I'm pleased to join the Systems and Software Engineering Directorate during this critical period as we work together to meet the pressing needs of our warfighters by applying scarce resources wisely. With nearly thirty years working in both government and senior industry defense acquisition roles, I hope to use the practical experience and lessons learned I've gained to forge a partnership across the DoD acquisition community, industry, academia.

Within the Department of Defense, SSE has the lead to ensure that our acquisition programs apply sound systems and software engineering policy and practices in order to successfully meet our warfighters' needs and accomplish DoD’s mission. With over $340B for RDT&E, procurement, and O&M in the FY 2008 defense budget, the potential impact of applying results-oriented systems and software engineering processes is tremendous.

The Office of the Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Technology has more than 100 major systems** and hundred’s of smaller value programs under development to meet warfighter needs across a diverse range of acquisition program types that include:

• business systems;
• command, control, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance systems;
• communication systems;
• ships and submarines;
• fixed wing aircraft;
• space systems;
• rotary wing aircraft/unmanned airborne systems;
• missiles; and
• land vehicular systems.

Based on my experience, I firmly believe that systems and software engineering processes—properly tailored—add value to any program, regardless of the size or domain. In this coming year, SSE is focused on:

• Providing technical leadership to guide the transformational reform needed in our engineering processes to address systems of systems (SoS) and cyber warfare capabilities.
• Working closely with the Services and Agencies to establish overarching acquisition guidance and identify/share common practices to gain higher levels of efficiency and best value use of acquisition dollars.
• Bolstering the engineering capability within the government to provide a technical foundation for new programs and value-added oversight of DoD development programs.
• Tying upfront systems engineering into a disciplined, integrated formal test program to ensure end-to-end performance of the system.
• Continuing to work across the systems and software engineering communities to mature methods for a more integrated systems and software development approach.
• Working with the Services and Agencies to implement the reliability improvements detailed in DoD policy to include ensuring that programs include a reliability growth program as an integral part of design and development and integrating reliability, availability, and maintainability within the systems engineering processes and technical reviews.

I look forward to an active collaborative dialogue with all components of the DoD enterprise—government, industry, academia—as we work together to "Deliver Timely and Affordable Capabilities to the Warfighter."

**Acquisition programs, considered not highly sensitive classified, are designated Major Defense Acquisition Programs or MDAPs by the Secretary of Defense (SecDef) or if it is estimated by the SecDef that eventual total expenditure for research, development, test, and evaluation is more than $365 million in FY 2000 constant dollars or more than $2.190B in procurement in FY2000 constant dollars.