SOUTHBRIDGE, Mass. —
The world has changed dramatically as technology capabilities have gone global, and the United States' near-peers China and Russia are advancing in the field at an alarming rate, Mary Miller, performing the duties of the assistant secretary of defense for research and engineering, said here May 1.
“People understand technology, and that is something we're going to have to embrace and leverage,” Miller said during her remarks at the first Defense Department human capital symposium.
Today, adversaries of U.S. allies and partners also have access to the latest in technology, she said.
Miller added, “We're not the clear [technology] leaders that we used to be in the United States.”
The U.S. has focused on insurgencies in Iraq and Afghanistan for nearly two decades, “and while we were busy taking care of business, our near-peer adversaries — Russia and China — have been investing in technology,” she said.
America's adversaries invested in areas of technology thought to be U.S. weaknesses that could be exploited, she said, but to also to ensure the U.S. wouldn't be able to use its great strengths.
“We didn't think it was happening so fast,” Miller said.
China's Tech Goals
China's 30-year strategy to become the dominant force in its area is well under way, she said, and the United States is concerned that once the Chinese have become…
