Science and Technology The Making of the Air Force Research Laboratory ROBERT W. DUFFNER Air University Press Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama 2000 Library of Congress Catloging-in-Publication Data Duffner, Robert W. Science and technology : the making of the Air Force Research Laboratory / Robert W. Duffner. p. cm. Includes index. ISBN 1-58566-085-X 1. Air Force Research Laboratory (Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio) I. Title. UG644.W75 D84 2000 358.4’0072073—dc21 00-064302 Disclaimer Opinions, conclusions, and recommendations expressed or implied within are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of Air University, the United States Air Force, the Department of Defense, or any other US government agency. Cleared for public release: distribution unlimited. ii For Carol, Kelly, Susanne, and Tyler, Who make life more interesting and worthwhile Contents Chapter Page DISCLAIMER . ii DEDICATION . iii FOREWORD . xi ABOUT THE AUTHOR . xiii PREFACE . xv Part 1 The Decision 1 Introduction . 3 2 Rumblings of Laboratory Consolidation . 7 3 The Catalyst: National Defense Authorization Act and Vision 21 . 23 4 Overhauling Infrastructure . 45 5 Laboratory Studies and Strategy . 71 6 Corona 1996: Leadership and Decisions . 93 7 The Last Dance: Meeting in the Secretary’s Office . 115 8 Conclusion . 129 Part 2 The Transition 9 Early Strategic Planning . 137 10 Shaping the Technology Directorates . 161 11 Getting the Message Out . 195 v Chapter Page 12 Other Perspectives: Independent Review Teams . 209 13 Headquarters: Two Staff Directorates . 227 14 The Final Push . 253 15 Conclusion . 265 Appendix A Chronology . 271 B Laboratory Consolidations prior to Formation of a Single Laboratory . 289 C Orders Activating the Air Force Research Laboratory . 293 GLOSSARY . 301 INDEX . 303 Illustrations Figure 1 Infrastructure Requirements for Defense Laboratories . 36 2 Air Force S&T Manpower Reductions, Program 6 . 63 3 Manpower Trends . 64 4 Air Force Battlelab Locations . 88 5 Single-Laboratory Organization . 116 6 Vision 21 Background Infrastructure . 120 7 S&T Strategy—Single-Laboratory Reorganization . 121 8 Old versus New Laboratory Structure: AFMC Organization . 123 vi Figure Page 9 Merging Vision and Mission . 124 10 Issues Influencing the Creation of a Single Laboratory . 131 11 General Viccellio’s Initial Vision of Single-Lab Organization, 26 November 1996 . 138 12 Phased Implementation Approach for a Single Laboratory . 145 13 Second Stage of the Implementation Plan . 148 14 Evolution of the Single Lab . 149 15 Single-Lab Transition Structure . 152 16 AFRL Technology Directorates . 178 17 AFRL Directorate Matrix . 179 18 AFRL Locations . 180 19 AFRL Emblem . 199 20 Proposed Organization—AFRL, Phase II . 259 21 Pre-AFRL S&T Organization . 260 22 Air Force Research Laboratory . 260 Photo Maj Gen Richard R. Paul . frontispiece Maj Gen Richard R. Paul . 24 Dr. Donald C. Daniel . 27 Gen Henry Viccellio Jr. 30 Tim Dues . 41 Dr. Vince Russo . 41 Col Dennis Markisello . 48 Dr. George R. Abrahamson . 72 vii Photo Page Dr. Sheila E. Widnall . 75 Dr. Gene McCall . 76 Gen Ronald R. Fogleman . 98 Lt Gen Lawrence P. Farrell Jr. 110 Blaise Durante . 122 Ms. Wendy Campbell . 153 Dr. Robert “Bart” Barthelemy . 163 AFRL’s First Technology Directors as of October 1997 . 188 Col Richard W. Davis . 233 Dr. Brendan B. Godfrey . 239 Col John Rogacki . 242 Tables 1 Consolidation of 13 Air Force Laboratories . 12 2 Air Force “Laboratories” Identified for Vision 21 Study . 37 3 Total Laboratory Manpower (Fiscal Years 1989–2001) . 61 4 End State No. 3: Single Air Force Laboratory . 111 5 Bergamo Meeting Team . 141 6 Air Force Single-Lab Transition Staff (January 1997) . 154 7 Task Groups and Leaders . 155 8 Technology Directorate Task-Group Membership . 165 viii Table Page 9 Decision Options, AFRL Directorates . 174 10 First Directors, Deputies, and Chief Scientists of AFRL . 187 11 Air Force Research Laboratory: Before and After . 190 12 Road-Show Schedule . 203 13 Independent Assessment Board . 210 14 Grassroots Review Board . 217 15 XP Task Group . 228 16 Colonel Rogacki’s Integration and Operations Task Group . 243 17 Colonel Markisello’s Support Task Group . 244 18 AFRL Research-Site Detachments . 262 19 AFRL Technology-Directorate Detachments . 