be complementing this charter by conducting operational research that assists in the implementation of strategies to counter threats to commerce, critical infrastructure, and national security – the complex system upon which global trade relies.
As a non-profit organization, our team continues to serve the public benefit. Many of our partners won’t notice a difference at all in the programs we conduct. Others may notice more flexibility to leverage the resources of both the government and private sector to advance the state of the art in threat management capabilities. What is most important is that our realignment will allow us to continue to conduct the research about which we are passionate.
In the longer term, we are also pursuing partnerships with government and academia in order to support establishment of a Federally-funded Research and Development Center (FFRDC) or University-affiliated Research Center (UARC). While this is a much longer process than our initial transition, it is the operational model we hope to ultimately achieve.
We look forward to continuing to work with you, our valued partners, and invite you to reach out to us to learn more about what we’re up to.