Saying goodbye

Outgoing Defense Secretary Ash Carter gave final remarks to Pentagon personnel today, reflecting on the changes he had seen in the building over the decades he has worked in it:

I've seen how our missions have transformed -- from the great power competition of the Cold War years, to its relative easing in the decade after the Cold War's quiet end, to the more than 10 years of skillful but all-absorbing counterinsurgency campaigns, to today's return to full-spectrum readiness and capabilities.

I've seen how our technology has evolved -- when I started my career in physics, most technology of consequence originated in America, and much of that was sponsored by government, especially DoD. Today, we're still major sponsors, but much more technology is commercial. The technology base is global. And other countries have been trying to catch up with the breakthroughs that for the last several decades made our military more advanced than any other. So we've had to make sure we stay ahead, and stay the best. . . .

I've read that dedication on every page of every trip book and read-ahead I received from our remarkable policy teams, and in every press release and tweet from our public affairs department. I've heard it in the pitches and proposals of all those thinking outside the Pentagon's five-sided box -- at our DIUx outposts, at DARPA, at our dozens of DOD labs and research centers across the country, in the Defense Digital Service, on the Defense Innovation Board, and more -- to ensure we always stay ahead of our competitors and stay on the cutting edge. And I've sensed it in all those who are making sure we always live the values and uphold the laws that we defend.

View the full text of his speech.