262 ix Foreword History is the study of change. It is an important—but often neglected—resource and tool that allows each of us to analyze and extract the most relevant experiences from the past and apply that knowledge to today’s decision-making process. What has happened in the past affects the way we live in the future. Therefore, to ignore history is a mistake. Likewise, to capture the history associated with contemporary events can have huge payoffs for future leaders and is an extremely wise investment of time and energy. Early in my career, I served on the history faculty at the Air Force Academy, where I challenged cadets to gain a better appreciation for the past. As part of that educational process, I encouraged students to consider history a basic building block in their development as professionals. My goal was to make them more aware of a time-tested database that they, as future leaders, could draw upon in shaping policies and strat- egy to best accomplish the mission. Later, as chief of staff, I initiated a reading program of selected historical works to promote the professional growth of all Air Force personnel. This history documents a watershed event within the United States Air Force during my tenure as chief of staff—the crea - tion of the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL). As the “high technology” service, the Air Force has always searched for ways to improve continuously its science and technology en- terprise. In that context, the making of AFRL was not a bureaucratic accident. Rather, it was the product of a complex mixture of historical forces and pressures at work that con - vinced people at all levels that the time was ripe to bring about fundamental reform in how the Air Force conducts its business of science and technology. In terms of significance, a wealth of past studies has fo - cused on almost every aspect of the “operational” side of the Air Force. But there has been a scarcity of available scholarly studies that address the far-reaching implications of science and technology. Bob Duffner’s insightful and comprehensive account of the evolution of events leading to the genesis of a xi single Air Force laboratory is a major contribution that helps fill that gap. Organization and infrastructure are critically im - portant components of the total science and technology picture. Thus, the manner in which our laboratory system is organized is a critical factor in the Air Force’s ability to assure that we are investing in and delivering the most relevant tech- nologies possible. Duffner is an accomplished historian who weaves an engag- ing and cogent story of how the Air Force moved from 13 separate labs to one consolidated lab. Thoroughly researched and documented, this balanced and highly readable narrative is divided into two parts. Part one addresses the reasons why the Air Force decided to consolidate its far-flung science and technology enterprise into one lab. How the new lab was im - plemented is the focus of part two. This study is especially revealing because the reader is given access to the inner work- ings and struggles of a major Air Force organizational restructuring through interviews with key individuals who participated directly in the decision-making process to estab- lish a single lab. People—collectively and individually—make history. The creation of the Air Force Research Laboratory represents one of the most sweeping reforms in the history of the Air Force and is testimony to the principle that change is inevitable. Understanding why and how a single lab happened is criti- cally important in assessing where Air Force science and technology has been in the past and where it is going in the future. This book offers a unique perspective on how and why the Air Force altered its organizational approach to science and technology. I strongly recommend that it be added to every serious Air Force professional’s reading list. RONALD R. FOGLEMAN General, USAF, Retired Chief of Staff, 1994–97 xii About the Author Robert W. Duffner is chief of the Air Force Research Laboratory’s history office at the Space Vehicles and Di- rected Energy directorates (Phillips Research Site) located in Albuquer- que, New Mexico. A graduate of Lafay- ette College, he received his PhD in history from the University of Mis- souri. He served as an infantry rifle- platoon leader with the 101st Air- borne Division in Vietnam and later as a colonel in the Army Reserve Robert W. Duffner while serving as a consulting faculty member at the Army Command and General Staff College, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. Dr. Duffner’s earlier book, Airborne Laser: Bullets of Light (Plenum Press, 1997), is a history of the world’s first successful demonstra- tion of an Air Force laser on board an aircraft that engaged and disabled tactical missiles. xiii Preface Vision is often an elusive concept because organizations often package it in terms of an appealing aphorism intended to symbolize efficiency and productivity. But a well-defined vision is useful only if leaders and workers at all levels persist- ently promote and practice it to bring about fundamental change in how an organization operates. This book is about the creation and implementation of the Air Force’s vision to reinvigorate its science and technology infrastructure during the mid-1990s in an effort to keep pace with changing times. This vision, which manifested itself from an organizational perspective in the creation of a single Air Force laboratory, was the latest initiative in an evolutionary chain of activities stemming from the World War II era designed to create, strengthen, and refine the Air Force’s research and technology enterprise.